Cal football announced some new additions to the coaching staff Saturday.
Among these is a familiar face, Mike Bruno, who returns to Cal as a defensive analyst, the same position he held with the program previously for four seasons starting in 2018. Bruno worked with defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon at Mississippi State and Louisville in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Bruno was most recently defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Minot State for the 2023 season, having previously also spent time at Dartmouth (secondary and special teams coach), and served as a defensive assistant at Louisville and graduate assistant at Mississippi State.
The Bears have also made an adjustment when it comes to special teams. Michael Frisina, a former Boise State kicker, comes to Cal in a quality control position for special teams — a unit that struggled considerably in the 2023 season. Frisina spent the last four seasons in the same role at as many programs: UNLV in 2020, UC Davis in 2021, his alma mater Boise State in 2022 and Oregon State last season. The hire comes after the former assistant for quality control for special teams Zach Tinker, "Coach Tink," returned to Oregon after spending one season in the position with the Bears.
The third addition, officially announced by the program today, is Winterhawk Leighton. Leighton had previously announced that he was joining the Bears' staff in a graduate assistant position on offense in December via X, formerly known as Twitter. Leighton played at Central Washington 2017-2019 and spent the next two years as an assistant coach at his alma mater. He has also served as a graduate assistant at Idaho in 2022 and Hawaii in 2023.
