It’s that time of year where college football players are shuffling out of programs. The same is true of assistant coaches, and nowhere is that more true than at Oregon on Thursday as they had a slight shuffling to Mario Cristobal’s defensive staff.
First it was reported by SI/Fox Sports reporter Bruce Feldman that Ducks’ defensive backs coach Charles Clark was returning to his alma mater of Ole Miss after several stops out West.
It seems Clark’s departure to the south was in the works for a while because Oregon already has a replacement lined up for his spot on the staff as they announced not long afterwards that former Nebraska assistant Donte Williams was headed to Eugene.
“We are excited to add Donte to the staff,” Cristobal said in a statement. “His leadership skills and impact on student-athletes will be of great benefit to our program. Donte is an excellent coach and a nationally recognized top recruiter, and we look to forward to utilizing his efforts, knowledge and energy to move our program forward.”
What’s interesting is that Clark coached the Ducks corners this past season but Williams was named as the team’s new outside linebackers coach in the release announcing the hire. While the latter has primarily coached that position in stops at Nebraska, Arizona and San Jose State, he was a graduate assistant handling the spot at Washington several years ago. It’s possible he slides over to handle corners or there’s more staff shuffling coming to the program shortly.
Oregon has hired Donte Williams as its OLB coach. He could slide over to coaching corners, however, per a source, because CBs coach Charles Clark is expected to leave.
— Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) January 4, 2018
