Two Key Assistants to Stay on at SDSU : College football: Receivers coach Curtis Johnson, offensive line coach Bret Ingalls decline offers from Cal. Aztecs get commitment from Louisiana player.

San Diego State avoided any potential football recruiting distractions when two Aztec assistants declined job offers from Keith Gilbertson to join the Cal coaching staff.

Curtis Johnson, SDSU receivers’ coach, and Bret Ingalls, SDSU offensive line coach, each told Aztec Coach Al Luginbill this weekend that he will return to SDSU next season. Gilbertson had asked Luginbill for permission to speak to each early last week.

“They’re certainly two valued members of our staff and we’re ecstatic that they’re staying at SDSU,” Luginbill said Sunday night. “I think continuity and consistency is something that is crucial.”

Johnson, the chief recruiter of Marshall Faulk, was offered the position of receivers’ coach at Cal but said he decided the timing wasn’t right to leave SDSU.

“I feel an obligation to the young men I’m bringing into the university,” Johnson said. “I’d like to be around for the guys I’ve recruited. After telling them I’d take care of them for four years and help them get their degrees, (leaving) is just not right. That would be unfair to them.”

Ingalls, who apparently would have become the offensive line coach at Cal, was unavailable for comment.

Both Johnson and Ingalls worked with Gilbertson at the University of Idaho in the 1980s.

Gilbertson was Idaho’s offensive coordinator for two seasons when Johnson played there and then was the head coach for two more seasons while Johnson worked under him as an assistant.

Ingalls was an assistant at the University of Idaho from 1982 through 1988. During his time there, he coached the defensive backs, offensive line and running backs.

Johnson and Ingalls were each hired by Luginbill at SDSU in December, 1988.

Gilbertson could not be reached for comment.

Luginbill said he had granted Gilbertson permission to speak with Johnson and Ingalls.

“I would never get in anybody’s way of discussing other opportunities,” Luginbill said. “Especially if it was considered a professional advancement.”

In other SDSU football news, quarterback Cree Morris said Sunday night that he still has not made a decision regarding a transfer.

Morris, who lost his starting job to David Lowery after SDSU’s fourth game last fall, visited St. Mary’s last week and has spoken with coaches at Cal State Northridge.

He expects to make a decision later this week.

In recruiting news, the Aztecs have received an oral commitment from Craigus Thompson, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound linebacker from L.W. Higgins High School in New Orleans.

Thompson, who was named to the all-state team in Louisiana this fall, also visited Louisiana State and Southern Mississippi before deciding on SDSU. He said he canceled a trip to Arizona.

“I like the weather in San Diego for one thing, and they’ve got a young program that is going to be great for the next couple of years,” Thompson said. “I want to be a part of it.”

Thompson was a four-year starter at linebacker for Higgins.

Also, La’Roi Glover, a 6-3, 276-pound defensive end from Point Loma High who was The Times’ lineman of the year, said Sunday night that he has yet to make a decision but is leaning toward SDSU.

Glover, who also has been recruited heavily by UCLA, visited Fresno State this weekend and said he will visit either Cal or Washington next weekend.