Feb. 5, 2018
San José State University football head coach Brent Brennan filled three vacant assistant coaching positions, assigned new responsibilities to four assistants from the 2017 coaching staff and added one of the Bay Area's most respected football coaches to the Spartans in an analyst role.
Fred Guidici, San José State University's quality control coach in 2017, was promoted to a full-time assistant coaching position as the Spartans' special teams coordinator.
Kevin McGiven and Aric Williams are joining the San José State coaching staff as the offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, respectively. And, Terry Malley, a San José State assistant coach during the 2009 through 2014 seasons, is returning to the Spartans as a football analyst.
"We're really excited about the additions we made to the staff. Obviously, when you lose somebody you keep moving forward and improve the staff," said Brennan who had vacancies for an offensive coordinator and a defensive backs coach and had the opportunity to add a 10th full-time assistant coach.
Guidici is in his second San José State coaching tenure. He was the Spartans' special teams coordinator during the 2012 through 2014 seasons and the running backs coach in 2012. The 1989 San José State graduate has more than 25 years of college and professional football coaching experience.
McGiven comes to the Spartans after serving as the offensive coordinator at Oregon State during the 2017 season. Named the Beavers quarterbacks coach in 2015, he added the responsibilities of co-offensive coordinator in 2016 and was promoted to offensive coordinator for 2017.
Besides Oregon State, McGiven was the offensive coordinator at Utah State in 2013 and 2014, Montana State in 2012, Weber State in 2007 and 2008 and Southern Utah in 2005. In 2014, FootballScoop.com named McGiven its national Quarterbacks Coach of the Year.
"Kevin McGiven has a lot of experience and has called thousands of football plays in big stadiums in real football situation. I worked with Kevin (at Oregon State) and he is incredibly detailed and meticulous. The combination of his experience as a coordinator and calling plays and having a tremendous amount of success in the Mountain West before at Utah State is exciting adding him as a football coach and a person," said the San Jose State head coach about the Spartans new offensive coordinator.
Williams spent the last three seasons at the University of Idaho coaching defensive backs. The 2005 Oregon State graduate was a University of Montana assistant coach for five seasons (2010 through 2014) and was a graduate assistant coach at Arizona State in 2009. Williams played professionally for the Philadelphia Soul (2007) and the Arizona Rattlers (2008) of the Arena Football League and Cologne Centurions (2006) of NFL Europe.
"His knowledge of Southern California and the recruiting world, his technique and knowledge will add a lot to the corners (CB) group. When he came for his interview, he did a fabulous job going over the details of his technique. He blew the competition out of the water in the interview process," Brennan said about Williams.
In his first stint with the San José State football program, Malley had various assistant coaching roles on offense and recruiting coordinator responsibilities for head coaches Dick Tomey, Mike McIntyre and Ron Caragher.
Malley's Bay Area coaching roots date back to 1976 at San José's Leland High School. He was the head coach at Santa Clara University and led the Broncos to a 47-39-1 win-loss record in eight seasons. Malley was the San José Sabercats offensive coordinator for 15 seasons and was instrumental in the team winning four Arena Bowl championships.
Brennan also announced added roles for four returning coaches from last year's staff. Defensive coordinator Derrick Odum adds the title of associate head coach. Running backs coach Alonzo Carter also will serve as the team's recruiting coordinator. Offensive line coach Joe Bernardi also will be run game coordinator. Quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson adds the title of passing game coordinator.
FOR TRANSACTIONS
San José State University ----- Promoted Fred Guidici to special teams coordinator; named Kevin McGiven, offensive coordinator, Aric Williams, defensive backs coach, and Terry Malley, football analyst. Added responsibilities to Joe Bernardi, now offensive line coach and run game coordinator; Alonzo Carter, running backs coach and recruiting coordinator; Ryan Gunderson, quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator; and Derrick Odum, associate head coach and defensive coordinator.