Cal Announces Hiring of DB Coach Allen Brown, RB Coach Julian Griffin
Cal on Tuesday confirmed what had been reported earlier, that Cal has hired Texas-San Antonio running backs coach Julian Griffin as its new running backs coach and has hired Colorado State defensive backs coach Allen Brown as the Bears’ new co-defensive backs coach.
Griffin replaces Aristotle Thompson, who was hired by Northwestern as its running back coach after serving five seasons as the Golden Bears running backs coach. Brown replaces Tre Watson, who left Cal to become TCU’s defensive backs coach.
Brown becomes the co-defensive backs coach along with Terrence Brown, giving the Bears two defensive backs coaches with the same last name.
Allen Brown has worked under Justin Wilcox at Cal before. He was the Bears’ defensive quality control coach in 2022. After that he was a quality control coach at Florida in 2023, and he was the cornerbacks coach at Washington State in 2024. He was hired as Colorado State’s defensive backs coach just two weeks ago, on January 10, but left to joins the Bears staff.
Griffin spent five seasons as UTSA before joining Cal’s staff. During his time with the Roadrunners, UTSA set a school record in single-season rushing yards. Griffin mentored Sincere McCormick, a two-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.
The addition of Griffin completes an overhaul of the Golden Bears’ offensive coaching staff. Bryan Harsin is the new offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. Kyle Cefalo is the new wide receivers coach, and Famika Anae is the new offensive line coach. Nick Rolovich was hired a senior offensive advisor.
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