This is all a mirage right? Can't be happening? If Cal actually follows through with this finally caring about winning at football thing after decades of administrative apathy and being fine with conference also-ran status, I will be somewhat dumbfounded. What do you guys think, is this actually real or just more "we're shooting for the pac12 title" nonsense that wilcox and knowlton would throw out there every season when we all knew it was BS.
Given the new media-dominant NCAA landscape and the insane amounts of revenue that are at stake for the entire university, pretty much the only way the athletic department survives is if the school starts valuing football. That’s a new wrinkle that had not been in the equation in the past when they could count on the P6, P8, P10, P12 conference to carry them.
If the school/state/admin do not buy in now, then Cal athletics really never stood a chance and the entire department as we know it will cease to exist.
The good thing is that as anti-sports as our administration is, I do believe they have pride in our Olympic sports and the medals we drive. Also the reality that Cal could actually fall behind UCLA in undergrad academics from a national perspective purely because we forgot we had an athletic department would be entirely embarrassing for everyone involved...which is the kick in the ass we may have needed.
We don't need a HC. Let RR run the duties of HC with respect to alum/fan relationships. Hire the best OC and DC out there and use the HC monies to give these guys their mula!! If Tosh wants the DC job fine, if not hire Wilcox. Let RR pick the OC. Cal should be a disruptor in the HC space by eliminating the position altogether. Haarumpf.
I stated a while back that JKS opinions shouldn’t be a factor in who we hire as head coach but I think I’ve changed my mind on that. If JKS gave Cal a 2 year commitment at a reasonable NIL number I would let him have veto power over the coaching hire. That’s how good he was this year as a true freshman. The kid was born to play quarterback.
If you lose JKS, the new HC, whoever that may be, is starting completely from scratch and you’re probably looking at a re-building 6-6 season….which as we know is simply not good enough.
Losing JKS is devastating, IMO, and tho I agree you can’t pick a 1-2 year player over a HC, on the heels of Mendoza he’s literally THAT important,
Cal is fighting for legitimacy in the college football world, and you sacrifice most of that if you lose another elite, 1st round NFL QB to the portal.
A little off topic, but if you want to see the best rant ever on what is wrong with college football you should listen to Bill Cowher go off on Lane Kiffen.
Got banned, but I want to say it was his insistence that a sub-.500 Cal MBB team could make the Big Dance and subsequent critique of the rightfully-dismissive staff that finally did it.
I'm remembering a few things now. One of the craziest was that he insisted the writers post a summary of the podcast that he won't have to listen to it.
Recruits supposedly are being told that Tosh will be the HC.
Also see my reply above re: bureaucratic hurdles being the likely holdup. UCLA was able to announce Chesney already, presumably due to getting a head start on the hiring process after letting Foster go notably earlier in the season.
I say BS. It's not bureaucratic. There's a hiccup or a holdup.
If, in fact, it is bureaucratic, then Lyons and Rivera need to start clearing bullshit hurdles and obstacles so it never happens again. Other schools, more successful schools, make a decision and announce it without dragging things on and out.
If this is bureaucratic then there are people who want to sabotage the process or simply the program.
If you listen to Rob and Andy’s (excellent) interview with Ron from earlier this year, he talks about this exactly. Ron is incredibly aware of the bureaucratic nightmare on the college campus and is doing his best to streamline things—so that he can make his own hires!
But the timing of the signing day/portal dates, as well as the sizable hoops posed by the UC/Regents bureaucratic process were known obstacles...ideally they would have been factored in to the decision-making process when evaluating Justin Wilcox's job performance and why moving on from him earlier in the year was probably the better course of action.
I agree with the venerable @FiatSlug - there is most likely a hiccup/holdup that is causing this, and while Cal seems to be trying like hell to both keep JKS AND hire Tosh, the chances of both of those happening are in diminishing.
If you're referring to the rumor re: JKS's 'handler' objecting to the potential Tosh hire, it's reportedly untrue. I'd imagine JKS stays assuming Rolo stays on staff in some capacity, either in the same role (Senior Analyst) or possibly OC/Associate HC.
I mean, it's clearly not that simple or it would be done, no?
The news that recruits were being told Tosh was the hire is a week old and yet here we still are, nowhere closer to any announcement. Still, HS recruiting is not as important as portal recruiting.
If Cal loses Rolo on the heels of Wilcox, you almost certainly lose JKS.
New post https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/breaking-tosh-lupoi-negotiations-cal-bears-football-coach
Is Tosh here yet?
I saw Lorenzo Alexander, Worrel Williams, Thomas DeCoud and Jeremy Ross also posted their backing for Tosh
sounds like RR is doing the PR
Harder reporting coming in
https://www.on3.com/news/cal-finalizing-deal-hire-oregon-dc-tosh-lupoi-next-head-coach/
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6855918/2025/12/02/tosh-lupoi-cal-coaching-search-oregon/
Sounding like this is pretty much a done deal, all except for the official announcement.
This is all a mirage right? Can't be happening? If Cal actually follows through with this finally caring about winning at football thing after decades of administrative apathy and being fine with conference also-ran status, I will be somewhat dumbfounded. What do you guys think, is this actually real or just more "we're shooting for the pac12 title" nonsense that wilcox and knowlton would throw out there every season when we all knew it was BS.
History says no. However…
Given the new media-dominant NCAA landscape and the insane amounts of revenue that are at stake for the entire university, pretty much the only way the athletic department survives is if the school starts valuing football. That’s a new wrinkle that had not been in the equation in the past when they could count on the P6, P8, P10, P12 conference to carry them.
