Ronald Allen Caragher (born January 24, 1967) is an American athletics administrator and former college football coach who currently serves as the assistant athletics director for development at the University of San Diego. He was previously the head coach at the University of San Diego and

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

. Originally from

Morgan Hill, California Morgan Hill is a city in Santa Clara County, California, at the southern tip of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan Hill is an affluent residential community, the seat of several high-tech companies, and a dining, entertainme ...

, Caragher played college football at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and later became an assistant coach for UCLA football, first as a graduate assistant from 1994 to 1995, then as wide receivers coach from 1996 to 2002. From 2003 to 2006, Caragher served as running backs coach for

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and was part of the

2006 Music City Bowl The 2006 Music City Bowl featured the Clemson Tigers and the Kentucky Wildcats. Clemson entered the game with a record of 8–4 after having been ranked in the AP poll for most weeks of the season, as high as No. 10; Kentucky was 7–5 and unran ...

championship coaching staff. Caragher first became a head coach at the University of San Diego in 2007 and remained in that position until 2012. During his tenure there, San Diego won three

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member ...

championships. From 2013 to 2016, Caragher was head coach at

. Although he inherited a team that ranked in the top 25, he was unable to match the success of that season. After leaving San Jose State, Caragher was an assistant coach at

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

in 2018 and 2019. Beginning in 2020, Caragher returned to the University of San Diego as an assistant athletics director.

Early life

Born in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

, Caragher grew up with his mother in

Morgan Hill Morgan Hill is a city in Santa Clara County, California, at the southern tip of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Morgan Hill is an affluent residential community, the seat of several high-tech companies, and a dining, entertainmen ...

after his parents divorced. Caragher played on the local Pop Warner football team and switched from running back to quarterback at age 12. Reflecting on his upbringing, Caragher said: "In a single-parent home, I was very influenced by coaches. I was very blessed to have male coaches in my life that were good guides for me, because I could've gone different directions." Attending Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, Caragher lettered in three sports including football and graduated in 1985.

Athletic career

Caragher received an athletic scholarship to the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA) in 1985. At UCLA, Caragher

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year, then was backup

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from 1986 to 1989, including two seasons behind

Troy Aikman Troy Kenneth Aikman (born November 21, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. After transferring from Oklahoma, he played college football at UCLA, ...

. Caragher was part of the UCLA teams that won the

1986 Freedom Bowl The 1986 Freedom Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 1986. It was the third Freedom Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the BYU Cougars 31–10. UCLA tailback Gaston Green was named the Player Of The Game. He ran for a ...

1987 Aloha Bowl The 1987 Jeep-Eagle Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game, played as part of the 1987-88 bowl game schedule of the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the sixth Aloha Bowl. It was played on December 25, 1987, at Aloha Stadiu ...

, and

1989 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1989 Mobil Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 1989, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The game was played on January 2, the day after New Year's Day, since New Year's Day fell on a Sunday. The bowl game fea ...

. In UCLA's 52-17 win on November 7, 1987 over

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, Caragher was one of three backup quarterbacks who substituted for Aikman during

garbage time In sports, garbage time is the period toward the end of a timed sports competition that has become a blowout when the outcome of the game has effectively already been decided, and the coaches of one or both teams will decide to replace their best ...

. As a junior in 1988, Caragher completed 4 of 7 passes for 19 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. With UCLA leading

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

(24-0) late in the fourth quarter on October 22, Caragher came in to replace Aikman but threw an interception that led to an Arizona field goal; UCLA would ultimately win 24-3. In the 1989 Cotton Bowl, senior Caragher took over on one

handoff In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...

play after Aikman lost a contact lens. In 1990, Caragher graduated from UCLA with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

. Caragher became a pension administrator after finishing his bachelor's degree.

Coaching career

Assistant coach (1994–2006)

While studying for his master's degree in 1994, Caragher became a graduate assistant with UCLA football. In 1995, Caragher earned his master's degree in educational administration from UCLA. In 1996, Caragher became coach for wide receivers, punters, and kickers, a position he would hold until 2002. Caragher coached UCLA through five bowl games. UCLA had a record 20-game winning streak from 1997 to 1998. With Pac-10 titles in 1997 and 1998, UCLA also won the 1998 Cotton Bowl Classic (following the 1997 season) and

2002 Las Vegas Bowl The 2002 SEGA Sports Las Vegas Bowl was the 11th edition of the annual college football bowl game. It featured the New Mexico Lobos and the UCLA Bruins. The Bruins defeated the Lobos, 27–13. Notably the game was the first Division I-A college foo ...

