Trent Bray was a standout player for Oregon State before he became the Beavers’ head coach.
He earned Pac-12 all-conference honors twice, then worked his way up OSU’s coaching ranks. He was a GA and then worked with linebackers before becoming his alma mater’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2021-23. Then he became the head coach at a tough time for the program as it was trying to rebuild the Pac-12 with Washington State.
But the on-the-field results haven’t been great for Bray. The Beavers are 0-7 in 2025 and have lost 13 of their last 14 games after going 5-7 in 2024.
That led to OSU firing Bray on Sunday. Now that the Beavers need a new head coach for 2026, here are five coaches the Beavers may consider.
Montana State Head Coach Brent Vigen
Considering Vigen has reportedly been in the mix for multiple FBS head coaching jobs, it would make sense for Oregon State to consider him as well.
Vigen has been Montana State’s head coach since 2021. That first year, he led the Bobcats to their first national championship appearance since 1984. The year after that, Montana State reached the national semifinals before losing to the eventual champion, South Dakota State.
And in 2024, the Bobcats went undefeated during the regular season – including a victory at New Mexico – and returned to the FCS national championship.
Vigen also was an offensive coordinator at Wyoming under head coach Craig Bohl from 2014-20, most notably coaching now-NFL star quarterback Josh Allen, and was an assistant at North Dakota State before that.
New Mexico Head Coach Jason Eck
Eck recently helped New Mexico beat UCLA, and the football program has a new-found energy.
Eck was one of the top head coaches in the FCS before going to New Mexico this last offseason. He went 26-13 as the head coach at Idaho from 2022-24.
In Eck’s third season at Idaho in 2024, the Vandals made it to the FCS Playoff quarterfinals. The Vandals went 7-4 during the regular season in 2022, earning a trip to the postseason for the first time since 2016, and were 9-4 a year later as they reached the FCS quarterfinals.
Before going to Idaho, he was the offensive coordinator at South Dakota State from 2019-21 and the team’s offensive line coach from 2016-19. Going back to 2000, he’s also been an assistant at Montana State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Western Illinois, Hampton, Ball State, Winona State, Colorado, and Wisconsin.
Alabama Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb
Not only does Ryan Grubb have experience in the NFL and the Power Four, he knows the region well.
Grubb is in his first year as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. The season prior, he was the OC for the Seattle Seahawks.
From 2022-23, Grubb was Washington’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Kalen DeBoer, who’s now the HC at Alabama. During his time there, he worked with stars like quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Rome Odunze as the Huskies were in the top five in the country in several offensive metrics.
Grubb was previously an offensive coordinator, associate head coach, and quarterbacks coach at Fresno State when DeBoer was the head coach of the Bulldogs. Grubb was at Fresno State from 2017-21 after coaching Eastern Michigan’s offensive line from 2014-16.
Maybe Grubb will want to stay at Alabama with DeBoer, which is why he’s not first on this list, or maybe P4 schools will show interest. But as of right now, Grubb has no head coaching experience at the collegiate level. If he does begin to explore those types of opportunities, maybe Oregon State would be a good fit.
JMU Head Coach Bob Chesney
Chesney had been considered for multiple other FBS openings, including Syracuse, before going to JMU. Though he doesn’t have much experience out west, Chesney has the type of head coaching experience Oregon State would want.
Chesney is 14-5 in the FBS as a head coach. He’s 125-51 as a head coach regardless of division. And going into this season, JMU was the favorite to win the Sun Belt.
Chesney was previously the head coach at Holy Cross from 2018-23. The Crusaders were in the FCS playoffs every year since 2019 before his last season. The Crusaders reached the second round of the playoffs in 2021 and got to the quarterfinals in 2022, finishing with a 12-1 overall record. Holy Cross was 7-4 in 2023.
Chesney was the Patriot League Coach of the Year three times, leading the program to five conference championships.
Before Holy Cross, he was a head coach at the Division II level at Assumption College and at the Division III level at Salve Regina University.
Sacramento State Head Coach Brennan Marion
When considering other FCS head coaches in the region, Marion stands out to me. He was just hired as Sacramento State’s head coach this past offseason. But he’s another rising star in the coaching world. His name came up in several FBS coaching searches the past couple years.
In 2024, Marion was in just his second season as UNLV’s offensive coordinator. He did well with the Rebels and has other coaching experience in the western part of the country.
In 2023, UNLV was 22nd in the FBS with 34.4 points per game scored. A season later, they were 15th in the country with 35.4 points per game.
Before his time at UNLV, Marion was a passing game coordinator at Texas in 2022, a wide receivers coach at Pitt in 2021, a wide receivers coach at Hawaii in 2020, an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at William & Mary in 2019, an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Howard in 2017 and 2018, and a running backs coach at Oklahoma Baptist in 2016.
Maybe he’s not the first name that comes up in this discussion, but I could see why a team like OSU would keep him in mind.
