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Cal Football

Tre Watson Named Defensive Backs Coach

March 5, 2021
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BERKELEY – Cal football head coach Justin Wilcox announced Friday that Tre Watson has agreed to become the Golden Bears' defensive backs coach. Watson, who was among a group of 30 coaches listed in 247Sports' "30 Under 30" last season, spent the 2020 campaign as the defensive backs coach at UNLV following two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at Oregon in 2018 and 2019.

"Tre is one the nation's top young coaches and rising fast in our profession," Wilcox said. "He brings a high level of energy and enthusiasm to the table. Tre has always impressed me with his work ethic, knowledge of the game and tremendous attitude ever since we coached him at Washington. He developed an excellent rapport with the student-athletes he worked with at Oregon and UNLV over the last three seasons, and he took advantage of a great opportunity he had to work closely with coach Heyward at Oregon. That helped him lay an excellent foundation for his coaching career."

UNLV Football / Twitter
29-Year-Old Among 247Sports’ List Of “30Under30” Coaches To Keep An Eye On Last Year


"I want to thank God for this opportunity," Watson said. "I have learned and grown a lot from the places I have been, and I'm very excited to be a part of this family, join a terrific staff and represent a program that is on its way up under great leadership from coach Wilcox. Go Bears!"
 
Tre Watson, Defensive Backs Coach

  • Oregon won a Pac-12 title (2019), a pair of bowl games – Redbox Bowl (2018) and Rose Bowl (2019) – and compiled a 21-6 (.778) record during his two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant with the Ducks, going 9-4 in 2018 and 12-2 in 2019
  • Oregon intercepted 37 passes during his two seasons with the Ducks, ranking No. 2 nationally in 2019 (20) and tied for 11th in 2018 (17)
  • Coached Seattle Seahawks' safety Ugo Amadi, 2021 NFL Combine invitee Jevon Holland and 2019 Freshman All-American Verone McKinley III during his coaching tenure at Oregon
  • Hired for his first full-time collegiate coaching position as the defensive backs coach at UNLV in 2020 after working on the same staff as first-year UNLV head coach Marcus Arroyo in 2018 and 2019 at Oregon
  • Spent three years in Seattle from 2014-16 training NFL players in the off season and former college players for the NFL Combine in between his playing and coaching career, working primarily with Seattle Seahawks' and former Washington players including Budda Baker, DeShawn Shead, Shaq Thompson, Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright
  • Finished his collegiate playing career with two seasons at Washington in 2012 and 2013, earning a scholarship prior to his 2012 redshirt junior campaign after originally joining the Huskies as a walk-on transfer from Central Washington
  • Compiled 74 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss (-5 yards), two interceptions that he returned for 118 yards including an 84-yard touchdown, 12 pass breakups, 14 passes defended, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery while playing in all 26 games possible during his two seasons at Washington
  • Played in all 11 games (10 starts) as a 2010 sophomore at Central Washington and finished with 28 tackles, two interceptions including one he returned 40 yards, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick to help the Wildcats to an 8-3 overall mark and a 7-1 record in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference
  • Played in 10 games as a 2009 freshman at West Hills College, notching 34 tackles, two interceptions including one he returned for a touchdown, six pass breakups and eight passes defended
  • An All-State player at Kennedy High School as a 2008 prep senior who helped his squad to a 9-2 record, a Seamount League title and a state quarterfinal berth as a running back who scored 35 touchdowns and finished with 1818 rushing yards

Tre Watson Coaching History

  • Season: Team (League) – Coaching Position (Postseason)
  • 2018: Oregon (NCAA Division I FBS) – Graduate Assistant, Defense
  • 2019: Oregon (NCAA Division I FBS) – Graduate Assistant, Defense
  • 2020: UNLV (NCAA Division I FBS) – Defensive Backs

Tre Watson File

  • Birthdate: May 17, 1991
  • Hometown: Seattle, WA
  • High School: Kennedy HS
  • College: Washington, 2013, BA, Communication
  • Family: Wife – Taryn

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Discussion from...

Tre Watson Named Defensive Backs Coach

10,410 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Oski87
UrsineMaximus
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I don't know much about this young man but his bona fides look good. I'm glad Wilcox went with a young up and comer coach. Should do well with the current players and recruiting (hopefully). So on its surface, appears to be a great hire!!
Bearly Clad
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Welcome to the University of California to Tre Watson and his wife Taryn! Coach Watson will be a star in the coaching ranks for a long time to come, I can't wait to see what he brings to the squad. GA is in the NFL right now and coaching one of the best secondaries in the league (Dolphins in case anyone forgot) so I'm not saying this lightly . . . I think Tre Watson could be even better
91Cal
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Welcome to the family, Tre And Taryn!

Go Bears!
heartofthebear
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I'm a bit confused. Clearly this isn't the same guy who played running back at Cal about 5 years ago.
Anyway, welcome. It will be fun seeing the DBs develope under your tutelage.
harebear
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As has been well documented on other threads, there is a ton of excitement about this hire! I dare say that the best coaching staff in the west is here in Berkeley. Very optimistic about the future of the program and happy that our student athletes will benefit from his enthusiasm, work ethic, and expertise.
Big C
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heartofthebear said:

I'm a bit confused. Clearly this isn't the same guy who played running back at Cal about 5 years ago.
Anyway, welcome. It will be fun seeing the DBs develope under your tutelage.

Ah, so it WASN'T my imagination that that former RB who finally transferred to Texas was also named Tre Watson! First I thought, cool, he's coming home. Then, I thought "What does he know about coaching DBs?" Then, I thought, wait, it's a different Tre Watson. THEN, I thought maybe the RBs name was something similar to Tre Watson, but not actually Tre Watson.

Finally, I thought "I hope this 'new' Tre Watson does a great job here and loves the place!"

I think too much...
SurvivorOf1and10fkaLEA
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My exact thought process.
rkt88edmo
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Love that he stuck with it after walking on and worked his way into a scholarship and playing time. Looks like the kind of guy who can help us find and take the overlooked and help guide them into becoming strong assets.
Chapman_is_Gone
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Inexcusably poor journalism to write an article like this and fail to mention it's not the same guy as the running back of the same name who left the program a few years ago. SMH.
GivemTheAxe
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Big C said:

heartofthebear said:

I'm a bit confused. Clearly this isn't the same guy who played running back at Cal about 5 years ago.
Anyway, welcome. It will be fun seeing the DBs develope under your tutelage.

Ah, so it WASN'T my imagination that that former RB who finally transferred to Texas was also named Tre Watson! First I thought, cool, he's coming home. Then, I thought "What does he know about coaching DBs?" Then, I thought, wait, it's a different Tre Watson. THEN, I thought maybe the RBs name was something similar to Tre Watson, but not actually Tre Watson.

Finally, I thought "I hope this 'new' Tre Watson does a great job here and loves the place!"

I think too much...


I had the same thoughts: "why is JW hiring a great RB to coach the DB's. Maybe he wants to increase the number of Pick-sixes".
GivemTheAxe
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Big C said:

heartofthebear said:

I'm a bit confused. Clearly this isn't the same guy who played running back at Cal about 5 years ago.
Anyway, welcome. It will be fun seeing the DBs develope under your tutelage.

Ah, so it WASN'T my imagination that that former RB who finally transferred to Texas was also named Tre Watson! First I thought, cool, he's coming home. Then, I thought "What does he know about coaching DBs?" Then, I thought, wait, it's a different Tre Watson. THEN, I thought maybe the RBs name was something similar to Tre Watson, but not actually Tre Watson.

Finally, I thought "I hope this 'new' Tre Watson does a great job here and loves the place!"

I think too much...
Goobear
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Chapman_is_Gone said:

Inexcusably poor journalism to write an article like this and fail to mention it's not the same guy as the running back of the same name who left the program a few years ago. SMH.

If you read his bio you can see it is not the same guy. Also if you know Tre the RB, you can see from the pic he is not the same. Finally, a RB 2 years removed from playing being a DB coach? No of course not.
Bearly Clad
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This bullet point made it clear IMO
  • "Finished his collegiate playing career with two seasons at Washington in 2012 and 2013, earning a scholarship prior to his 2012 redshirt junior campaign after originally joining the Huskies as a walk-on transfer from Central Washington"
Maybe they could have put it at the top so people didn't get confused though
Chapman_is_Gone
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Goobear said:

Chapman_is_Gone said:

Inexcusably poor journalism to write an article like this and fail to mention it's not the same guy as the running back of the same name who left the program a few years ago. SMH.

If you read his bio you can see it is not the same guy. Also if you know Tre the RB, you can see from the pic he is not the same. Finally, a RB 2 years removed from playing being a DB coach? No of course not.
Making excuses for piss-poor journalism. You're sorry.

Ask any Cal journalism student who's right here and who's wrong.
Big C
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Bearly Clad said:

This bullet point made it clear IMO
  • "Finished his collegiate playing career with two seasons at Washington in 2012 and 2013, earning a scholarship prior to his 2012 redshirt junior campaign after originally joining the Huskies as a walk-on transfer from Central Washington"
Maybe they could have put it at the top so people didn't get confused though

Yes, reading the article made it clear, of course. Not a big deal.
Oski87
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Chapman_is_Gone said:

Goobear said:

Chapman_is_Gone said:

Inexcusably poor journalism to write an article like this and fail to mention it's not the same guy as the running back of the same name who left the program a few years ago. SMH.

If you read his bio you can see it is not the same guy. Also if you know Tre the RB, you can see from the pic he is not the same. Finally, a RB 2 years removed from playing being a DB coach? No of course not.
Making excuses for piss-poor journalism. You're sorry.

Ask any Cal journalism student who's right here and who's wrong.

If you go to the Premium board it is right at the top.
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