SAN DIEGO -- Ron Gould, a former UC Davis head coach and one of the most highly regarded running back coaches in the country, has been named an associate head coach and running backs coach at San Diego State, Aztec head coach Brady Hoke announced Monday.
Gould brings 33 seasons of coaching experience to The Mesa, including four as a head coach at UC Davis and 24 years working the in the Pac-12 Conference.
"Coach Gould has great experience when you look at where's been, how he's coached, whom he's coached and how he's recruited," said Hoke. "He's done an absolutely unbelievable job at every stop along his career. He brings great experience to us with the running backs and how he's developed them, and we can't wait for him to get started."
Gould has mentored some of the top runners in the game, including Super Bowl champions Marshawn Lynch (Seattle Seahawks), C.J. Anderson (Denver Broncos) and Shane Vereen (New England Patriots), college standouts Bryce Love and J.J. Arrington, and NFL players Jahvid Best and Justin Forsett, among others. In all Gould has coached seven NFL Pro Bowl selections, three first-team All-America picks and six first-team all-conference performers. Five of the past nine Super Bowls have featured a running back whom Gould has coached.
Gould has spent the last six seasons at Stanford, most notably guiding Love to a record-breaking season in 2017. Love set the school's single-season (2,118) and single-game (301) rushing records while being named the 2017 Doak Walker Award winner. Love, also the Lombardi Award winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up as a junior, set Stanford's career records for rush average (6.79) and consecutive 100-yard rushing games (9). The Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and unanimous All-American finished with the fourth-most rushing yards and fifth-most touchdowns in school history. Love was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Washington Football Team.
Prior to joining Stanford, Gould was the head coach at UC Davis from 2013-16. His Aggies posted the Big Sky Conference's highest Academic Progress Rate (APR) from the NCAA all four years. On the field, Gould helped guide Gabe Manzanares to the program's best rushing total (1,285 yards) in more than a decade in 2013. Manzanares went on to win Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honors while ranking among the conference and FCS leaders in several statistical categories.
Gould coached the running backs for 16 years at California (1997-12), and was promoted to associate head coach in 2008 and added duties of run game coordinator in 2011. Gould developed several of college football's top tailbacks at Cal, a list that includes NFL players Lynch, Arrington, Best, Vereen, Adimchinobe Echemandu (Houston Texans), Forsett (Houston Texans), Tarik Smith (Dallas Cowboys) and Will Ta'ufo'ou (Jacksonville Jaguars). Other players who got their start with Gould and later signed NFL contracts include Chris Manderino (Cincinnati Bengals) and Byron Storer (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Nine of the program's top 11 individual rushing seasons and six of Cal's all-time top rushers were coached by Gould. Lynch was the 2006 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, Arrington was eighth in the 2006 Heisman Trophy voting after leading the country with 2,018 yards, and Jahvid Best was a two-time All-Pac-10 first-team selection who showcased his speed while running the 100 meters for Saint Lucia in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Lynch (2007) and Best (2010) were first-round picks in the NFL Draft, while Arrington and Vereen were second-round choices.
Gould, who played football at Oregon and graduated in 1988, began his collegiate career as a graduate assistant his alma mater in 1990-91. Gould also coached the defensive backs at Portland State in 1992 and at Boise State from 1993-96.
Gould was a candidate for the 2010 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Assistant Coach of the Year Award and served NFL internships with the Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams.
A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, Gould played defensive back at Scottsdale Community College from 1984-85 before earning a scholarship to Wichita State. The Shockers discontinued their program, leading him to Oregon, where he played for the Ducks and earned his bachelor's degree in human services.
Gould and his wife, Teresa, have two sons -- Tevin and Trae.