With football in a nebulous position and the recruiting process in a relative holding pattern, we at Golden Bear Report are looking to do interviews wherever we can. This week, we got Cal offensive line coach Angus McClure on to discuss his path back to the Bay Area.

This is part two of an interview that has been transcribed and lightly edited for clarity.

Previous Installments: Justin Wilcox, Part One | Justin Wilcox, Part Two | Charlie Ragle, Part One | Charlie Ragle, Part Two | Peter Sirmon, Part One | Peter Sirmon, Part Two | Aristotle Thompson, Part One | Aristotle Thompson, Part Two | Angus McClure, Part One

TT: You have the rep of knowing seemingly everyone in Northern California. How did that start for you?

AM: In getting into recruiting, I really started recruiting Northern California in 1996 and things were different. There weren’t GPSs, there wasn’t digital video, everything was VHS, and an area coach was truly an area coach, you had to know the lay of the land, you had to farm the land to find the guys. Being from the Bay Area and spending so much time in Sacramento, it was a natural fit for me to do Northern California.

Just going back to either, guys I played with, or former players, or coaches that I knew in the profession, that was back in the day where email was starting to come out. I was the first coach at Nevada to have a computer, in 1996, and back in the day it was hard to get a hold of coaches unless you knew them. I was just fortunate enough to have a deep enough network where I could get a hold of coaches.

Then the next challenge was as we do today, getting the film and getting transcripts, now it’s all a click of a button, back in the 90s, it was a chore to get those things you needed that are so critical to recruiting. It’s the same process we use today, the only thing that’s different is how quick things happen.

Leaning on my roots in Northern California, it came natural to me, knowing a lot of people, and again I could walk into a high school in Northern California even when I was a young coach, and there was a good chance I played some sport there, at least I knew where the school was. When other coaches were driving around with their big Thomas guide map books to find these schools, I knew exactly where they were, that made it simple for me too. I knew the lay of the land, I had relationships, and certainly I love recruiting. It’s a big part that I love about my job.

TT: Do you have any job in particular you’d consider your biggest break?

AM: The Nevada one exposed me to division 1 football, it exposed me to recruiting, that was a big break for me. The success we had at Nevada, my experience, and my recruiting attracted Sacramento State to want me. The successes we had at Sacramento State offered me the opportunity to work for Bill Callahan at Nebraska. I think it all kinda ties together, but I do think the biggest break was getting the job at Nevada.

TT: When we talked prior to this, you’d talked about working camps at Nebraska or Callahan coming up to see your guys at Sac State while with the Raiders, how did you end up in Lincoln at Nebraska?

AM: You’re starting to figure out how I get jobs (laughs), it’s connections, but it’s also the ability to go work camps. Camps, you don’t get a lot of money and it takes a lot of time, but it’s also an opportunity to network and it’s an avenue to showcase your talents as a coach. You can sit in an interview room, sit in front of a chalkboard, and X and O all day, impress people with your knowledge, but it’s still not the same as watching somebody coach the game of football. You’re either a natural teacher or you’re not. That’s what I found in those opportunities, working those camps.

I’d gone back and worked the camp at Nebraska, I knew Bill from his time with the Raiders, and I was fortunate to have some good players at Sacramento State that he would come up and work out, whether it was NFL Pro Days or individual workouts. He invited me back to work a camp, that’s back when camps were weeklong camps, you move into the dorms and you coach them up.

(Callahan) calls me into his office, he says ‘hey, one of the reasons I wanted you to come out here was because I’m looking for someone like you, who can help with the offensive line, tight ends, and help with special teams.’ He gave me a job offer and we made the move from Sacramento to Lincoln, Nebraska.

TT: That’s a pretty drastic transition...

AM: It was a big move, from the Big Sky to the Big 12, it was interesting because they were transitioning from the Nebraska Power Option offense that they’d run for 35 years, to the west coast offense. Looking back at it, I can see why he was so interested in me, because when I’d played at Sacramento State, we were west coast offense and throughout my career, working with guys in the trenches, transitioning from an option offense to a west coast offense is huge. Not only physically is it different, but mentally it’s different, the terminology alone is quite a bit different. We were able to turn it around my second year there in 2005, went on to beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl.

It was a great experience there and I had the opportunity to know Turner Gill well, who was an aspiring head coach. He got his opportunity to go to Buffalo, and he gave me an opportunity to coach the offensive line and coordinate. I felt that was the next step in my progression as a college coach.

I think you’re noticing the trend, I’ve been very fortunate to be on newer staffs, that are trying to reestablish or build programs. Everybody knows Nebraska, but to try to come in, change offensive systems, it was a challenge. It was the same thing at Buffalo, going in. They were new to division 1. They had just hired Ward Manuele as the athletic director, who’s now at Michigan, they hired Turner Gill, and they were trying to make a move in the MAC. We had some success statistically in my year there, but lo and behold three years later, they won the MAC conference, which they had never done before.

We did some good things there, learning from my previous stops and using the knowledge I’d gained, we were able to do some things running the football and protecting the quarterback. We had a young running back, James Starks, who led the MAC in rushing as a true freshman. We were using multiple tight end sets, had a couple good tight ends, a couple good linemen, and started making some noise.

TT: On the jobs topic, I think you’re the first coach on staff that I’ve talked to that wasn’t impacted directly by Dirk Koetter in some shape or fashion, he’s the Kevin Bacon of the coaching world...

AM: That’s true, I know a lot about Dirk, but I’ve never coached with him. I know that tree and a lot of guys that come from that tree, but I’m from more of an offensive line tree (laughs).

