Cal Sports Report

Report: Cal to Hire UTSA's Julian Griffin as Bears Running Backs Coach

Griffin coached the Conference USA player of the year in 2020 and 2021
Jake Curtis|
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Cal is set to hire Texas-San Antonio running backs coach Julian Griffin as the Bears' next running backs coach, according to a report by Chris Hummer of 247 Sports and CBS Sports.

Cal running backs coach Aristotle Thompson reportedly is being targeted by Northwestern to be the Wildcats' new running backs coach, and it appears Cal head coach Justin Wilcox is in the process of hiring his replacement.

Cal has overhauled its offensive coaching staff, and if Thompson leaves as reported and Griffin is hired by Cal as expected, the restructuring will be all but complete. The Bears have already hired a new offensive coordinatopr (Bryan Harsin), a new wide receivers coach (Kyle Cefalo) and a new offensive line coach (Famika Anae). The Bears also hired Nick Rolovich as a senior offensive advisor.

Now, if the report is accurate, Cal will be hiring a new running backs coach.

Griffin has been UTSA's running backs coach the past five seasons, and he also acted as the school's NFL liaison.

Griffin mentored UTSA running back Sincere McCormick, who was the Conference-USA player of the year in both 2020 and 2021. McCormick is now with the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL.

This past season UTSA ranked eighth in the 14-team American Athletic Conference in rushing, and the Roadrunners leading rusher was Robert Henry, who rushed for 706 yards.

Cal's top two rusher from last season -- Jaivian Thomas and Jaydn Ott -- are planning to return to the Golden Bears for 2025.

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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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