MONMOUTH, Ore. --- A pair of Western Oregon football alumni and former assistant coaches still have football left this season in the NCAA Division I College Football Playoff this week.
Oregon special teams coordinator and nickels coach Joe Lorig and Boise State special teams coordinator and inside linebacker coach Stacy Collins are both Wolves football alumni and both started their coaching careers at Western Oregon.
Lorig, a native of Edmonds, Washington, transferred from Walla Walla Community College and was a two-time All-Columbia Football Association defensive back for the Wolves (first team in 1995, second team in 1994) before starting his coaching career as a WOU assistant from 1997-98 (coaching safeties). After WOU, he was at Idaho State (1999-2006), UTEP (2007), Central Washington (2008-11), Arizona State (2012-13), Utah State (2014-15), Memphis (2016-18), Penn State (2019-21) and now Oregon (since 2022).
The top-seeded Ducks play Wednesday against No. 8 Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals in the Rose Bowl starting at 2 p.m. (PT) on ESPN.
Collins, a native of Sutherlin, Oregon, was a linebacker for the Wolves from 1993-97 - earning All-CFA Honorable Mention honors in 1997, a WOU team that went 7-3 and was ranked as high as No. 12 in NAIA. Lorig began his coaching career the next year at WOU where he was the special teams and linebacker coach from 1998-2001 followed by stops at South Dakota School of Mines (2002), Western Washington (2003-04), Idaho State (2005-06), Southern Oregon (2007), Central Washington (2008-10), Portland State (2011), South Dakota School of Mines (2012-15), Utah State (2016-20), Boise State (2021), Penn State (2022-23) and back to Boise State this season.
The No. 3 Broncos take on No. 6 Penn State in their quarterfinal matchup 4:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN.
The duo crossed paths as players at WOU (1994-95) and were on the same coaching staffs at WOU (1998), Idaho State (2005-06) and Central Washington (2008-10) while Collins arrived the year following Lorig's departures from Utah State (Lorig 2014-15, Collins 2016-20) and Penn State (Lorig 2019-21, Collins 2022-23).
