Cal’s No. 10 recruiting class may be in jeopardy. At the very least, whatever hopes fans had for next fall just got severely damaged.
Defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi, who doubled as the Bears’ star recruiter, has left for a similar position at Washington. After four years on Cal’s staff, the Huskies announced today that Lupoi will be their new defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator.
Lupoi was making $164,000 in Berkeley. Washington has not yet released financial details, but the Seattle Times reported a rumored contract of $500,000.
In 2006, Lupoi — a former Cal player and graduate assistant — was hired at 26 as the youngest full-time coach in program history. Since then, he has helped reel in big-time recruits from all over the country in addition to building one of the most talented defensive lines in the Pac-12.
Last season, the Bears’ defense — ranked 25th in the nation — allowed a conference-low 332.9 yards per game. Washington gave up 453.3, ahead of only Arizona, and was ranked 106th in the country.
Cal’s most recent recruiting class, ranked No. 10 nationally by Rivals.com and No. 12 by Scout.com, owed much of its prominence to Lupoi. The group was headlined by a pair of five-star recruits: defensive back Shaq Thompson, from Sacramento’s Grant High, and defensive lineman Ellis McCarthy, from Monrovia High in Los Angeles County.
After news of Lupoi’s departure, Thompson tweeted:
I have A lot of thinking to do
— Shaq Thompson(Grant) (@ItsShaqThompson) January 16, 2012
It’s a business.. My family told me and have to do what’s best for me
— Shaq Thompson(Grant) (@ItsShaqThompson) January 16, 2012
If both he and McCarthy hold to their verbal commitments, Cal will have two five-star recruits in a single recruiting class for the first time in school history.
How much of a hit the Bears take on the recruiting front remains to be seen. Some recruits, such as four-star receiver Bryce Treggs, have reaffirmed their commitment. Cal’s attempts to secure undecided recruits also now becomes much more difficult. Five-star defensive end Aziz Shittu and four-star end Arik Armstead have both been on the Bears’ radar. Shittu, who originally committed to Stanford, tweeted:
WOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! The Game Just Changed
— Aziz Shittu(@AzizShittu) January 16, 2012
National Signing Day for the class of 2012 is two weeks away.
UPDATE: The first of the dominoes has fallen. McCarthy has switched his commitment to UCLA.
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Cal needed to pay Tosh more. He was critical to bringing in the talent. $500,000 sounds like a bargain for the “best recruiter in the country.”
Here is the scoop: http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2012/1/21/2722902/tosh-lupoi-washington-huskies-jeff-tedford-cal-golden-bears-interview-audio#storyjump
Tosh and Sarkismyass gave Cal a Greek haircut!!! If Shaq
Thompson and others can’t see that they are dealing with somebody who is less
than honest, it must be our gain. Personal integrity is not high on the
recruit’s character in that case.
Shaq- it is a business for him. You need to go to a school that regularly turns out NFL quality players with great educations. You don’t see that happening that much at Washington.
I have one thing to say….
Go DAWGGGGGGGSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rosebowl next year baby.
Cal looks like you have a new rival team.
Not with that incompetent moron Sarkisian running your team.
Hold on here. I agree Sarkisian is a moron but Tedford has never beaten him. So where does Tedford stand?
If Cal was paying him $164,000 and Washington is going to pay him $5oo,000 as a recruiter, I can only imagine what cheerleaders at USC get paid for their recruiting services.
I have no imagination. Please show me.
I heard were Arik Armestead OT/ DE was also thinking about playing 2 sports Football and Basketball, if so he must be impressed with the Cal Basketball team.
Calling Jeff Tedford and Clancy Pendergast. It is time to get off the golf coarse and find yourself a new recruiter/ defensive line coach before the end of January.
Hey we got the best public university in the country, a new stadium, a new state of the art training facility, the smiley faces of Sandy Barber and Jeff Tedford to do all the recruiting we need to get us to the Rose Bowl.
It takes players to get to the Rose Bowl and good coaches. Sandy Barbour has it backwards – let’s find the players first, then the coach.
