Cal Sports Report

Cal Targets Colorado State DB Coach Allen Brown to Fill Vacancy

If Allen Brown is hired by Cal, the Bears would have two defensive backs coaches named Brown
Jake Curtis|
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Over the weekend it was reported that TCU is hiring Cal defensive back coach Tre Watson, but apparently Justin Wilcox is working quickly to replace him with a familiar face.

Matt Zenitz of 247 Sports and CBS Sports reported on Monday that Cal is targeting Colorado State cornerbacks coach Allen Brown to replace Watson as a secondary coach. Brown has worked on the Cal coaching staff under Wilcox previously, and if Allen Brown is hired by Cal, the Bears would have two defensive backs coaches named Brown, joining Terrence Brown.

Allen Brown was hired at Colorado State just two weeks ago, on January 10, after spending the 2024 season as Washington State's defensive backs coach. Now it appears he may be on the move again.

Allen Brown played his college fooball at Easern Washington and spent three seasons as EWU's defensive backs coach from 2019 to 2021. He was a defensive quality control coach at Cal in 2022 under Wilcox, and spent the 2023 season as a quality control coach at Florida.

He was Washington State cornerbacks coach in 2024, and Cougars defensive backs intercepted 10 passes in 2024. Washington State redshirt freshman cornerbacks Ethan O'Connor has four interceptions this past season.

If Cal hires Brown, it's unclear what his specific role will be. The past three seasons, Watson and Terrence Brown shared the responsibility of coaching the Bears' secondary, with both overseeing both safeties and cornerbacks.

It's possible Terrence Brown and Allen Brown will work the same way that Watson and Terrence Brown did -- with both coaching both cornerbacks and safeties. However, it's also possible that Allen Brown will focus on cornerbacks and Terrence Brown will work with safeties.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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