After seven seasons in his second stint at Cal, receivers coach Burl Toler III is leaving the Bears. The Cal alum and Berkeley native announced the news himself shortly after head coach Justin Wilcox met with reporters Wednesday afternoon to look ahead to the LA Bowl.
Toler has been with the program on staff in some fashion across 10 seasons following his playing career with the Bears. The last six seasons he has spent as the receivers coach in Berkeley as he built the unit into a solid group with a number of top-producing pass catchers in the Pac-12 and now ACC.
His latest stint began in 2018 when he took over as the running backs coach in Justin Wilcox's second season at Cal. A year later Toler moved over to his more natural position coaching the receiver group.
"My journey with Cal has been a dream," Toler wrote in a message posted to X. "Growing up in Memorial Stadium, scoring touchdowns for The Golden Bears, graduating from UC Berkeley, and coaching here for 10 years-all while following in my parents' footsteps-has been an honor. My son BT IV was born the day I signed my contract to come back home, and Cal will always hold a special place in my heart. I am beyond thankful for it all. Moving on is bittersweet, but the memories will last forever, and new opportunities await."
The news of Toler's departure comes amid a staff shakeup for the Bears as they close out the 2024 season next week at the LA Bowl. Wilcox announced the addition of offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin on Tuesday with the former Auburn head coach also set to take over as the quarterbacks coach at Cal.
Wilcox declined to shed any light on the expected movement that will come as a result of the new hire when speaking with reporters Wednesday but did previously indicate that his hope was to keep the staff intact.
"There's a lot that's gonna be announced," Wilcox said Wednesday. "Some things are in flux right now with positions yet to be assigned. When the time is right to announce all those, we'll do it. I just don't want to get ahead of ourselves right now."
Toler has had to watch a top receiver leave after each of the last three seasons with J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA) and Jeremiah Hunter (Washington) both deciding to move on from the Bears in 2022 and 2023, respectively. This season's leading receiver, second-year freshman Nyziah Hunter, entered the transfer portal Tuesday after catching 40 passes for 578 yards and 5 touchdowns.
The 41-year-old assistant coach has only ever worked on staff at three programs in his career with all three schools on the West Coast. He began as a quality control assistant at Cal before taking over the receiver position at Fresno State in 2016 followed by a one-year stint at UC Davis before returning to Cal in 2018.
Toler played at Cal from 2001-04.
