Head Coach Tosh Lupoi spent nearly a half hour with the media Tuesday morning, and the message was clear: Cal’s push forward will be built on detail, discipline and a broader view of what a football program has to be in 2026 and beyond.
Lupoi said he is encouraged by what he’s seeing from the Bears this offseason. “I’m very pleased on the overall group’s hunger,” he said.
That hunger, in his telling, has to show up in every corner of the program. Lupoi stressed a winning culture rooted in relentless attention to detail, both on and off the field, and pointed to ten personal and professional categories that make up the standard he and his staff are using with the roster. He listed areas such as 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.
He described the system as a “rating system” brought over from the NFL, one that will help the staff evaluate players before, during and after the season in an “attempt to climb towards improvement every phase.”
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was another focal point of the conversation. The four-time ACC Rookie of the Week, who was recently named to the Maxwell Award watch list, was labeled by Lupoi as a “driving force in our culture,” with the coach emphasizing how central he is to the program’s future.
Recruiting came up next, and Lupoi made it plain that Cal is being careful about how it builds the roster, whether through high school prospects or the transfer portal. He said the staff wants to be “selective” and to “do as much homework as possible.”
He also explained why the portal became such a major part of the offseason plan. “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.
Even so, he said the spring’s portal activity was shaped by his new responsibilities and that the long-term base of the program has to come from high school recruiting. “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.”
Lupoi described that process as thorough, with the staff digging into character, academic report, family and more before bringing a player into the fold.
The broader challenge, of course, is that his job now reaches well beyond scheme and position coaching. Lupoi said he still sees Cal as a premier program, one that can again be a threat in the conference and on the national stage, but getting there requires operating in a bigger executive space while still staying hands-on with the players.
“It’s been a great challenge and that’s what I love, seeking challenge not comfort,” he said.
NIL was part of that discussion too. Lupoi pointed to Cal’s sponsorship with the AI platform Dial Pad and said the program is trying to make smart use of every available advantage.
“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.”
He also noted the value of Cal’s alumni base, mentioning possible corporate and private sponsorships, including a potential stadium brand deal, along with the trips he and General Manager Ron Rivera have taken around the country to speak 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.
As for the coming season, Lupoi said the staff is balancing the big picture with the daily grind. “We’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.”
That steady, methodical approach is what Lupoi says has guided him throughout his time as a player and coach. Cal has struggled in recent years to match the level many fans expect, but Lupoi’s emphasis on detail, recruiting, and maximizing every resource available suggests he sees the path back as something to be built piece by piece.
“I take a lot of pride in coordinating top defenses in the country and being a part of some awesome cultures.”
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Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has sounded energized by what lies ahead, especially with the new talent arriving on offense. For Cal, the next few weeks are about more than just installation and conditioning, since this camp will offer the first real look at how Lupois approach translates once the pads come on and the season start against UCLA draws closer. [Read more 🡒]
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Cals offseason rebuild leaned hard on the transfer portal, but Tosh Lupoi is presenting that as a one-time fix rather than a new identity. The head coach said the heavy portal traffic was driven by immediate roster needs, and that going forward the Bears want to put most of their energy back into high school recruiting, where the evaluation process is slower but, in their view, more reliable for building a program.
Lupoi also pointed to the limits of trying to judge transfer fits in a hurry, especially when culture matters as much as talent. The idea now is to be more deliberate with high school and junior college prospects, keep more of the best players already in the building, and let a promising 2027 class that sits among the national top 25 be part of the long-term foundation instead of leaning on outside help to patch holes. [Read more 🡒]