Tosh Lupoi Discusses His Coaching Journey Back To Cal at Berkeley Forum

Tosh Lupoi had a very long in-depth discussion about his leadership, his coaching, his overall life philosophy with the Berkeley student body.

The Berkeley Forum is a student-run organization designed to bring in notable speakers in to speak to Cal students and the wider Berkeley community. Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi was a guest earlier this spring, where he discussed his background.

Tosh Lupoi’s connection to University of California, Berkeley predates memory.

“Born in 1981 and there’s a picture of me in Cal attire as a baby. So it’s kind of reinforced — football was there in the crib. My father was a graduate assistant coach here and ironically coached Ron Rivera here, so I was introduced to Cal football very early and football in general.”

His foundation, though, was built in the East Bay — not on the field, but through family.

“My grandfather was an immigrant that came over living the American dream and kind of worked from the ground up. That was a big part of my entire family foundation — my early views and approach in life and everything I do. From a very early age, I was afforded the opportunity to get up really early and travel with him to the Oakland Marina on a consistent basis.”

“He opened a produce market, and at that time I claimed that I was working — I certainly wasn’t — I was playing around on the conveyor belt and jumping around on pallets. But my whole family spent every day working there. It was open 365 days a year, Christmas morning, 6:00 a.m. every morning. Just viewing him on a daily basis — his approach — that certainly played a huge role in how I approach every day today.”

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On why football mattered

“It was applying those principles to a really challenging sport. I think just the camaraderie, the bonding involved, and being part of a culture where all different walks of life — economic backgrounds, racial backgrounds — all the differences come together for a universal goal. Seeing that throughout football is what I was drawn to.”

At De La Salle High School, Lupoi experienced dominance. At Cal, he encountered something different.

“We never lost a game in high school. Then coming to Cal, we lost plenty of games the first go-round. But then Jeff Tedford came along with a new staff, and being part of a full-fledged culture change was a really cool and unique experience.”

“Being part of a team that had been through a lot of adversity, and then building that rebuild to the point where winning 10 games a season plus was the expectation, being part of top-five teams — that was something really special.”

On losing and learning

Lupoi’s early competitiveness was extreme.

“Broken windows, things of that nature — immaturity there. I don’t like to lose, and that competitive nature goes into all aspects of life, how I live my life and what we promote in our organization.”

“When you start to mature and understand, you end up really learning a lot more from the losses and the hard times than the victories and the good times. That’s what I’ve grasped going back to those days and even now — my greatest growth experiences come more from the challenges and the losses.”

When he was asked to reflect on a bad loss, the national championship loss to Clemson as Alabama defensive coordinator sticks out.

“As the defensive coordinator at Alabama, we went undefeated, shut out LSU in Death Valley, won the Iron Bowl, beat Oklahoma in the semifinal, and then went to the national championship and got roasted by Trevor Lawrence and Clemson.”

“That’s one that stands out — what I could have done better in that moment. It’s so easy to make excuses, blame injuries, whatever it may be. But instead, how could we have utilized our personnel better knowing what we had going into the game? Those are the things you grow from.”

“Pain is only worth it if you learn from it. Never waste it.”

On leadership and standards

“Words are great. Things you write up on the wall, T-shirts — they’re great motivational tools. But at the end of the day, the challenge is being a man or woman of action.”

“That loyalty to the game, that mindset of outworking your competition and your teammates, being part of a healthy confrontational environment — being able to call out a teammate as long as you’re the one leading that expectation.”

That standard shows up daily.

“The goal is to attack today. That’s the goal. How are we going to win today? Those are words, but I was in here myself at an early time, setting the tone — working out, committing to a diet, getting here before workouts. Our entire staff is out on the field every day with our guys, going through that fire together.”

On discovering coaching

After injuries ended his playing career, Jeff Tedford offered him a path forward.

“I had adversity — that’s an easy way to say why I didn’t make it in the NFL. I broke my foot three different times. The fact is I wasn’t talented enough to continue that career.”

“That same day, Coach Tedford offered me the opportunity to come back as a graduate assistant. It probably took all of 36 hours where I was like, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

The job demanded everything.

“Every duty was put on your shoulders. Sometimes that extended well beyond football — dry cleaning, pickups, daycare, dog care, house care. But I viewed the leader of the program, and he was sleeping in his office, so I’m not going to go home before the boss goes home.”

“I’d go get a bunch of towels from the bathroom, lay them down like a dog bed in my office, and it was great. I was living the dream.”

On recruiting and talent acquisition

Lupoi views recruiting through a broader lens.

“The strongest organizations in the world prioritize talent acquisition. Finding great people is rule number one. It’s not different in our profession.”

“Some coaches have the philosophy — I’m going to be a great coach or I’m going to be a great recruiter. My attempt was to be great at both.”

His reasoning is simple.

“We defended passes really well when Nnamdi [Asomugha] was at corner. When we threw the ball to DeSean Jackson or Keenan Allen, it worked a lot better than when we didn’t. There is an element of — this makes sense.”

Mentors reinforced that belief.

“Working with Nick Saban, statistically the best to ever do it, and Urban Meyer — rule number one, talent acquisition. That keeps getting reaffirmed.”

On NIL and the changing sport

“A marquee player — a commonality across the country — is well north of $1 million per year. So I think just the awareness of even knowing that is important.”

“Not devaluing $1,000, $5,000, $20,000 contributions, but understanding where that gets if you want to compete.”

He pointed to programs that have capitalized on the shift.

“Indiana, two and a half years ago, people might not have known they had a football program. Look where they’ve grown with strong NIL backing, corporate sponsorship, and a great culture.”

On fixing college football

“If I were to improve it, we would start our season mid-August, continue through the season, end around Thanksgiving, conference championship into the playoffs — just continue the season similar to the NFL model.”

“We were the number one seed [at Oregon in 2024] and sat around for 40 days. Not a single coach wants to do that.”

Still, he acknowledges the broader reality.

“If the TV ratings are extremely high and the revenue continues to increase, it’s going to be very difficult to improve or fix anything.”

On internal standards

“Whether it raises your bar or the media’s bar or a fan’s bar — I don’t care at all. I’m already my biggest critique.”

“I’m only going to take criticism from somebody that I would seek advice from.”

“Our body of work leading up to September is either going to put us in position to compete or not. That’s going to be decided tonight, tomorrow morning, tomorrow night.”

On mental discipline

“Learn to control your thoughts versus listen to them. When you identify what’s most important to you, you eliminate so much unnecessary stress.”

“If social media is really important — opinions from people you don’t know — that’s going to be a dramatic stress. But if what matters is how your wife views you, how your mentors view you, then you can eliminate everything else.”

“What you write down and what you review on a consistent basis ultimately becomes your behavioral patterns.”

On building at Cal

“Being at a place that represents the number one public institution in the world, and tying that in with success on the field — that’s something I take a lot of pride in.”