Cal is working toward hiring Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi as its next head coach, The Athletic and ESPN reported Tuesday.
Lupoi played at the school and soon afterward served as its defensive line coach. He has been Oregon’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach under Dan Lanning since 2022, and he was named a Broyles Award semifinalist in 2024 and 2025 for the top assistant coach in college football.
Lupoi would replace Justin Wilcox, whom Cal fired 11 games into the season following a 31-10 loss to rival Stanford. Wilcox went 48-55 on the job over parts of nine seasons.
It would also mean two Oregon coordinators are leaving Eugene for head-coaching jobs in the same cycle. Kentucky hired Oregon offensive coordinator and Kentucky native Will Stein as its next coach this week.
It’s a similar sort of homecoming for Lupoi, 44, who hails from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Lupoi was a defensive lineman for the Golden Bears from 2000-05 and became their defensive line coach in 2008, but his tenure on the job was marked by multiple controversies. He was suspended for a game in 2010 after he instructed a player to fake an injury in an effort to slow down Oregon’s offense.
And in 2011, he left his alma mater for the same position at Washington and fans accused him of telling recruits to decommit from Cal. Future NFL linebacker Shaq Thompson switched from Cal to Washington ahead of signing day that year.
Lupoi also worked at Alabama from 2014-18, winning two national championships on that staff and rising to the defensive coordinator position, before spending 2019-21 with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars.
