Head Coach Tosh Lupoi spoke to members of the media for nearly a half hour Tuesday morning as part of a uniquely comprehensive media day for the Bears.
“I’m very pleased on the overall group’s hunger,” Coach Lupoi said when asked about the team’s progress in the offseason.
Coach Lupoi, who was a Bears’ defensive lineman in the early 2000s and the DL coach from 2008-2011, stressed the importance of a winning culture built by a rigorous attention to detail on and off the field. He noted ten personal and professional categories that create a personal and professional rubric for the players.
Among the aspects he noted were nutrition, academics, strength and conditions, spirituality, career engagement and professional development.
“We’re going to approach every single aspect and try to build great young men as we build players,” Coach Lupoi said.
This “rating system” as he called it was something he and his staff brought from the NFL and is how his team will gauge players before, during and after the season in an “attempt to climb towards improvement every phase.”
He touched on Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele — the four-time ACC Rookie of the Week was recently named to the Maxwell Award watch list — as a “driving force in our culture,” while noting how central he is to the program’s future.
When asked about recruiting, both from high schools and the transfer portal, he reiterated the importance of being “selective” and wanted to “do as much homework as possible.”
“I wasn’t the coach for National Signing Day for high school so there was only one possible way to impact the roster, so that’s exactly what we did,” Coach Lupoi said of his program’s activity in the transfer portal this offseason.
That said, he made clear that the spring activity this season was largely contingent on his new role and high school recruiting will be the foundation of the program moving forward.
“A lifeline of this program is going to be building off high school recruiting,” he said. “As we came together as a staff, that was made very clear that it’s all going to start with our talent acquisition. We’re going to attack that exactly how we attack coaching and gameplanning ... and try to do it as best as possible.”
Similar to his cultural approach, Coach Lupoi and company’s strategy around recruiting is a “thorough process” investigating young men’s “character, academic report, family” and more.
Like his players, Coach Lupoi is obviously hungry to bring Cal back to excellence, as he got to experience under then Head Coach Jeff Tedford. He described his perception of Cal football as a premier program that was a threat in both the conference and on the national stage. To do so, he’ll need to step into a broader executive role while still directing players on both sides of the ball.
“It’s been a great challenge and that’s what I love, seeking challenge not comfort,” he said on adapting to his new role.
When discussing the change to this more expansive role, Coach Lupoi mentioned the pivotal role the NIL plays in today’s football landscape and highlighted Cal’s sponsorship with the AI platform Dial Pad,
“The U Club right here is in the process of being branded... our field, we already have one of those and potentially more to come. And all of that for a reason, that helps,” he said. “So we do everything we can to narrow the gap and study the programs that got that done at an extremely high level such as a team like Indiana that’s committed to that and doing our best to stimulate that here and involve such a powerful alumni association.”
With that in mind, Coach Lupoi recognized the uniquely advantageous position Cal is in to utilize its successful alumni as a building block to long-term success. He mentioned corporate and private sponsorship like a potential stadium brand deal as well as the extensive trips he and General Manager Ron Rivera made across the country to talk with alumni about contributions.
“We’re fighting tooth and nail to narrow the gap to actually be in a position to, I’ll just say, speak differently,” he said.
On his team’s goals for this upcoming season Coach Lupoi mentioned that they’re all “zooming out and zooming in. It’s great to establish long term goals but more so, every day we wake up and attack how we get there.”
The methodical focus on progressing each day is something Lupoi demonstrated as a Cal player and throughout his various roles as a coach. Cal football has struggled in recent years to put together the illustrious program some fans expect, but Lupoi’s diligence, attention to detail and willingness to leverage all of the finances at his disposal may be the key to a return to glory. That said, his focus is still on what he does best.
“I take a lot of pride in coordinating top defenses in the country and being a part of some awesome cultures.”
