BERKELEY – Cal head coach Justin Wilcox announced Monday that Marques Tuiasosopo has agreed to become the Golden Bears' passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Tuiasosopo has deep ties to the West Coast as a collegiate quarterback at Washington and in the NFL with Oakland before moving on to coaching stints at his alma mater as well as UCLA and USC. Tuiasosopo was on staffs at Washington (2013) and USC (2014-15) that featured Wilcox as the defensive coordinator.

"It is important that the coaches on our staff have strong connections on the West Coast and Marques certainly has been a fixture in the football world on this side of the country for a long time," Wilcox said. "The connections he has made over the years along with his familiarity with the Pac-12 will pay tremendous dividends for us in recruiting. Also, having been a former player he understands the game from the players' perspective quite well and is enthusiastic on imparting the knowledge he has gained as both a player and young assistant coach to our players."

"I'm really excited to be joining the Cal football family and to be coaching with Justin Wilcox again," Tuiasosopo said. "Justin is a great coach and an even better person. I look forward to working with the new coaching staff that is being put together at Cal and tapping into the program's rich football history, building off that and bringing championship football back to this great University."

Tuiasosopo most recently spent one campaign as the passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach at UCLA in 2016 with the Bruins' passing offense ranking No. 19 nationally (295.6 ypg). Tuiasosopo first joined the UCLA staff as an intern in the football office in 2011 before being elevated to full-time quarterbacks coach for the Fight Hunger Bowl. In 2012, he served as UCLA's tight ends coach for a team that finished 9-5 overall and played in the Holiday Bowl.

Tuiasosopo returned to Washington to coach quarterbacks in 2013 and by the end of the season was the interim head coach for the Huskies' victory over BYU in the Fight Hunger Bowl. Washington ranked 16th nationally in completion percentage (65.4%) while senior quarterback Keith Price ended his career as the Huskies' all-time leader in several categories including completion percentage (64.0%), passing efficiency (143.2) and touchdown passes (75).

In between his two stints at UCLA, he spent two seasons as the associate head coach offense and tight ends coach at crosstown rival USC, where he was named the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year by Scout.com in February of 2015 after helping the Trojans haul in the nation's top 2015 recruiting class according to the organization.

The two offenses Tuiasosopo worked with at USC in 2014 and 2015 were efficient and took care of the football.

USC finished 9-4 overall including a Holiday Bowl victory over Nebraska in his first season with the Trojans in 2014 and had the nation's top completion percentage (69.1%), ranked second in fewest turnovers lost (12), fourth in passing efficiency (165.35) and threw only five interceptions to tie for the sixth-lowest total in the country. An 8-6 USC team that reached the Holiday Bowl for a second consecutive year in 2015 ranked among the nation's top 20 in fewest turnovers lost (T4th, 12), fewest fumbles lost (T9th, 5), completion percentage (11th, 66.7%), fewest passes intercepted (T1th, 7) and team passing efficiency (20th, 153.60).

After Tuiasosopo's playing career ending following the 2008 NFL season, he spent the 2009 and 2010 football campaigns as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater Washington. Tuiasosopo was drafted in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft by Oakland and spent seven of his eight NFL seasons (2001-06, 2008) as a backup quarterback with the Raiders while he was also a member of the New York Jets in 2007.

Tuiasosopo earned his business degree from Washington in 2001 after capping a brilliant four-year playing career for the Huskies (1997-2000) by finishing eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior while also earning Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and Rose Bowl MVP honors. The two-time UW captain (1999-2000) established the school's career total offense record (7,374) as he passed for 5,879 yards and 33 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,495 yards with 21 TDs. In a 1999 victory over Stanford, he became the first NCAA Division I player to pass for 300 yards and rush for 200 in the same game as he combined for a school-record 509 total yards (302 pass, 207 rush). The Huskies also reached bowls in each of his first three seasons (1997 Aloha Bowl, 1998 Oahu Bowl, 1999 Holiday Bowl).

Tuiasosopo was a two-sport prep standout who starred in both football and baseball at Woodinville High School. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1997 MLB Draft but chose to play collegiate football.

Tuiasosopo comes from an incredible athletic lineage with many collegiate and professional athletes in his family including Cal Athletic Hall of Famer and All-American fullback Johnny Olszewski (1950-52), who was the No. 4 overall selection by the Chicago Cardinals in the 1953 NFL Draft and spent 10 seasons in the NFL with Chicago (1953-57), Washington (1958-60), Detroit (1961) and Denver (1962). His uncle, Faasamala Tagaloa, was a two-year letterwinner as a wide receiver at Cal (1988-89) while his father, Manu Tuiasosopo, played defensive line at UCLA (1975-78) before embarking on an eight-year NFL career with Seattle (1979-83) and San Francisco (1984-86).

Tuiasosopo and his wife, Lisa, a former volleyball player at North Carolina, have two sons, Brayden and Bryce, and a daughter, Kylie.
 
MARQUES TUIASOSOPO FILE
Birthdate: March 22, 1979
Hometown: Woodinville, WA
High School: Woodinville HS
College: Washington, 2001, Bachelor's in Business
Family: Wife, Lisa; Sons, Brayden and Bryce; Daughter, Kylie
Pronunciation: marcus too-ee-AH-suh-SO-po
 
COACHING HISTORY
*Season: Team – Position (Postseason)
2009: Washington – Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
2010: Washington – Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach (Holiday Bowl)
^2011: UCLA – Intern/Quarterbacks (Fight Hunger Bowl)
2012: UCLA – Tight Ends (Holiday Bowl)
+2013: Washington – Quarterbacks/Interim Head Coach (Fight Hunger Bowl)
2014: USC – Associate Head Coach Offense/Tight Ends (Holiday Bowl)
2015: USC – Associate Head Coach Offense/Tight Ends (Holiday Bowl)
2016: UCLA – Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks
*Season in which bowl game was played; ^Elevated to Quarterbacks Coach for Fight Hunger Bowl; +Elevated to Interim Head Coach for Fight Hunger Bowl