California Golden Bears Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Assistant to the Offensive Coordinator
- Email:
Coaching Accolades
- 3 consecutive Cal bowl appearances.
- Coached Jack Endries to All-ACC honors in 2024.
Notable Player Accolades
- 4x Letterwinner for the Golden Bears.
- Pac-12 Football Scholar Athlete of the Year (2020).
- Campbell Trophy Semifinalist.
- Wuerffel Trophy Semifinalist.
Mike Saffell was promoted to Cal's assistant to the offensive coordinator on June 1, 2026. He returns for his 10th season at Cal as a player or coach and his third campaign as a full-time member of the coaching staff in 2026.
At the age of 24, Saffell was promoted from a second-year graduate assistant to the team's tight ends coach between the 2023 regular season and the Bears' appearance in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. In two-plus seasons in the role, Saffel helped Jack Endries (2024) and Mason Mini (2025) become the nation's top pass-catching tight ends, with Endries also leading all Cal players in both receptions and yards receiving. Saffel started his coaching career in 2021 as a student assistant with a pair of tight ends - Keleki Latu and Jake Tonges - from his tenure as a graduate or student assistant going on to play in the NFL.
Saffell played four seasons at Cal as an offensive lineman (2017-20). He was a team captain and the Pac-12's Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year as a 2020 senior. Saffell was also named a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy and Wuerffel Trophy that are considered college football's premier academic and community service awards, respectively. He helped Cal to back-to-back bowl games with the Bears appearing at the Cheez-It Bowl in 2018 before knocking off Illinois at the 2019 Redbox Bowl to finish 8-5 overall.
