Rice football has found its next offensive coordinator. The Owls are set to hire Cal tight ends coach Marques Tuiasosopo to run the Rice offense.
There have been a few changes to the Rice football coaching staff over the past several weeks. By the time the Owls arrive at spring practice in March they’ll have a new special teams coordinator, tight ends coach and offensive coordinator.
The men would fill those position coach roles were previously known. One, Chris Monfiletto, was already on staff. The other, Jim Jackson, was hired from UMass. We can now confirm head coach Mike Bloomgren has made his selection for the open offensive coordinator role.
Bloomgren is expected to name Cal tight ends coach Marques Tuiasosopo as his next offensive coordinator, replacing Jerry Mack who left the Owls’ staff to coach running backs at Tennessee.
Tuiasosopo played his college ball at Washington before being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Raiders. He would go on to play eight seasons in the NFL before turning to coaching. Tuiasosopo has spent time with Washington, UCLA, USC and Cal. He’s coached quarterbacks and tight ends and served as the passing game coordinator at multiple stops.
Bloomgren and Tuiasosopo has crossed paths before. Tuiasosopo spent the 2007 as a quarterback with the New York Jets where Bloomgren worked as a quality control assistant. Now they’ll be reunited, not as player and coach, but as members of the same staff.
Among his notable achievements to date, Tuiasosopo helped develop Josh Rosen while at UCLA. He was also named Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year in 2015 after helping USC secure the nation’s top recruiting class.