The message boards are an absolute mess right now.
You have to wade through a ton of bullshit to find anything meaningful on there.
The ‘Old Blues’ are excited about Tosh… As we all are… Unfortunately, they are channeling that positive energy into posting photos of their dogs and asking questions about their personal lives.
Here are the important things that have happened since Tosh’s hiring on Friday.
Blue and Gold Carpet
Cal welcomed their new head coach the way an SEC team would. Tosh and his family took a PJ from rainy-Eugene to sunny-Berkeley, touching down to the sweet sound of the marching band. Cheerleaders. Oski. The whole shebang.
Loved this post from some Stanford guy.
Huge Alumni Donations
$20m is the number I read… From just three donors.
Does this indicate there was more frustration with Wilcox and his program than we thought?
I don’t think so. To me it indicates big donors were bored and not paying attention. As opposed to being pissed off. People now see a path to restoring Cal to its mid-2000s glory.
In one post some guy predicts Cal and Stanford will soon dominate the Georgias and Alabamas… because we have so many more billionaires. A fun thought.
JKS Retained
Tosh left the press conference and flew straight to Hawaii. He and JKS met from midnight to 2:00am. Baller. JKS was on island to support his high school team in the state championship.
Tosh immediately got him to commit to returning to Berkeley. Let the fun begin.
Recruiting… No big changes
I expected there to be lists of recruits he was targeting at Oregon who might flip to Cal… But there is none of that yet.
We know he offered a 2027 target BEFORE officially accepting the job in Berkeley. Wild move. There is evidence of a few other targets he has been talking to but nothing notable has happened.
I cannot wait for this new era of recruiting.
Recruiting is the reason I fell in love with college football in high school… Before I even had allegiance to a team. Watching high school tape, looking through the class rankings, the drama around players committing, decommitting, etc…
Tweeting at high schoolers. It’s the best.
Wilcox recruiting presence was basically zero. I stopped following because we had no hope of landing a top 20 class. Every year was the same. A rag-tag collection of three star recruits with medium offer lists.
We are so back. Lupoi is a recruiting god. Here are some of his greatest career lands.
Assistant Coaches
Our assistant coaches salary pool has been increased by 70% putting us on par with the top teams in the ACC.
Like recruiting, I expected there to be some theories on who he is going to try to bring in for OC and DC by this point. Nothing yet.
The only thing that has happened… Rolovich, our interim head coach who has a great relationship with JKS is in discussion to return as QB Coach and Assistant HC. Rumored this may have secured the return of Jaron.
There was worry we would have to make him Offensive Coordinator to retain him. He is perfect at QB coach.
Lupoi said he will consider keeping current coaches if they fit the culture. Here are the coaches I would like to see back next year in no order.
- Mike Saffell – Tight Ends || Young, energetic Cal grad. Did a great job with the unit this year. Great job with Endries last year. Recruited the 16th ranked TE in the 2026 class. He should be a lock to stay on.
- Famika Anea – OL || 2025 was his first year on staff and granted it wasn’t great… But he is a fiery recruiter and I truly believe in his long term potential as a coach. Seems to fit the Lupoi energy.
- Terrance Brown – DBs || Has done a great job bringing on talent and coaching them up. Many NFL players in the last few years. With Lupoi behind him he’ll likely improve further.
- Nick Rolovich – QB || Already discussed.
Other than that… Clear house!!
Job Start Timing
Lupoi will stay on as Oregon DC through their playoff run. He is a workhorse… I expect him to be actively working for us in the meantime. I have decided to root for Oregon through the playoffs… The benefit of Lupoi winning a Natty would trump having a few extra weeks of his undivided attention . People will probably disagree with that.
bearlyinteresting.com 