CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State football head coach Trent Bray announced Tuesday five more additions to his coaching staff for the 2024 season.
The additions include Ilaisa Tuaki (ee-LIE-suh Too-ee-ah-kee) as Oregon State’s defensive line coach, AJ Cooper as the Beavers’ inside linebackers coach and Jon Boyer as OSU’s tight ends coach. Additionally, Bray has appointed Mike McHugh as Oregon State’s director of football operations and Todd McShane as director of player personnel.
“Four of these five are faces whom Beaver Nation will recognize,” Bray said. “I’m excited to have them on staff. Jon is well-known and well-respected by current members of the team, while AJ is an up-and-coming coach who knows our defense. Ilaisa is a veteran coach who has experience coaching both sides of the ball. Mike and Todd are going to be key pieces of the staff who will play vital roles with our student-athletes.”
The appointments are contingent on the completion of all university hiring processes.
Boyer will be back for his seventh season at Oregon State in 2024, and first as a position coach. His first six seasons were spent as a quality control analyst and senior advisor on the offensive side of the ball. He’s been instrumental with the Beavers offense, which averaged better than 32 points per game in 2022 and is at 33.8 entering the 2023 Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Two OSU running backs have earned All-American honors during Boyer’s tenure. Boyer came to Oregon State from Northern Colorado, where he served as the Bears’ associate head coach and offensive coordinator.
Cooper returns to Corvallis after a one-year stint as linebackers coach at Sacramento State. He coached linebacker Armon Bailey to First-Team All-Big Sky honors in 2023 as the Hornets went 8-5.
Cooper, who was a two-time NAIA National Champion at Southern Oregon, served as a graduate assistant for defense at Oregon State in 2022. OSU posted its third-ever 10-win season that year, and Cooper was a part of a staff that helped the Beavers’ defense limit opponents to 108.2 rush yards per game, No. 1 in the Pac-12 and 15th nationally.
Tuiaki returns to Corvallis after coaching at BYU from 2016-22 where he was the Cougars’ defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, while also coaching linebackers for one season. He spent one season at Oregon State as the Beavers’ linebackers and special teams coach, after three years each at Utah – defensive line and fullbacks/tight ends – and Utah State – running backs and special teams.
He was a 2013 Broyles Award nominee and coached four all-Pac-12 selections during his tenure at Utah. Tuiaki’s BYU defense in 2021 totaled 20 takeaways, including 15 interceptions. The Cougars had the nation’s No. 4 scoring defense in 2020, and were No. 11 in total defense. His 2019 squad, meanwhile, forced 22 total takeaways.
McHugh has worked at the high school, college and professional ranks since 1985, and comes to Corvallis from Fresno State, where he had been since 2018. McHugh has also served as director of football operations at Missouri, Washington, California and Oregon. He’s also been a quality control coach with the Detroit Lions and an assistant coach with Eastern Michigan.
McShane also returns to Corvallis, where the Oregon State graduate served as assistant director of player personnel. McShane was most recently at Northwestern as the Wildcats’ director of recruiting (offense) since 2018. Prior to his tenure in Illinois, he worked as the associate and assistant director of player personnel at Nebraska.
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