$500,000 a year for defensive line coach? Lupoi was an good recruiter. There should be questions asked ; like did he talk to Tedford and what did Tedford do to keep him at Cal? was he only chasing money or was something else offered by Washington? Lupoi did very little to recruit Thompson, his brother and parents are the ones that helped direct Shaq. I could see recruits changing schools because of the Head Coach leaving, but really, why would you change ships because of a defensive line coach? We never saw players leave because of other assistants leaving .
Shaq himself has said that he had a very close relationship with Tosh for the past 3 years.
That is because he was the head of recruiting for Cal. Put any other monkey in a suit and he’ll accomplish the same thing. I would hate to see that the recruiters for teams are more enticing and powerful than the Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator and Defensive Coordinator and finally the school itself. I think Shaq will remain with Cal as will all those that have already given their verbal commit. Lupoi is a recruiter/ D-line coach, he answers to 1) Tedford 2) Pendergast. Lupoi would not even be coaching Shaq, Ashley Ambrose would. And finally if Lupoi is such a great recruiter then name me on quality QB he has recruited? None. He only shines when it comes to recruiting DL , is that surprising? If you have players tagging along because of a recruiter, then maybe those people should have spent an extra year in HS because they clearly aren’t choosing a school for the right reasons. Shaqs parents set him straight, they know this happens all the time, it is a business. For recruits to think that their is some sort of special bond between Recruiter and Recruit then someone needs to slap their pubescent face and wake them up to the reality that Lupoi is only chasing money, and no one is blaming him for that. If these recruits all of a sudden think that Washington will be a better place to go to school than Cal all because Lupoi is going there, maybe those recruits should ask themselves why Lupoi went to Cal?
“was he only chasing money or was something else offered by Washington?”
Like what? Hookers and cocaine? GMAB, if you triple a guy’s salary, you don’t need to offer anything else.
It is a business. Don’t tell me you would not be tempted by 3x your salary.
I just do not like the timing and the way it happened.
It’s business but you never burn bridges. Tosh should have forewarned colleagues so they can pick up where he left off schmoozing the 5-stars. If I was a recruit, and being young, this is an eye opener – wow, I thought I could trust that guy!!! I am hoping I got it all wrong. We’ll have to see.
Exactly- You’ll notice that Washington only made their move on this guy in a last ditch effort when all of a sudden they noticed Cal was having a great recruiting year. Cal’s recruiting prowess only started when they had something to offer recruits other than an education at the Best public university in the USA and one of the best in the World. I see people wearing Cal caps and T-shirts all around the World. The other enticement being a retrofitted stadium with new interior design and a state of the art training facility, probably the best in the US for now. Next step, hire a new DL coach- Pendergast should know someone.
This incident will be reflective of Tosh’s character. Did he blind side Tedford and Pendergast? It looks like he did based on comments from Shaq Thompson and others. I’m sure Tedford and Pendergast would have done damage control before the news got out. Teaching guys to fake injury and blind siding your colleagues – Sarkesian, you can have him. In fact, he might be in your class.
I hope he teaches the dogs to fall down and fake injury.
Upon further reflection, Tosh totally blew it. He burned bridges. He should have waited until end of recruiting season to make a decision. That would have been class. I feel bad for those recruits who made a decision based on one guy and not on the new facilities or Cal’s proven track to the NFL.
Yes wait till after the signing day so the recruits who went there to learn from him would be stuck there. Yup really classy
“He should have waited until end of recruiting season to make a decision. ”
LOL. What a silly comment. For $500K per year, I’m pretty sure UW wants him recruiting for them immediately.
And what happens when Tosh (not if) washes out as DC at WU or when Sarkisian follows the lead of his mentor Pete Carroll and pays for 5-star recruit? Who will Tosh turn to for a job other than government, who hires any and all schmucks?
I wonder how our D would rank if we left out the stats for Presbyterian? It sure did not look good against UCLA. We have a very tough schedule this year with Ohio State, USC and Oregon. I’m still hoping for a 4-3 alignment.
who will teach our D line to fake injuries against Oregon now?
Guest, you’re an idiot.
are you denying that it happened?
I saw it. Quack.
Go Ducks
Now 5 star recruits Arik Armstead and Ellis McCarthy will play defensive line somewhere else.