Oregon Coaching Profile: Tosh Lupoi
In the coming weeks, ScoopDuck will publish profiles on each member of Dan Lanning’s Oregon coaching staff.
First up was offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham. Next, we look at defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi.
The following is a review of Lupoi’s coaching career along with a few relevant stats for each season.
Early days
Lupoi was born in Walnut Creek, CA (as was Sabrina Ionescu) and played on a legendary De La Salle prep team that won a national title. He was named to the all-state team in his senior season.
Lupoi played defensive line at Cal, graduating in 2005 before joining the Golden Bears’ staff as a grad assistant.
California
Lupoi was promoted to defensive line coach in ’08 under head coach Jeff Tedford. He became the youngest ever full-time coach in conference history at age 26.
| Year | Role | Opp PPG (CFB Rank) | Opp Yds/play | Opp TO/gm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | GA | 19.3 (32nd) | 5.6 (85th) | 2.2 (26th) |
| 2007 | GA | 26.8 (58th) | 5.0 (32nd) | 1.8 (67th) |
| 2008 | DL | 19.9 (23rd) | 4.4 (7th) | 2.6 (3rd) |
| 2009 | DL | 25.5 (60th) | 5.5 (68th) | 1.6 (79th) |
| 2010 | DL | 22.6 (40th) | 4.8 (17th) | 1.6 (71st) |
| 2011 | DL | 24.2 (48th) | 5.2 (40th) | 1.8 (50th) |
But the story of Tosh Lupoi runs much deeper than numbers.
Oregon fans may remember the 2010 game in which multiple Cal defenders faked injuries to slow down Chip Kelly’s offense.
Lupoi fell on the sword, taking a suspension. A couple *chef’s kiss* quotes from the incident:
- “In the heat of the battle and trying to get a substitution in, [Lupoi] used poor judgment.” – Jeff Tedford (LA Times)
- “The Pac-10 takes the integrity of the game very seriously.” – Larry Scott (SF Gate)
You’ve heard this before, but it’s worth repeating: Lupoi is an elite recruiter. He helped Cal snag consistent top-five (and even top-3) Pac-12 recruiting classes. The names he brought to Berkeley just seemed so out of place: Keenan Allen, Cecil Whiteside, Marvin Jones, etc.
You are probably aware of a recent article by Jon Wilner outlining, in part, alleged recruiting violations and an NCAA investigation involving Lupoi (spoiler: the NCAA didn’t find anything, but remained skeptical).
- Considering his recent attitude toward the Ducks, the tone of Wilner’s piece came off as negative to many Oregon fans.
- As a counter, I’ll offer this 2012 article by Jonathan Kuperberg, which reads: “Before he stabbed Oski in the back, Tosh Lupoi was Cal’s golden boy.” The headline: “After Tosh jumped ship, Cal has failed to right it.”
- My point: Cal fans were still pissed Lupoi left, because he’s a good coach who made their defense better.
So how did a golden boy turn into a back-stabber? Perhaps Lupoi got out of Berkeley too early.
The night before accepting the same d-line job at Washington, Lupoi visited five-star Shaq Thompson’s home. Long story short, Thompson ended up signing with UW.
This was not the only allegation of Lupoi recruiting guys to UW while still employed by Cal.
Washington
Lupoi joined Steve Sarkisian’s staff in 2012, collecting a top-10 assistant salary in the conference ($350k/yr), per the Seattle Times. This was three times what he made at Cal.
| Year | Role | Opp PPG (CFB rank) | Opp Yds/play | Opp TO/gm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | DL | 24.2 (39th) | 5.4 (54th) | 2.5 (12th) |
| 2013 | DL | 22.8 (30th) | 5.0 (20th) | 1.8 (46th) |
(Data from sports-reference.com)
Lupoi’s biggest scandal also came at UW, though. He allegedly paid a local high school coach, Mark Davis, $4,500 to get a tutor for an academically ineligible recruit.
Part of the payment was allegedly made with cash in a coffee cup. Davis ended up reporting this to the Seattle Times.
