BERKELEY – Cal head coach Justin Wilcox announced Monday that Gerald Alexander has agreed to become the Golden Bears' defensive backs coach. Alexander spent a combined 10 seasons as a player in the NFL (2007-11) and collegiately at Boise State (2002-06) before launching his coaching career in 2012.

"Gerald has a tremendous understanding of the game and is rapidly developing into a top-notch coach and recruiter," Wilcox said. "I knew he would be a special coach one day when I was coaching him at Boise State. It was very evident that he has all of the qualities it takes to be a great coach, and I knew he had that all important 'it' factor. We are looking forward to Gerald bringing that to Cal and working effectively with our football student-athletes. He will combine the expertise he has gained coaching and playing the game with the enthusiasm he has shown teaching it."

"I'm excited to be joining the great coaching staff that is being put in place at Cal and am thrilled to be doing it at a place with such great tradition and history," Alexander said. "I am grateful for the tremendous opportunity and will do everything I can to help us be a successful football program. A lot of the information I've gained as both a player and early on in my coaching career have prepared me for this opportunity, and I'm eager to begin getting that knowledge to the players in our program."

Alexander spent the 2016 campaign coaching the secondary at Montana State, where his recruiting areas included Los Angeles County, and helped the Bobcats improve in both passing yards allowed per completion and passing efficiency defense.

In 2015, he was the secondary coach at Indiana State after previous stops as a graduate assistant working with defensive backs for a Cactus Bowl team at Washington in 2014 and a Sun Belt co-championship squad who also captured the GoDaddy Bowl at Arkansas State in 2013. Alexander was reunited at Washington with Huskies' first-year head coach Chris Petersen, who was an assistant during Alexander's first four seasons at Boise State and the Broncos' head coach in his final campaign. Alexander worked with a talented group of Washington defensive backs during his single season with the Huskies including Budda Baker and Sidney Jones. Baker was a 2014 Freshman All-American who would go on to unanimous All-American honors in 2016 when Jones was also a second-team All-American. Both would declare for the 2017 NFL Draft and forego their final season of collegiate eligibility at Washington.

Alexander started his coaching career as a volunteer at his prep alma mater Rancho Cucamonga High School in 2012 for a team that reached the semifinals of the Southern Section Inland Division playoffs and also had a pair of stints in the NFL's Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship working for Tampa Bay in 2016 and Tennessee in 2015. The program's objective is to use NFL clubs' training camps, offseason workout programs and minicamps to give talented coaches opportunities to observe, participate, gain experience and ultimately gain a full-time NFL coaching position.

Alexander spent his five seasons as an NFL player with Detroit (2007-08), Jacksonville (2009-10), Carolina (2010), Miami (2011) and the New York Jets (2012) after being selected by the Lions in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He started all 16 games as a rookie with Detroit in 2007 and finished with career highs of 81 tackles, 2.0 sacks, six passes defended and two interceptions that he returned 70 yards. He also started 10 games for the Jaguars two seasons later and put up 55 tackles, five passes defended, two interceptions that he returned 70 yards and a career-high three forced fumbles.

Alexander was a three-year starter (2004-06) and four-year letterwinner at Boise State (2003-06), where he was part of four straight Western Athletic Conference championship teams that compiled a 46-6 overall record and a 31-1 conference mark. He was a 2006 senior in Wilcox's first season as Boise State's defensive coordinator for a squad that finished 13-0 overall, won the Fiesta Bowl and ended the campaign ranked No. 5 in the final AP Top 25. He was also a redshirt freshman when Wilcox was a graduate assistant in 2002.

Alexander, who earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Boise State in 2009, was also a standout on the football field and track as well as in the classroom at Rancho Cucamonga High School before graduating in 2002.

Alexander and his wife, Krystina, have two sons, Kaelin and Kamari.

GERALD ALEXANDER FILE
Birthdate: June 28, 1984
Hometown: Rancho Cucamonga, CA
High School: Rancho Cucamonga HS
College: Boise State, 2009, Bachelor's in Communications
Family: Wife, Krystina; Sons, Kaelin and Kamari
 
COACHING HISTORY
*Season: Team – Position (Champions, Postseason)
2012: Rancho Cucamonga HS – Volunteer (Southern Section Inland Division Playoffs)
2013: Arkansas State – Graduate Assistant, Defensive Backs (Sun Belt Co-Champions, GoDaddy Bowl)
2014: Washington – Graduate Assistant, Defensive Backs (Cactus Bowl)
2015: Indiana State – Secondary
2016: Montana State – Secondary
*Season in which bowl game was played