TT: You’ve talked a bit about Jay Norvell (current Nevada coach), who was the Nebraska OC while you were there, did you meet him prior to then and how did he help get you to UCLA?

AM: I met him the first time working with him at the camp, I was around him quite a bit during the camp and got to know him well. Working side by side with him at Nebraska, we became good friends. As moved to Buffalo, he stayed at Nebraska for another year, and he had the opportunity to really go out on his own as an offensive coordinator, and he took the job with Karl Dorrell at UCLA.

There was a spot that opened (at UCLA) that he thought I would be a great candidate for, I had an opportunity to go out and interview with not only Jay, but coach Dorrell and the whole offensive staff. It was actually the longest interview I’ve ever had, it was six hours. Not kidding.

TT: Do you sit and talk x’s and o’s for that long, or is it philosophy?

AM: I essentially went through the west coast system for college, and I know with Karl’s background of being with the Denver Broncos, his thoughts on the system, I pretty much did an installation of the nuts and bolts of the west coast offense. I think that attracted him and he realized that I could coach multiple positions with my background, so Karl gave me the opportunity to come to UCLA and not only coach TEs, but have an influence on the offensive line and coach special teams.

TT: You had coached special teams prior to that though, correct?

AM: As an assistant I’d always been involved with special teams, I was lucky enough to be able to do that. Even as an offensive line coach, I’ve always enjoyed special teams, because it is the one time you get to coach the entire team, everybody’s playing together. Playing special teams, coaching special teams, I was a natural fit to be a coordinator twice on special teams.

TT: You were able to be in LA for those 12 years, how did you end up staying there for that period of time, through two coaching changes?

AM: I think as an assistant, it’s very unique to be able to stay in the same city for 12 years. I was just fortunate enough to have the opportunity to stay. I thought that would be the best move for my family, not necessarily my career. I have two boys, and my oldest boy was fortunate to go 1st grade through 12th grade at pretty much the same school, my younger boy was able to go through 8th grade, it was good for them and their foundation as young men, to have their lifelong friends from the Encino area, it has been a help for them.

And certainly, being able to stay and work for Rick Neuheisel and Jim Mora, it was a great experience for me. I learned so much from those two coaches. I think Rick’s the best recruiter I’ve ever been around. He was a huge influence, he gave me the reigns as recruiting coordinator and worked side by side with me, which was awesome. I really learned his perspective in recruiting, his strategies, and our recruiting really evolved there, we had some great classes. When Jim came in, he gave me the opportunity to coach defensive line, which I had not done at the college level before. I learned a lot of defense from Jim Mora, organization, personnel. I was still getting a great education by not moving.

TT: You’ve talked about bringing Anthony Barr over to defense and that it felt a bit like cheating , because you always knew what the offensive line was doing, how much of a transition was it to switch over to defensive line and to get settled?

AM: It wasn’t much of a transition to be honest with you, I’m always looking on the other side of the ball for trends and schemes and those types of things. I’ve always been studying defense, and moving over to defense wasn’t a big transition. I’m known as a fundamental, techniques instructor, I used techniques that I learned in the past and I went out and learned from guys like Dan Quinn, who’s now the head coach of the Falcons. I spent a week with Dan Quinn when he was at Florida, just picking his brain on defensive line play. Billy Johnson, who at the time was with the Saints, but he’s a longtime NFL DL coach, I spent a lot of time with him. I picked the brain of Don Johnson (not the actor), who I coached with at Nevada my first time there in 96, he was a longtime NFL coach.

I picked the brains of those guys, I learned my repertoire and my teaching progression, things I thought would really help the players. It was fun to work with Lou Spanos, who had come from the Pittsburgh Steelers for 15 years, so we were learning Dick Lebeau’s 3-down defense, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed my time on the defensive side of the ball. Jeff Ulbrich, he became the defensive coordinator, he’s the linebackers coach with the Falcons now, he was more of a four-down front, it was nice to evolve and learn his type of style. The last couple years, Tom Bradley, who was a longtime defensive coordinator for Penn State, he came in, and it was good to learn his type of philosophy. So in a six year period of coaching d-line, I had an opportunity to learn from some really sharp guys.

TT: You had worked Cal camps in the past, was that when you met Justin Wilcox originally?

AM: I worked a ton of Cal camps, I was there when Justin was an assistant. I had even worked the camps before. I worked (Steve) Mariucci’s camp, I worked (Tom) Holmoe’s camp.

I always was attracted to Cal being from the Bay Area, and another huge attraction was that I was seeing kids from my recruiting area, those were the camps I would try to work, not only to have the experience working at a place like Cal, but also working with different recruits. I worked the Cal camp the last two years also.

TT: Did that experience open things up for this opportunity and the Cal offensive line job?

AM: I think so, and like I said earlier, I think camps are good for everyone. If you’re looking for potential coaches, there’s not a better place to interview or watch a guy than a camp. That was a huge opportunity, to work the Cal camps and continue to build my relationship with some of the coaches on the staff. I’ve known quite a few of these guys throughout my coaching career. I’ve known coach Tuiasosopo, worked with him twice at UCLA, once under Neuheisel, we were offensive coaches, then Tui came back as our quarterbacks coach and I was coaching DL, I was trying to get his guys. He’s a tremendous coach and I always get something from working with him.

Continuing the relationships with the coaches I met previously helped in the camps, and when things happened with coach Greatwood, he decided to retire, we started talking after our bowl game here at Nevada, and things moved quickly.

TT: At the end of the day, why did the Cal job stick out as something you wanted to take?

AM: Cal, the Cal brand, the education, the athletic department and the direction that it’s going, the main attraction was coach Wilcox and working for him. I saw it as a tremendous opportunity for me.