Cal Football Finalizes Defensive Coaching Staff

BERKELEY – Travers Family Head Football Coach Justin Wilcox announced Thursday that Terrence Brown and Vic So'oto have been named Co-Defensive Coordinators of the California football program.
 
While announcing the promotions of Brown and So'oto, Wilcox also announced the additions of experienced defensive minds Keith Heyward and Bob Gregory as a defensive backs coach and senior defensive assistant, respectively.
 
Lastly, defensive line coach Andrew Browning will add run game coordinator to his responsibilities this upcoming season.
 
Brown, who previously served as the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, will continue to work with the defensive backs in addition to his new role. He enters his fourth season with the Golden Bears and has accumulated more than a decade of experience as a coach and player on the West Coast. Prior to his time at Cal, Brown spent time on coaching staffs at Washington and Vanderbilt after graduating from Stanford in 2013.
 
On two separate occasions, Brown was listed in 247Sports' 30 Under 30 coaching lists.
 
So'oto, who also enters his fourth season in Berkeley, has served as the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach the past two seasons.
 
So'oto will continue to serve as the outside linebackers coach in addition to his new role. Before joining Cal, So'oto spent time at USC, Virginia and BYU. So'oto was with USC when the Trojans went 5-1 and won the Pac-12 South division in a shortened 2020 season. Prior to his time in Los Angeles, he was on a Virginia coaching staff that won the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal division in 2019 and played in three consecutive bowl games.
 
As a player, So'oto played at BYU before making stops in the NFL with Green Bay, Oakland, Washington, Arizona, New Orleans and Pittsburgh.
 
Gregory has over 25 years of experience coaching on the collegiate level and served as Cal's defensive coordinator from 2002-2009. Heyward has almost 20 years of Division I coaching experience, including stints as defensive coordinator at three different institutions.