Sirmons Look Happy Being Part of the Same Team for the First Time

In the middle of a long-winding college football coaching career, Peter Sirmon spent a year each as an assistant for Mississippi State and Louisville. At the time, he maintained the family home in Nashville, Tennessee, where he played his NFL football.

Similar to the military, Sirmon and his wife and four kids, three of whom are daughters, were separated and lived out a long-distance relationship in order for him to support them.

At that time, his lone son Jackson Sirmon played his last two seasons of high school football and became a desirable college recruit at private Brentwood Academy, 10 miles south of Nashville, while Peter was hundreds of miles away bouncing around the SEC and the ACC, recruiting and coaching up his players.

In 2018, Peter and Jackson headed out West, but not together.

Dad took a coaching job at the University of California, joining a staff headed up by Justin Wilcox, his former teammate at the University of Oregon. They also coached together as assistants at USC and the University of Washington for Steve Sarkisian.

Jackson moved to Seattle after accepting a scholarship offer from the UW to play for Chris Petersen.

The Sirmons were in the same time zone, still 800 miles apart.

They would see each other one Saturday each fall during three of the next four college football seasons, when the Golden Bears and the Huskies got together for Pac-12 games. Cal won close outings in 2018 and 2019, 12-10 and 20-19, and the Huskies returned the favor a year ago with a 31-24 overtime victory in Seattle. The pandemic wiped out their 2020 matchup.

Today, this father and son are finally coach and player at Cal. They're much more than that, too, working closely together in the same position group as the defensive coordinator and the Bears' top tackler, respectively.

Jackson Sirmon felt like he was finished with the UW after earning his degree and the school fired Jimmy Lake's coaching staff. So he moved on when Kalen DeBoer was hired, entered the transfer portal and chose to play for his father in the Bay Area.

"It was one of those things where it really wasn't that calculated," Peter Sirmon told the Cal Sports Report, which is part of the FanNation/Sports Illustrated network. "There was an opportunity with the transition that they had up there. It was an opportunity where he was really close to graduating and he felt it was the right situation for him to come down here. We really moved quickly on it and it went from there."

Peter Sirmon said they had no advance discussion of making this happen while his son was playing for the UW. Last fall, in fact, Jackson Sirmon was even wistful when asked why he hadn't played for his father and he said it just wasn't meant to be.

However, it did work out in the end and the Sirmons seem to be enjoying their long-awaited college football connection. Jackson has become one of the better players for a Cal team that has split six games but is always a threat to beat whoever it plays. Dad welcomes the added firepower.

"He's been a great addition," Peter Sirmon said. "I think he's leading the team in tackles. He's been very productive week in and week out. He's been a part of some sacks and some takeaways. He's doing a very very nice job in communication with what we need the inside linebackers to do. He's been a great addition in terms of productivity and leadership."

The Sirmons are very businesslike, especially when it comes to football, and don't strike anyone as overly emotional or sentimental. Hence, the family was able to exist all those seasons while spread apart over long distances.

However, Cal football website photos unmistakably show a father and son side by side and enjoying their time together involved in a game that's always kept them apart.

They each promise someday to look back on this football season that they shared, especially if they get a win over the Huskies, and reminisce over how it played out.

"I hope we do," Peter Sirmon said. "In the middle of a season, there's not a lot of enjoyable time to reflect but there are opportunities. There's actually quite a few dads on staff who every once in a while come by and say, 'Enjoy the time with your son.' Not many men, or parents, get to do this at this level with a son or a daughter, but it is special. I am thankful for this opportunity."

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