Vic So’oto hired as DL coach

Vic So’oto has been on my radar since he was an ace recruiter for Virginia. After being recently fired as a Clay Helton hire at USC, Karl Dorrell and the Colorado Buffaloes did the smart thing and scooped him up before he left the Pac-12.

So’oto has some deep western roots. He was a multi-sport athlete in Carlsbad, California before starring at BYU along both sides of the line of scrimmage. After his BYU playing career was over, he stuck around in the NFL from 2011 - 2014, which isn’t too bad for an undrafted free agent. Vic then immediately turned to coaching, reuniting with his college coach Bronco Mendenhall at BYU (for one year as an intern) and then Virginia. He quickly became an on-field assistant coach at Virginia, coaching the defensive line from 2017 to 2019. He was one of the best recruiters on Virginia’s staff and the Cavalier defensive line was a strength of the defense. USC took notice and hired So’oto to coach their defensive line for the last two years. He continued to recruit very well and did a good job developing USC’s young giants.

So’oto was let ago during the staff transition from Clay Helton to Lincoln Riley. He was not fired for performance, nor will he be. I LOVE this hire. So’oto is only 34 and has plenty of P5 coaching experience. He is known as a strong recruiter and a strong coach and has roots in two important recruiting areas in the West (California and Utah).

Here is the official word from the program: