Cal Football: Trading Places -- Bears' New Running Backs Coach Comes from Cal Poly

Aristotle Thompson completes Cal coaching staff after being at the school that hired Cal's ex-running backs coach

Cal essentially traded assistant coaches with Cal Poly to fill the final vacancy on its coaching staff. Cal head coach Justin Wilcox announced Tuesday that he has hired Aristotle Thomson to be the Bears running backs coach.

It completes an interesting musical chairs of coaching changes between Cal and Cal Poly, an FCS school.

Thompson replaces Nick Edwards, who left his position as Cal’s running backs coach in December to become the offensive coordinator at Cal Poly under Beau Baldwin, who was Cal’s offensive coordinator this past season before becoming the head coach at Cal Poly.

Thompson comes to Cal after being the running backs coach at Cal Poly for the past 11 seasons.

Thompson joins two other new Cal assistant coaches on the offensive side -- offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and offensive line coach Angus McClure.

Thompson will have the job of developing Christopher Brown Jr., who rushed for 914 yards this past season as a sophomore, as well as Marcel Dancy and DeShawn Collins, both of whom were juniors this past season and combined to rush for 460 yards.

Under Thompson, Cal Poly fielded a run game that featured at least one 1,000-yard rusher each of the past nine seasons and helped put together five consecutive winning seasons from 2010-14.

Thompson and Wilcox worked together previously at Boise State, first in 2001 when Thompson was an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Broncos and Wilcox was a graduate assistant in his first season in the coaching profession.

Wilcox and Thompson teamed up again during the 2007 and 2008 seasons at Boise State with Thompson being the assistant director of football operations and Wilcox serving as the defensive coordinator. The Broncos were 30-7 during their three seasons together in Boise and played in bowl games each of the final two years.

"I know first-hand the type of coach and person Aristotle is," Wilcox said in a statement. "He joins our program after spending more than a decade coaching and teaching at a strong academic institution like Cal Poly, and understanding that type of strong academic environment is important. He also has a long track record of developing running backs, and he is well-known and well-liked in recruiting circles, particularly on the West Coast."

Thompson also provided a statement.

"I am excited to become part of a tremendous coaching staff at Cal," Thompson said. "This is a program that has established a great culture over the last three years and I'll do everything I can to contribute to it."

Thompson was a four-year letterwinner as a running back at Boise State (1997-2000), helping the Broncos to their first two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference championships with Big West titles in 1999 and 2000. Boise State also won the Humanitarian Bowl both years with victories over Louisville (1999) and UTEP (2000). Thompson earned a bachelor's of arts degree in social sciences with an emphasis in criminal justice from Boise State in 2001 and is a 1996 graduate of Jesuit High School in Portland. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in athletic administration at Idaho State.

Aristotle Thompson Coaching History
Seasons: Team – Position
2001: Boise State – Assistant Strength And Conditioning Coach
2002: Nampa High School (Nampa, Idaho) – Wide Receivers/Defensive Backs
2003-04: Eastern Oregon – Wide Receivers
2005-06: Grant High School (Portland, Ore.) – Defensive Coordinator/Running Backs
2007-08: Boise State – Assistant Director of Football Operations
2009-19: Cal Poly – Running Backs/ Recruiting Coordinator; Assistant Head Coach (2017-19)

Aristotle Thompson File
Birthdate: September 11, 1978
Hometown: Portland, Ore.
High School: Jesuit (Portland, Ore.)
College: Boise State, 2001, BS, Social Sciences with emphasis in Criminal Justice
Family: Wife, Sarah; Sons – Brock, Bryson, Lennon; Daughters – Akyra, Payton