UCLA football reportedly close to new offensive coaching hires
UCLA running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu will become the next offensive coordinator for Bruin football, according to multiple reports. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Matt Cummings
Jan. 10, 2016 5:36 p.m.
UCLA football will make three changes to its offensive coaching staff, according to multiple reports, highlighted by the promotion of running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu to offensive coordinator.
Marques Tuiasosopo, the current quarterbacks coach at USC, will join the Bruins’ coaching staff in the same role, and Rip Scherer, currently the football program’s associate athletic director, will take over as the tight ends coach.
The moves, which were not confirmed by UCLA, come after offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and quarterbacks coach Taylor Mazzone took jobs at Texas A&M on Thursday.
Polamalu, who played fullback and linebacker at USC from 1982-85, enters his new position with almost two decades of college coaching experience, as well as six years as an NFL running backs coach.
Currently in his second stint at UCLA, Polamalu was a graduate assistant coach with the Bruins’ secondary and special teams in 1992-93, when the team reached the Rose Bowl with a share of the Pac-10 title. Polamalu served as the USC offensive coordinator and running backs coach from 2010-12 before spending the past two seasons as the running backs coach at UCLA.
Tuiasosopo, a former NFL quarterback who was drafted in the second round in 2001, worked as the tight ends coach at UCLA in 2012 before leaving in 2013 to coach quarterbacks at his alma mater, Washington. He then joined the USC staff the next year as quarterbacks coach and offensive associate head coach.
In 2015, Scout.com named the 36-year-old the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year.
Tuiasosopo’s father, Manu, played defensive end at UCLA in the 1970s, making two All-American teams before being selected 18th in the 1979 draft.
Scherer, 63, has coached 27 years at the college level, working in each of the Power Five conferences, and six years in the NFL. He has spent the past two years as the Bruins’ associate athletic director.
Scherer, who played quarterback for coach Lou Holtz from 1971-73 at William & Mary, was the head coach at James Madison from 1991-94 before taking the same position at Memphis from 1995-2000. He worked as a quarterbacks coach for the Cleveland Browns from 2005-08 and for the Carolina Panthers during the 2009-10 seasons.
Compiled by Matt Cummings, Bruin Sports senior staff.
