Ron Gould

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Hometown
Scottsdale, Arizona

Alma Mater
Oregon ’88

Recruiting Areas
California (Los Angeles County: San Fernando Valley, South Bay, West Side, East Bay), Arizona (South), Kentucky, Louisiana (Western), Tennessee, Texas (East Houston, Southeast)

Notable Players Coached
Bryce Love, J.J. Arrington, Marshawn Lynch, C.J. Anderson, Jahvid Best, Adimchinobe Echemandu, Justin Forsett, Daniel Lasco, Chris Manderino, Tarik Smith, Eric Stevens, Byron Storer, Will Ta’ufo’ou, Shane Vereen

One of the most highly regarded running back coaches in the country, Ron Gould joined the Stanford staff in the spring of 2017. The 2022 season is his sixth on The Farm.

Gould spent the four seasons prior to his arrival at Stanford as head coach at UC Davis after a 16-year stint on Cal’s coaching staff.

Five of the past nine Super Bowls have featured a running back whom Gould has coached.

In 2021, Nathaniel Peat broke off an 87-yard touchdown run in an upset victory over No. 14 USC for the fifth-longest run in program history. It was also the 10th-longest play from scrimage in school history. Peat and Austin Jones combined for 782 yards on the season, with both contributing heavily in the return and passing game, respectively. 

Gould mentored four young running backs in 2020, led by sophomores Jones and Peat who both garnered attention from the conference. Jones led the Pac-12 with nine rushing touchdowns, tied for 22nd nationally and second most among all players who played in six games or fewer. He finished with 550 rushing yards and added 156 receiving yards on 21 catches.

Peat had a standout year both as a dynamic running back and kick returner. He returned 16 kicks for 398 yards, an average of 24.9 yards per return, while adding 204 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Gould made an immediate impact on the Cardinal during his first three seasons, as running back Bryce Love set the school’s single-season (2,118) and single-game (301) rushing records while being named the 2017 Doak Walker Award winner. Love, also the Lombardi Award winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up as a junior, set Stanford’s career records for yards/rush (6.79) and consecutive 100-yard rushing games (9). The unanimous All-American finished with the fourth-most rushing yards and fifth-most touchdowns in school history.

Love was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Washington Football Team.

In 2019, Gould helped fifth-year senior Cameron Scarlett rush for a career-high 840 yards and a team-best seven touchdowns. Scarlett also added 25 receptions for 240 yards. In addition to Scarlett, true freshmen backs Austin Jones and Nathaniel Peat combined for 54 carries, 284 yards and a touchdown on the ground while adding 19 catches for 151 yards.

In 2017, Love was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and winner of the Touchdown Club of Columbus Jim Brown Award. He ranked first among Power 5 conference running backs in over a dozen categories, including FBS records for 50-yard rushes (13), consecutive games with a 30-yard rush (13) and consecutive games with a 50-yard rush (11). Love’s school-record 301 rushing yards on 25 carries (12.0 yards/rush) and three-touchdown performance against Arizona State was the eighth-best single-game rushing total in Pac-12 history. Love had 1,088 rushing yards through five games, fourth-most by any player in FBS history, and was the 11th running back in FBS history to gain 1,000 yards in his team’s first five games. Love was the fastest Stanford running back to gain 1,000 yards rushing (fifth game, 87 carries) and the performance against the Sun Devils linked him with USC’s Reggie Bush as the only Pac-12 players ever with 250 or more rushing yards in consecutive games.

Gould has mentored some of the top runners in the game, including Super Bowl champions C.J. Anderson (Denver Broncos), Shane Vereen (New England Patriots) and Marshawn Lynch (Seattle Seahawks). He also coached Jahvid Best, the former Detroit Lions back who showcased his speed while running the 100 meters for Saint Lucia in the 2016 Summer Olympics. The illustrious list of Gould-coached backs includes seven NFL Pro Bowl selections, three All-America first team choices -- including Love, Lynch and J.J. Arrington -- and six first-team all-conference performers.

His tenure with the Aggies was marked by notable recruiting classes, remarkable academic achievements by his team and three wins in the Causeway Classic against rival Sacramento State. Gould’s emphasis on academic achievement yielded the Big Sky Conference’s highest Academic Progress Rate from the NCAA for four straight years, and two consecutive Graduation Success Rates that paced the conference.

He didn’t take long to place his stamp on the UC Davis running backs, helping guide Gabe Manzanares to the program’s best rushing total (1,285 yards) in more than a decade in 2013. Manzanares went on to win Big Sky Newcomer of the Year honors while ranking among the conference and FCS leaders in several statistical categories. Manzanares was named to the All-Big Sky third team in 2014 while finishing with 2,116 career yards in two seasons.

In 2015, UC Davis ranked second among FCS programs in time of possession (34:37) and tied for fifth in red-zone efficiency (.906). Gould’s first season with the Aggies produced a tie for fourth in the Big Sky, a run of five victories over UC Davis’ final eight games, and a convincing 34-7 win over Sacramento State in Gould’s first Causeway Classic. He highlighted his second year by reclaiming the Golden Horseshoe with a 48-35 win over rival Cal Poly.

Gould joined the Aggies after an impressive career at Cal, where he developed several of college football’s top tailbacks, a list that includes NFL players Lynch, Arrington, Best, Vereen, Adimchinobe Echemandu (Houston Texans), Justin Forsett (Houston Texans), Tarik Smith (Dallas Cowboys) and Will Ta’ufo’ou (Jacksonville Jaguars). Other players who got their start with Gould and later signed NFL contracts include Chris Manderino (Cincinnati Bengals) and Byron Storer (Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Nine of the program’s top 11 individual rushing seasons and six of Cal’s all-time top rushers were coached by Gould. Lynch was the 2006 Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, Arrington was eighth in the 2006 Heisman Trophy voting after leading the country with 2,018 yards, and Best, who was a two-time All-Pac-10 first-team selection.

Lynch (2007) and Best (2010) were first-round picks in the NFL Draft, while Arrington and Vereen were second-round choices.

Cal enjoyed its best rushing season in more than a half century in 2004 when it averaged 256.8 rushing yards/game while scoring a school-record 30 touchdowns on the ground. The 2005 season brought much of the same with the Bears averaging 235.3 yards/game.

Gould played football at Oregon, where he graduated in 1988. He was a graduate assistant at Oregon before stops at Portland State (1992) and Boise State (1993-96) before landing at Cal.

From 1997-2007, he was the running backs coach for the Golden Bears before being elevated to associate head coach in 2008. He added running game coordinator duties beginning in 2011.

Gould was a candidate for the 2010 American Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year Award and served NFL internships with the Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams.

A native of Scottsdale, Arizona, Gould played defensive back at Scottsdale Community College from 1984-85, later to earn a scholarship to Wichita State. The Shockers discontinued their program, leading him to Oregon, where he played for the Ducks and earned his bachelor’s degree in human services.

Gould and his wife, Teresa, have two sons -- Tevin and Trae.