Cal defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter interviewed for Houston job

The California Golden Bears have to be prepared for inquires coming to their defensive coaching staff after what they put on the field this season. It appears they will have to be ready to either pony up to keep their defensive coordinator in the coming years or get ready to find his replacement.

Tim DeRuyter interviewed for the Houston Cougars opening after Major Applewhite was dismissed earlier this week. The job eventually fell in the lap of West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia’s first target.

More from Steven Godfrey and the SB Nation college team:

UH interviewed USC offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and Cal defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter in Los Angeles, sources said, but had long before then zeroed in on Holgorsen as the top candidate to follow Major Applewhite.

Cal got lucky that Holgorsen was ready to go. Kingsbury also declined the position, so DeRuyter would definitely have been in the running to get the job among the remaining finalists.

It’s clear that DeRuyter would take another head coaching job if the opportunity presented itself. DeRuyter had modest success to start at Fresno State before the bottom fell out. Don’t expect this to be the first time DeRuyter gets the call, as either a head coaching candidate or a defensive coordinator at a blue blood.

If we were to put on the speculation hat (what we do best at CGB!), Peter Sirmon (inside linebackers coach/associate head coach) will be next in line for Cal as a defensive coordinator if DeRuyter were to ever leave. Sirmon was the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Louisville in one year stints before coming to Cal last year and was Justin Wilcox’s linebacking coach at Tennessee, Washington, and USC. There’s mutual trust there.

PS: Another interesting name came up in the Houston coaching search.

You have to wonder how long it will be before Tosh Lupoi gets his first head coaching job. There is no better stepping stone than the Alabama defensive coordinator position these days, with Lupoi’s predecessors both SEC head coaches now.