Cal Football Coaches Peter Sirmon, Burl Toler Sad Pac-12 Is Gone

The demise of the Pac-12 hits home for several members of Cal’s football coaching staff, for whom it is almost like losing a close friend.

Head coach Justin Wilcox, who played at Oregon, expressed his personal thoughts on the matter on Sunday, and on Tuesday Golden Bears defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon and receivers coach Burl Toler III, both of whom have a long history in the conference, expressed their disappointment at the loss of the Pac-12.

Sirmon sees this as a pivotal moment in West Coast sports.

“The regionalness of the passion of the fans that now will move to other conferences – I think that’s something that the West Coast will sorely miss,” Sirmon said. “The communities will sorely miss that.

“But I guess we’re in that name of progress. I guess that’s considered progress.”

Sirmon grew up in the state of Washington, was an all-Pac-10 linebacker at Oregon and has had coaching stops at Oregon, Washington, USC and Cal in his tour through the conference.

“That’s a big part of my history on the West Coast,” Sirmon said.

His brother was a football walk-on at Oregon State, his mother attended Washington State and his dad went to Washington.

“I can remember watching those games on ABC when I was in elementary school, and those traditional rivalries,” Sirmon said.

Oregon-Oregon State, Washington-Washington State, Arizona-Arizona State, USC-UCLA will no longer be Pac-12 rivalries after this season.

There is still hope that Stanford and Cal will wind up in the same conference in 2024, and Toler knows all about that Bay Area rivalry, which he was a part of as a Cal wide receiver and Golden Bears assistant coach. Losing the affiliation with the Pac-12 was a gut punch.

“Personally it’s tough,” he said. “I played in the Pac-10, coached in the Pac-12, my dad played in the Pac-8 [as a Cal linebacker in the 1970s]. I’ve been a part of this thing for a long time. It’s tough.”

The conference, which over the years has been called the Pacific Coast Conference, Athletic Association of Western Universities, Pac-8, Pac-10 and Pac-12, will look different in 2024 and may not exist in any form a year from now.

The remaining question: What will Cal's conference home be in 2024?

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