If the school/state/admin do not buy in now, then Cal athletics really never stood a chance and the entire department as we know it will cease to exist.
The good thing is that as anti-sports as our administration is, I do believe they have pride in our Olympic sports and the medals we drive. Also the reality that Cal could actually fall behind UCLA in undergrad academics from a national perspective purely because we forgot we had an athletic department would be entirely embarrassing for everyone involved...which is the kick in the ass we may have needed.
Is the real plot twist that Ron has wanted the job all along? Now he knows what he needs in a GM? He’s the same age as Cignetti.
Rivera taking the HC job would be an unmitigated disaster.
Same age doesn't mean the same wants, desires, outlook, or perspective.
We don't need a HC. Let RR run the duties of HC with respect to alum/fan relationships. Hire the best OC and DC out there and use the HC monies to give these guys their mula!! If Tosh wants the DC job fine, if not hire Wilcox. Let RR pick the OC. Cal should be a disruptor in the HC space by eliminating the position altogether. Haarumpf.
I stated a while back that JKS opinions shouldn’t be a factor in who we hire as head coach but I think I’ve changed my mind on that. If JKS gave Cal a 2 year commitment at a reasonable NIL number I would let him have veto power over the coaching hire. That’s how good he was this year as a true freshman. The kid was born to play quarterback.
If you lose JKS, the new HC, whoever that may be, is starting completely from scratch and you’re probably looking at a re-building 6-6 season….which as we know is simply not good enough.
Losing JKS is devastating, IMO, and tho I agree you can’t pick a 1-2 year player over a HC, on the heels of Mendoza he’s literally THAT important,
Cal is fighting for legitimacy in the college football world, and you sacrifice most of that if you lose another elite, 1st round NFL QB to the portal.
IMO, Lupoi will take Cal to the top 10 within 2-3 years. The delays are for people much more involved to figure out, but this will happen. Go Bears!
We could have been top-10 this year if Harsin and gotten the ball to Q more.
Sounds vaguely similar to, “With my leadership will be in Moscow in six weeks” but I’m here for the sunshine pump.
desperately need the sunshine pumper gifs back in my life
Get on with it already!
Awesome! Now make it happen!
Not sure how, but even today Lupoi still looks like he could still line up at a 5 tech and then put the QB on his back.
A little off topic, but if you want to see the best rant ever on what is wrong with college football you should listen to Bill Cowher go off on Lane Kiffen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfLjivYtuZc
Was it Troy Taylor that Bob would always go on about?
Troy Taylor and his Wikipedia links
Yes
I'll just leave this here for ya'll and in memory of GB 49.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosh_Lupoi
Did he die or just get thrown off the site?
He was getting more and more unhinged until he got banned for repeatedly going off on CGB staff.
Got banned, but I want to say it was his insistence that a sub-.500 Cal MBB team could make the Big Dance and subsequent critique of the rightfully-dismissive staff that finally did it.
I'm remembering a few things now. One of the craziest was that he insisted the writers post a summary of the podcast that he won't have to listen to it.
He insisted on a lot of things. He lacked social skills.
He transferred to Bear Insider
Is there a portal for that?
Despite claims that things had changed behind the scenes with the football program, it certainly seems like inefficient, bumbling business as usual.
Recruits supposedly are being told that Tosh will be the HC.
Also see my reply above re: bureaucratic hurdles being the likely holdup. UCLA was able to announce Chesney already, presumably due to getting a head start on the hiring process after letting Foster go notably earlier in the season.
I say BS. It's not bureaucratic. There's a hiccup or a holdup.
If, in fact, it is bureaucratic, then Lyons and Rivera need to start clearing bullshit hurdles and obstacles so it never happens again. Other schools, more successful schools, make a decision and announce it without dragging things on and out.
If this is bureaucratic then there are people who want to sabotage the process or simply the program.
If you listen to Rob and Andy’s (excellent) interview with Ron from earlier this year, he talks about this exactly. Ron is incredibly aware of the bureaucratic nightmare on the college campus and is doing his best to streamline things—so that he can make his own hires!
But the timing of the signing day/portal dates, as well as the sizable hoops posed by the UC/Regents bureaucratic process were known obstacles...ideally they would have been factored in to the decision-making process when evaluating Justin Wilcox's job performance and why moving on from him earlier in the year was probably the better course of action.
I agree with the venerable @FiatSlug - there is most likely a hiccup/holdup that is causing this, and while Cal seems to be trying like hell to both keep JKS AND hire Tosh, the chances of both of those happening are in diminishing.
I remember it took a long time to announce Wilcox after we fired Dykes
But we have been told many times things are different now and Ron has the keys...but yet, same issues as always.
Exactly, unlike UCLA, we’ve been saying that we’re behind the 8-ball for over a month, which is why you needed to part with Wilcox sooner.
The signing day/portal timing issues and Cal bureaucratic mess were absolutely known hurdles that needed to be factored into the decision.
Ron has the keys, but nothing has changed.
It's the tired & true Cal MO, unfortunately. Can't seem to get out of our own way more often than not.
I’m still cautiously optimistic, but I think we lose JKS now.
If you're referring to the rumor re: JKS's 'handler' objecting to the potential Tosh hire, it's reportedly untrue. I'd imagine JKS stays assuming Rolo stays on staff in some capacity, either in the same role (Senior Analyst) or possibly OC/Associate HC.
I mean, it's clearly not that simple or it would be done, no?
The news that recruits were being told Tosh was the hire is a week old and yet here we still are, nowhere closer to any announcement. Still, HS recruiting is not as important as portal recruiting.
If Cal loses Rolo on the heels of Wilcox, you almost certainly lose JKS.