New Cal Co-DCs Vic So'oto and Terrence Brown Are Grateful & Excited

The day after Cal football assistant coaches Vic So’oto and Terrence Brown were named co-defensive coordinators, both shared their vision of how the arrangement will work.

And both expressed gratitude to coach Justin Wilcox for giving them promotions.

So’oto, who has focused on outside linebackers the past three seasons, became emotional when asked what this opportunity meant to him.

“I don’t think I can put into words what that means, coming from Coach Wilcox,” he said. “Because it’s tough, man, it’s tough to try and climb in this deal. Not that I’m trying to climb.

"But the opportunities I’ve been given here to stand in front of the team every day, opportunities I’ve been given now to be a strong voice or lead voice in our collaborative effort . . . and the roots we’ve built here . . . to see that reciprocated by coach Wilcox, I don’t know what to say.”

Brown, the Bears’ third-year defensive backs coach, echoed So’oto’s sentiments.

“I’m extremely grateful for the consideration,” he said. “I mean, we have such brilliant minds on our staff in terms of the coaches who have done this for a long time. Especially in the defensive room.”

He was specifically referring to the addition this week of former Golden Bears’ defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, 61, as a senior defensive assistant. Gregory served as the Bears’ DC from 2002-09, an eight-year stretch under coach Jeff Tedford when the Bears had a winning record each season.

Keith Heyward, who was DC at Oregon State last season, has come onboard as a defensive backs coach. Heyward, 45, previously spent the 2021 season as outside linebacker coach at Cal.

Given that collection of experience, Brown said he feels “extremely fortunate, extremely blessed. And excited.”

So’oto danced around the question of exactly who will make defensive calls on game day, but he said coaching and organizing the defense during the week will be a collaborative effort.

“We’ve gotten out of our comfort zone as far as how we’re calling defense this past year and it helped us. It was a collaborative effort,” he said, alluding to the improvement the Bears made on defense last season after a tough 2023 campaign.

So’oto said he feels motivated to work harder than ever.

“Because these kids deserve it. These kids come out here and we coach ‘em hard on defense. The way that they’ve responded is they put us in opportunities to win the game,” he said.

“Defensively, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to walk through that tunnel and step to these sidelines and run through somebody. And see how many times they like it. Then we’re going to go hunt the ball, given the ball back to (offensive coordinator Bryan) Harsin and he’s going to score. That is our mindset as a unit.”

Brown is equally confident the new equation will work well.

“To be able to have such a wealth of knowledge and experience in our defensive staff room,” he said, “to be able to bounce off each other in terms of ideas, to be able to communicate to each other, to see what works, what doesn’t work, what fits our guys . . . we’re excited to continue to see where this thing goes.”

So’oto and Brown were promoted Thursday in the wake of Peter Sirmon departing after seven seasons as defensive coordinator to coach linebackers for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints.

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