The Latest on Oregon State’s Coaching Search

While many in Beaver Nation prepare for Thanksgiving, movers & shakers inside the Valley Football Center are looking much further ahead. Over the weekend, several outlets published reports that inched closer to answering the biggest question surrounding Oregon State football.

Who will coach the Beavers next season?

The Beavers Reportedly Interviewed UConn Coach Jim L. Mora

Jim L. Mora, also known as Jim Mora Jr. to differentiate from his father’s own notable coaching career, could be Oregon State’s next head coach. Independent columnist John Canzano reported Friday that the Beavers gave Mora a job interview, and then slotted Mora second place in his list of favorites for the job. There are several reasons to believe Mora is a realistic candidate for the job.

He has personal ties to the Pacific Northwest. The Mora family moved to Seattle in 1975, when Jim’s father became the Washington defensive line coach under Don James. Jim was 13 years old, and later went on to play defensive back at Interlake High School in nearby Bellevue before walking-in at Washington. After one season as a graduate assistant on the Huskies staff, the junior Mora joined his father in the NFL. 

He carries a wealth of head-coaching experience, and an understanding of the Pac-12 recruiting footprint. Following head coaching stints with the Atlanta Falcons (26-22 from 2004-06) and Seattle Seahawks (5-11 in 2009), Mora landed at UCLA. In Westwood, he coached the Bruins to a 46-30 record across six seasons. After many years as a broadcaster, Mora leapt back into coaching at UConn in 2022, where he holds a winning record (27-23) through 4 seasons at one of college football's toughest jobs: the Huskies lack the recruiting base or the donor support of their school's blue chip basketball programs.

Mora will likely have many suitors before this season’s coaching carousel halts - other outlets have already linked him to openings at California and Stanford - but Oregon State might still offer allure: the Beavers’ travel schedule lacks the grueling cross-country flights of their former Pac-12 Bay Area brethren, and a move to Corvallis would bring Mora within a road trip of visiting his brothers, who live in Bend and Seattle. 

The Beavers Reportedly Interviewed Montana State Coach Brent Vigen 

Credit to Ryan Clarke at OregonLive.com, who tracked a commercial flight from Bozeman to Portland, met the FCS coaching dynamo at his PDX arrival gate, and then helped fans connect the dots: Vigen has no logical reason to be in Portland in the heart of his team’s potential FCS national championship run, except to interview for the Oregon State job. At the same time, other outlets reported that Vigen & Oregon State have already begun contract negotiations; fans should take a wait and see approach to the latter story, but the former story makes plenty of sense.

As a longtime assistant at North Dakota State, Vigen helped develop Carson Wentz. Then as the offensive coordinator at Wyoming, he tutored Josh Allen. After Montana State gave Vigen their keys in 2021, he built the Bobcats into a juggernaut: they just clinched a Big Sky conference championship with a 31-28 thriller over rivals Montana, and are poised for the fifth straight FCS playoff appearance during his tenure. Equipped with an FBS budget at Oregon State, and closer ties to west coast recruiting hotbeds, Vigen could make a big splash in the perpetually-rainy Willamette Valley.

California Fired Longtime Coach Justin Wilcox

Sunday, Cal general manager Ron Rivera announced Wilcox’s dismissal. The move follows a sobering upset by rivals Stanford on Saturday night. 

Wilcox, who went 48-55 over 9 seasons in the East Bay, should receive credit for approaching .500 at a program with a haunting budget shortfall. In addition, Oregon State boosters & donors would respect the Wilcox family’s deep roots in the Beaver State. Justin was born in Eugene, and grew up on his family farm in nearby Junction City, before playing defensive back at Oregon in the late nineties. His father Dave grew up in Vale, Eastern Oregon potato country, before embarking upon a gold jacket playing career with the San Francisco 49ers. Justin’s older brother Josh once tied Oregon’s single game receptions record in the 1995 Rose Bowl.

While Wilcox’s willingness to don his collegiate rivals’ orange & black is not known, Oregon State should at least kick the tires on an experienced coach with local connections.