CAL POLY PRESS RELEASE
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Todd Spencer, who has coached football for nearly four decades, has been selected by Cal Poly head coach Tim Walsh to succeed Saga Tuitele as offensive line coach at Cal Poly.
In addition, Juston Wood, who has coached the wide receivers and quarterbacks over the last seven seasons, will assume Tuitele’s role as offensive coordinator of the Mustangs.
Tuitele, offensive line coach for eight seasons and co-offensive coordinator for five years before the “co-“ was removed from the title in 2013, left the Mustang football program two weeks ago to become offensive line coach and running game coordinator at New Mexico.
Five of Spencer’s teams over the last 11 years, including stops at Navy, Georgia Tech and most recently Army, led the Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing. Cal Poly’s triple option — a similar rushing attack to the academies — finished No. 1 in rushing in the Football Championship Subdivision each of the last three seasons, including a school and Big Sky Conference record 387.3 yards per contest last fall.
“To find a man with his vast experience in relation to our offense in the time we had was amazing,” said Walsh, who begins his eighth season as head coach of the Mustangs next week. “I believe we have an opportunity to improve and I am really excited to work with Todd on and off the field.”
Named one of the top five offensive line coaches in the nation by CBSSports.com in the summer of 2008, Spencer is well versed both in the option attack and service academy football. He has worked with option offenses for the majority of his career, including 23 years as an offensive line coach at the Division I level.
For the last three years, Spencer was offensive line coach at Army in West Point, N.Y. He worked the 2013 campaign under former Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson, who was head coach at the United States Military Academy from 2009-13. Ellerson currently is defensive coordinator under former Mustang assistant coach Ian Shields at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida. Ellerson coached Cal Poly from 2001 until 2008.
Prior to his stint with the Black Knights, Spencer spent four seasons as the co-offensive line coach at Georgia Tech, where he worked primarily with the tackles from 2008-11.
In his four seasons in Atlanta, Spencer’s charges earned six All-ACC certificates, including four first-team selections. The Yellow Jackets led the ACC in total offense in 2008 and 2009 while running the triple-option offense. The team led the nation in rushing for the first time in school history in 2010 after a runner-up showing in 2009.
Prior to joining the staff at Georgia Tech, he spent 11 seasons as the offensive line coach at Navy. The Mids won the Commander In Chief’s Trophy and made postseason appearances in each of Spencer’s last four seasons. Navy led the nation in rushing four times during his tenure in Annapolis, including three straight years from 2005-07. In addition to posting the top-ranked rushing offense, the 2003 squad set school records for total rushing yards (4,202), yards per attempt (5.5), rushing touchdowns (44), total offense (5,506), total offense per game (423.5) and yards per play (6.0).
Before his position at Navy, Spencer was the offensive line coach at Oregon State from 1991-96. The team finished second in the nation in rushing in 1993, averaging 300.6 yards per game.
Wood, who was a quarterback in the Arena Football League for three seasons, coached the wide receivers at Cal Poly from 2009-13 and switched to coach the quarterbacks prior to the 2013 Spring Camp.
Wood played under Walsh at Portland State in the early 2000s, twice earning Academic All-American honors from the Athletic Directors Association. He was a first-team All-Big Sky Conference selection at quarterback in 2001 and honorable mention in 2002, and served as the Vikings’ team captain both seasons.
A free agent with the Minnesota Vikings during the 2003 preseason, Wood passed for 5,653 yards and 37 touchdowns in his Portland State career with six 300-yard passing games and led the Big Sky in passing as a junior.
