Emerging coach floated to replace Trent Bray at Oregon State

It's been a tough few years for Oregon State's football program.

The Beavers, who won 10 games as recently as 2022, were among the casualties of the Pac-12's collapse, as one of two schools, along with Washington State, that didn't receive an invitation to another power conference. That led longtime head coach Jonathan Smith, an Oregon State alum, to leave the program he had built up and take a job at Michigan State.

And now the Beavers have already fired his successor, Trent Bray, who was let go Sunday after an 0-7 start to this season and a 39-14 home loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. Bray was in his second season as head coach after his promotion from defensive coordinator.

So where does Oregon State go from here?

On3.com's Pete Nakos floated a couple of names as potential replacements, including an especially interesting one in UC Davis head coach Tim Plough.

Two names to know at Oregon State:

+ UC Davis head coach Tim Plough
+ Montana State head coach Brent Vigenhttps://t.co/CUDZszORRt https://t.co/LSfvnVdiAP
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) October 12, 2025

Plough led UC Davis to an 11-3 finish and the FCS quarterfinals last season in his first year as a head coach and has the team off to a 5-1 start this season (with the lone loss coming against Washington).

Plough was previously the offensive coordinator at Northern Arizona, UC Davis and Boise State and spent a year as tight ends coach at Cal before taking the UC Davis head coaching job.

It's natural that the Beavers would seek an offensive-minded head coach to replace the defensive-minded Smith, as they rank a lowly 123rd nationally in scoring (17.7 points per game) and 102nd in total offense (347.4 yards per game). UC Davis averages 34 points per game.

Oregon State would also be a logical career advancement for Plough. While the Beavers are in a bit of no-man's land at present, they will be part of the restocked Pac-12 next year and thus part of a "Group of Six" conference.

It remains to be seen how Oregon State will be able to compete in the NIL and revenue-sharing era of college football, and it would be hard for the Beavers to pry away a sitting FBS head coach. So they're going to need to look at up-and-comers from the FCS ranks. like Plough or current assistant coaches/former head coaches.

Nakos also floated another potential name for the job -- Montana State head coach Brent Vigen, who is 52-12 in five seasons with the Bobcats. He led the program to the FCS national runner-up finishes in 2021 and 2024. Vigen spent 16 years on staff at FCS power North Dakota State and seven years at Wyoming.

Meanwhile, prominent syndicated college sports columnist Jon Wilner suggested Oregon State consider former Hawaii and Washington State head coach Nick Rolovich, who is presently a senior offensive assistant at Cal.

Oregon State should hire Nick Rolovich
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) October 12, 2025

Rolovich went 28-27 in four seasons at Hawaii, including a 10-win season. He left to take over at Washington State but was fired during his second season for failing to comply with the university's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state employees.