Cal has reached an agreement in principle for a five-year contract to appoint Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi as the new head coach, sources informed ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Thursday.
Following the dismissal of Justin Wilcox as the head coach of the program after a 48-55 record spanning nine seasons, Lupoi quickly emerged as the frontrunner for the position. Numerous prominent former players publicly and privately pushed for Cal general manager Ron Rivera to consider Lupoi for the role.
Lupoi was a player at Cal from 2000 to 2005 before commencing his coaching journey with the Bears under head coach Jeff Tedford in 2008. He served as a defensive line coach at Berkeley until 2011, earning a reputation as a top-notch recruiter. The 44-year-old hails from the Bay Area and attended the renowned De La Salle high school.
After his tenure at Washington as a defensive line coach in 2012, Lupoi spent five years at Alabama in various roles including analyst, outside linebackers coach, and defensive coordinator in 2018.
Subsequently, Lupoi worked for three years as a defensive line coach in the NFL with three different teams before joining Oregon in 2022 as the defensive coordinator under Dan Lanning.
In each of the last three seasons, Lupoi has guided the Ducks’ defense to a top-25 ranking. Earlier this week, Lanning confirmed that both Lupoi and offensive coordinator Will Stein, who will take the head coaching position at Kentucky, will continue their roles as coordinators during the Ducks’ playoff campaign before officially moving on to their new positions.
The Golden Bears have not achieved a winning record in conference play since Tedford’s era in 2009.
