Peter Sirmon, left, has left the Cal coaching staff and coach Justin Wilcox to join the New Orleans Saints. Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Ex-Husky LB Coach Peter Sirmon Takes NFL Job

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Feb 25, 2025 8:33 PM ET

Proving that nothing lasts forever, Peter Sirmon has left the California Bears football coaching staff and good friend Justin Wilcox to become the linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints and their new leader Kellen Moore, multiple news outlets reported.

To consider these two not on the sideline together is almost unthinkable.

They both coached at the University of Washington for Steve Sarkisian's staff in 2012-13, with Wilcox serving as defensive coordinator and Sirmon as the Huskies linebackers coach.

From there, they left Seattle with Sarkisian and coached together at USC in similar roles.

Wilcox, while in his second season at Cal, next brought Sirmon to Berkeley, where they coached together for the past seven seasons.

BREAKING

Cal’s coaching staff keeps changing as DC Peter Sirmon is headed to the NFL

He will be the new linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints

To very tough blow for the Bears

Good luck to him in the NFL pic.twitter.com/BzihVRYOXT
— Golden Bear News (@Goldnbear17) February 25, 2025

Of course, these two formed a deep bond as college football teammates at Oregon, with Sirmon starting at linebacker and Wilcox at safety and cornerback through 1999.

Each now 48, they arrived in the same Ducks recruiting class, Wilcox from Junction City, Oregon, and Sirmon from Walla Walla, Washington, where each were quarterbacks at one time.

A fourth-round draft pick, Sirmon played seven seasons in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans, while Wilcox, the son of a 49ers great, went undrafted and turned to coaching.

They reunited at the University of Tennessee as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach before Sarkisian summoned them to the UW.

In more recent years, Sirmon's son, Jackson, played linebacker for four seasons at the UW before he transferred to Cal and became a first-team All-Pac-12 selection while answering to his father.

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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