. From 2003 to 2006, Caragher was running backs coach at

and was recruiting coordinator from 2005 to 2006. Kentucky's 8-5 2006 season was the school's best record since 1984, and Kentucky's

victory marked its first bowl game since 1999 and first bowl win since 1984.

San Diego (2007–2012)

Succeeding Jim Harbaugh, Caragher became head coach at Football Championship Subdivision school University of San Diego in 2007. Under Caragher, San Diego won three

(PFL) titles: in 2007, 2011, and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. The Pioneer Football League named Caragher Coach of the Year following a 9-2 season in 2011, the team's third season with such a record under Caragher. At San Diego, Caragher coached quarterback Josh Johnson, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.

San Jose State (2013–2016)

Signing a five-year contract, Caragher accepted the head coach position at

on December 17, 2012, a week after previous head coach

Mike MacIntyre George Michael MacIntyre (born March 14, 1965) is an American football coach. He is the head coach at FIU. MacIntyre served as the head football coach at San Jose State University from 2010 to 2013 and the University of Colorado Boulder from 2 ...

resigned to become head coach at

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. Caragher coached his first game in the 2013 season after

Kent Baer Kent Lex Baer (born May 2, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is the defensive coordinator at the University of Montana, a position he had held since 2018. Baer served as the interim head football coach at the University of Notre D ...

served as interim head coach for the 2012 Military Bowl on December 27, 2012. During the 2013 spring practice period, Caragher changed the defensive line alignment from a 4–3 to a

3–4 defense In American football, the 3–4 defense is a common defensive alignment consisting of three down linemen and four linebackers. It is a called a "base defense" because it is the default defensive alignment used on "base downs" (1st and 2nd downs ...

and put quarterback

David Fales David Daniel Fales (born October 4, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at San Jose State. Fales played high school football ...

under

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

rather than the

pistol offense The pistol offense is an American football formation and strategy developed by coaches Michael Taylor of Mill Valley, California and popularized by Chris Ault when he was head coach at the University of Nevada, Reno. It is a hybrid of the traditi ...

. Following an 11–2 season in 2012, San Jose State went 6–6 (5–3 in Mountain West play) in Caragher's first season as head coach and the program's first year in the MW and ended the season with a 62–52 upset win over AP #16

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

. San Jose State fell to 3–9 in 2014. The season included a quarterback controversy that extended into the season, when Caragher changed the starting quarterback from Blake Jurich to Joe Gray after the third game. In 2015, San Jose State improved to 6–7, including a win in the

Cure Bowl The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year in Orlando, Florida since 2015. It was originally held at Camping World Stadium before moving to Exploria Stadium in 2022. The Cure Bow ...

. Despite a 5–7 regular season record, San Jose State was bowl-eligible due to a lack of 6–6 or better teams for all available bowl game spots. However, the team dropped to 4–8 in 2016, and Caragher was fired on November 27, the day after San Jose State beat rival Fresno State in the season finale.

San Diego State assistant (2018–2019)

In 2018, Caragher became offensive quality control coach and on-campus recruiting coordinator at

under

Rocky Long Roderick John Long Jr. (born January 27, 1950) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the defensive coordinator at Syracuse. Prior to being hired by Syracuse, Long was the defensive coordinator at New Mexico. He play ...

. Caragher was promoted to tight ends coach and passing game coordinator in 2019. The 2019 San Diego State team finished 10–3 (5–3 Mountain West) and won the 2019 New Mexico Bowl. Long retired after the season, and new head coach

Brady Hoke Brady Patrick Hoke (; born November 3, 1958) is an American football coach in his second stint as the head coach at San Diego State University. He was previously the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2011 to 2014. Hoke grew up in O ...

did not retain Caragher.

Athletic administration career

In the spring of 2020, Caragher returned to the University of San Diego as assistant athletics director for development, a role in which he assisted the university in athletic fundraising.

Head coaching record

References

External links

San Diego State profile

UCLA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caragher, Ron 1967 births Living people American football quarterbacks Kentucky Wildcats football coaches San Diego State Aztecs football coaches San Diego Toreros football coaches San Jose State Spartans football coaches Sportspeople from Santa Clara County, California UCLA Bruins football coaches UCLA Bruins football players People from Coronado, California People from Redwood City, California People from Morgan Hill, California Players of American football from California Coaches of American football from California