National Media Zeroes in on Oregon DC Tosh Lupoi as the Main Man for the Job
Narratives brew, and we shall drink the bitter drink
When Cal paid the $10 million ticket to ride the Coaching Carousel, we already can see that there is a certain alignment across national media about who Cal has on top of their wishlist.
College Football Enquirer
In their Tuesday afternoon podcast, the College Football Enquirer’s Andy Staples declared without any pushback from his co-hosts:
One more thing in the coaching carousel. By the way, Cal fired Justin Wilcox. They are going to hire Tosh Lupoi, that’s pretty much all we need to say.
Congratulations to new Cal Head Coach Tosh Lupoi in advance
Time-stamped 25:31
Steven Godfrey added:
Ron Rivera might have been working on this one before the body was out of the building, let me say that.
Indicating that both the firing and the outreach to DC Lupoi has been in the works for a while.
Now, this was dropped in-media-res of a podcast, and it strikes more of a “we think that Cal’s coaching search is zeroing in on Tosh and it has been the intent of the administration to do so.”
On3, Pete Nakos
Adding on to the media narrative that DC Lupoi is the prime candidate for the job with Nakos stating DC Lupoi is the prime candidate for the job
The Athletic, Bruce Feldman
As well as Bruce Feldman:
Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi is expected to be a leading candidate for the job. The 44-year-old former Cal defensive lineman earned a reputation as a dogged recruiter when he helped bring a bunch of blue-chip prospects to Berkeley while on Jeff Tedford’s staff. […]
Thoughts
The national media continues to speculate and circle around a hire. From the looks of it, there is communication between the national media and Tosh Lupoi’s representation that indicates he’s in line to accept the position.
As definitive as some of the reporters may feel about this, there is some time left on the clock before it hits 00:00.
After 6 seasons of poor defensive line play and 9 seasons of downright bad o-line play, we need someone who can come in and immediately attract the kind of talent to impact both lines. None of the other coaches linked to us have that ability except Tosh.
Someone mentioned this on another page, but we don't have the luxury of being mad at Lupoi for what happened over a decade ago. We need someone who will come in and swing for the fences if we want any shot at coming out on the right side of the next phase of realignment. I'd rather crash and burn with a boom or bust hire that has a chance at greatness over a safe up-and-coming G5 HC who's ceiling will be 9 wins max. At least we'll get relegated knowing we took a real shot at this rather than being mad that 8-5 records aren't good enough for the B1G.
We need to be relevant as soon as humanly possible. If Cal Athletics wants to keep supporting 30 varsity sports like we currently do, football needs to survive the ACC's imminent collapse.
I want someone with HC experience. Last time we went with a young and successful defensive coordinator, it did not work out. It also concerns me that Tosh has not become a HC anywhere even though he has been a coveted assistant coach on the rise for over 10 years.