Cal to Hire Vikings Assistant Coach as Its Defensive Coordinator

Minnesota Vikings safeties coach Michael Hutchings will be named Cal's defensive coordinator under new Bears' head coach Tosh Lupoi, according to multiple reports.

Like both Lupoi and incoming Cal running backs coach Keith Bhonapha, Hutchings is a Bay Area product. He was born in San Francisco and played his high school football at De La Salle, which is also Lupoi's high school alma mater.

Hutchings is just 30 years old and has never been a defensive coordinator.

So both of Cal's coordinators for next season will be young and inexperienced in their new roles. New Cal new offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville is just 29 years old and has never been an offensive coordinator before.

The one strong aspect of Cal's football team under Justin Wilcox was its ability to play effective defense. So now it will be up to Hutchings to continue that trend or perhaps even impove it.

Hutchings will be given some excellent direction by Lupoi, who has been the defensive coordinator for some elite college football teams, including Alabama and Oregon. The defense Cal will use in 2026 probably will be designed by Lupoi, who will at least have considerable influence on the Bears' defensive approach.

Minnesota Vikings safeties coach Michael Hutchings has accepted the defensive coordinator job at Cal, sources tell @CBSSports pic.twitter.com/ji1w1XLeIG
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 19, 2025

Hutchings played linebacker at USC from 2012 to 2016 and was captain of the Trojans' Rose Bowl team in the 2016 season.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at USC for two seasons (2018-2019), then was the Trojans' defensive quality control analyst for one season.

Hutchings spent one season at Oregon as a Ducks defensive analyst in 2021, which was the year before Lupoi became Oregon's defensive coordinator.

Hutchings was the Western Kentucky linebackers coach in 2022 and became the Vikings' assistant defensive backs coach in 2023. He was promoted to the position of Vikings' safeties coach in 2024 and has held that position the past two seasons.

Presumably Hutchings will remain with the Vikings until their season is completed on January 4.

It's unclear what style of defense Hutchings will use at Cal, but the Vikings, under defensive coordinator Brian Flores, blitz more than just about any team in the NFL.

At Cal Hutchings will replace Terrence Brown and Vic So'oto, who served as a co-defensive coordinators for Cal this season, with Brown calling the defensive signals. Cal is 11th in the ACC in scoring defense and ninth in total defense this season.

Cal was second in the ACC in scoring defense in 2023, and was second in the Pac-12 in scoring defense in 2021. The Bears also were fourth in scoring defense in the Pac-12 in 2019 and third in 2018.

Cal is 7-5 this year and plays its final game of the season against Hawaii (8-4) in the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu on December 24.

Lupoi will remain Oregon's defensive coordinator until the Ducks are eliminated from College Football Playoff.

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