It looks like Cal is losing one of their most promising young coaches to rival Washington. Defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi has been a Golden Bear since 2000. I hoped that he would be in Berkeley much longer. Lupoi came to Cal in 2000 out of powerhouse De La Salle High School. He was a solid defensive lineman until 2005 and moved straight to the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. In 2008 at the age 26, Lupoi became the youngest full-time coach in Cal history. As the defensive line coach, he helped develop Tyson Alualu and Cameron Jordan into first round selections in the NFL Draft. As promising as Lupoi has been as a coach he may have made an even greater impact as a recruiter. He connects with the high school athletes easily. Cal has seen some of their greatest recruiting classes while Lupoi has been on board. The class this year has been amazing and looked to get even better. Now, I'm not sure what will happen.
Washington coach Steve Sarkisian came out of the Pete Carroll USC program. So its near certain that some of that sleaze traveled north. I really don't like poaching of any kind within the Pac-12. It just doesn't seem right. Lupoi is making a parallel move to Washington. He's going there to be the Huskies defensive line coach. Washington likely can throw more cash at their assistant coaches. I'd imagine it flows a little more easily on that campus. The timing of the poaching is just wrong too. High school signing day is only two weeks away. This move could shatter the recruiting class that Cal has put together. Knowing Sarkisian's USC past I think that was his intention. He may even hope that Lupoi can bring some of his recruits with him.
This couldn't have been an easy decision for Tosh Lupoi. He bleeds blue and gold but he had to do what was best for his family and his career. Clearly he saw Washington as the better next step. I still don't like any of it.
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