A month later, “Seven Win Sark” left for USC. Lupoi was not retained on Sark’s staff in LA — nor Chris Petersen’s when he took over in Seattle — for fear of an incoming NCAA violation (see above, none came).
Alabama
With no landing spot in the Pac-12, Lupoi attended the Nick Saban School of CoachingTM and excelled. By year three, he was an on-field coach for the strongest defense in the country.
| Year | Role | Opp PPG (CFB rank) | Opp Yds/play | Opp TO/gm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | DA | 18.4 (6th) | 4.9 (23rd) | 1.4 (89th) |
| 2015 | DA | 15.1 (3rd) | 4.3 (3rd) | 1.8 (33rd) |
| 2016 | OLB | 13.0 (1st) | 4.0 (1st) | 1.9 (20th) |
| 2017 | Co-DC, OLB | 11.9 (1st) | 4.0 (1st) | 1.7 (41st) |
| 2018 | DC, OLB | 18.1 (12th) | 4.9 (25th) | 1.4 (84th) |
(Data from sports-reference.com)
Lupoi earned a pair of National Championship rings at the end of the 2015 and 2017 seasons, coaching a who’s who of first-round picks — too many to name. Just Bama things.
He also worked alongside an impressive cast of coaches: Kirby Smart, Mario Cristobal, Lane Kiffin, Billy Napier, Mel Tucker, Jeremy Pruitt, and more were all on the same staffs as Lupoi. Once again, just Bama things.
Lupoi continued his recruiting dominance in the South, too. Except instead of pulling in the best talent from the West, he was getting the best guys in the country.
NFL stops
Lupoi joined Freddie Kitchens’ Cleveland Browns staff for the 2019 season, coaching d-line under DC Steve Wilks.
The Browns went 6-10 with a bottom-half defense, but Lupoi coached Myles Garrett to a 10-sack season in 10 games. (Garrett was then suspended for the rest of the year after the Mason Rudolph incident.)
After the season, Kitchens was fired and general manager John Dorsey mutually parted ways from the team. Lupoi landed in Atlanta on Dan Quinn’s staff.
| Year | Role | Opp PPG (NFL rank) | Opp Yds/play | Opp TO/gm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 (CLE) | DL | 24.6 (20th) | 5.7 (21st) | 1.25 (20th) |
| 2020 (ATL) | DL, RGC | 25.9 (19th) | 6.2 (30th) | 1.31 (20th) |
| 2021 (JAX) | DL | 26.9 (28th) | 5.6 (24th) | 0.53 (32nd) |
Lupoi’s head coach was fired once again in 2020. Quinn began 0-5 and interim Raheem Morris finished 4-7.
Urban Meyer brought Lupoi onto his Jacksonville Jaguars staff as the d-line coach in 2021.
Lupoi played a major role in the development of Josh Allen in 2021 with the Jaguars, coaching Allen to 7.5 sacks and 12.0 tackles for loss. Lupoi also helped Dawuane Smoot to a career year with six sacks and seven tackles for loss, and the duo combined for three sacks in Jacksonville’s season finale on Sunday as the Jaguars defeated Indianapolis, 26-11, and knocked the Colts out of the playoff race.
From Lupoi’s UO Bio
Most know Meyer’s story from there.
Final thoughts
My good friend and co-host of the Quacked Out Pod, Reid Tingley, once called Lupoi “the white whale” of Oregon hires. Here’s why:
Lupoi has the unique combination of being relatively young yet experienced in the college football landscape. He has worked at the highest levels of football — under Nick Saban at Alabama and with three different teams in the NFL.
Lupoi is credited with recruiting seven five-stars, not including tons of four-stars like Trevon Diggs and Cameron Latu.
His top three all-time recruits are telling of his recruiting success across the board: Najee Harris to Alabama, Shaq Thompson to Washington, and Keenan Allen to Cal.
Overall, Lupoi seems like a great fit for Oregon at its current state. He has the coaching experience and recruiting prowess to be an elite hire.
