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Tosh Lupoi - DC Alabama

Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
Tosh Lupoi
Lupoi_Tosh.jpg

Sport(s) Football

Current position
Title Defensive Coordinator
Team Alabama
Conference SEC

Biographical details
Born Walnut Creek, California
Playing career 2000–2005 California
Position(s) Defensive lineman

Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2008–2011 California (DL)
2012–2013 Washington (DL)
2014–2015 Alabama (Def. Analyst)
2016 Alabama (OLB)
2017–present Alabama (DC/OLB)

Alabama bio:

Lupoi had previous experience in the 3-4 defense as an assistant coach at California and Washington, where he was responsible for coaching the defensive line as well as one of the outside linebacker positions.

Lupoi was the Rivals Recruiter of the Year in 2010 and helped sign California classes that ranked No. 11 nationally in 2011 and No. 14 in 2010.

Lupoi played high school football at De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., one of the most successful programs in the history of prep football, where he earned All-State honors and won a national title. His father, John Lupoi, played collegiate football at Brigham Young and was later a part-time assistant coach at California.

Articles of interest:

How Tosh Lupoi became Alabama's top recruiter

Why Tosh Lupoi is unlike previous Saban defensive coordinators

NCAA formally closes Tosh Lupoi case; no penalties handed down

Of note, Howell brought him up in chat today and Rivals has reported that he has interviewed for the CU job. Makes sense with respect to the timeline rumors of the hire being next week (after conference championship games).
 
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After four years with Saban, he's gone from my favorite whipping boy to top 5 on my list. He may not be ready, but he'd recruit like hell, re-establish us with the Poly community, and get some talent in here. I'd take him knowing his upside is very high and his downside is that we get a lot more talented and perhaps not win more.
 
Absolute meteoric rise. Dude is a crazy beast recruiter. DL coach in our footprint. He’s so big time Saban brought him on as an analyst, assistant, and DC all within four years.

He has an Ed Orgeron feel to me when Ole Miss took a shot on him. They did have a ton of nice players then, but never accomplished much.

Edit: I think Lupoi is worth the risk. I think his downside is Orgeron at Ole Miss. They have a very similar profile, except you can understand what Lupoi says when he speaks.
 
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Don’t want, but fully understand why others aren’t opposed to the idea. Lots of less risky choices, IMO.
 
seems massively risky. Recruiting machine and I'm pretty sure Saban doesn't let any random idiot call plays for his team, so he has grown a lot as a coach, but ugh. What he probably gets away with at Alabama as a secondary or primary violation boy, probably doesn't fly at CU.
 
Updated the OP with the important details.

Basically, Tosh was the best recruiter in the west and became the best recruiter at Alabama while also growing into a defensive coordinator under Saban.

There have been allegations of him being dirty, but all that's ever come from that is that he may have paid some money out of his own pocket to help a kid out with the online courses he needed and couldn't afford. Most of the stuff about him with recruiting is more about how he relates to players better than other coaches and does things like play video games with them -- engages them on their level and builds relationships.
 
I trashed Tosh on these boards a long time ago for
A. the way he sold out on his alma mater (Cal and Tedford) to go to UW
B. cleaning up so well in recruiting, while all the whispers about his cheating.

But after four years at Alabama, where he undoubtedly learned how to at least "not get caught" and also rose up within Saban's organization, I think he's probably the hottest coordinator we've discussed for a West Coast team like Colorado.

He gets big points for being not only a DL guy with Poly ties, but also an ace recruiter (especially with the Poly kids) which we need.

I've come a long way on this guy. A+++ pick if it is real.
 
Hmm. Admittedly I know nothing about him. But, I do know that I’m on board with a guy that recruit, that is our biggest issue here. Secondly, Alabama’s defense is very good (easy when you have the best players) but if Saban sees enough in him to make a 34/35 year old with no coordinator experience his full time DC I’m pretty sold that he knows how to coach. Plus he’s 36, he can relate to the team and he’s young enough that he can be here for awhile if he’s successful.

I would back this hire based off the slim info I have.
 
buffaholic said:
After four years with Saban, he's gone from my favorite whipping boy to top 5 on my list. He may not be ready, but he'd recruit like hell, re-establish us with the Poly community, and get some talent in here. I'd take him knowing his upside is very high and his downside is that we get a lot more talented and perhaps not win more.
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Hell, if he’s good at recruiting for Alabama, no reason to think it’d be any different at CU.
 
Buffsrock85 said:
He has experience like the other coordinators? He has more experience than Lake does as a coordinator.
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buffaholic said:
Embree was never a recruiter at this kids level. And he was never a coordinator.
Click to expand...

Read the linked articles. Things like “gaining confidence” are sprinkled in there. Sorry, I don’t want a guy who is basically green behind the ears and doesn’t even call plays taking over at such a critical time. He’s not ready.
 
buffedup said:
Day has waaaaay more high level coaching experience.
Click to expand...
Huh?? Two years as OC for Boston College and a year and a half as OC for Ohio State and all of the sudden he has waaaaay more high level coaching experience? I get he was the QB Coach in Phil and SF in the NFL for a year each, but that isn’t “high level coaching experience” relative to the CU HC job.
 
CUAviator said:
Hell, if he’s good at recruiting for Alabama, no reason to think it’d be any different at CU.
Click to expand...
Rant that follows doesn't apply to you if you were being sarcastic, but regardless it is a point that has to be made:

He recruited most of Tedford's top talent at Cal.

Then he went to Washington when they were coming off an 0-12 season and loaded them up on talent.

After that, he went to Alabama with no ties in their recruiting footprint and became the best recruiter on Saban's staff.

I can understand if anyone doesn't think Tosh is ready for a HC job or isn't who you prefer for CU, but anyone who questions whether Tosh's recruiting chops are legit loses all credibility to participate in the discussion.
 
TSchekler said:
Huh?? Two years as OC for Boston College and a year and a half as OC for Ohio State and all of the sudden he has waaaaay more high level coaching experience? I get he was the QB Coach in Phil and SF in the NFL for a year each, but that isn’t “high level coaching experience” relative to the CU HC job.
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Math is hard. I was thinking Tosh started this year. That makes me a little more comfortable. Although something still rubs me wrong about him.
 
I feel like this is a high risk high reward type hire. He is an elite recruiter but saban runs that defense. And bama recruits on a different level than everyone else.

But I’d be excited if he’s the guy.
 
Liver said:
I feel like this is a high risk high reward type hire. He is an elite recruiter but saban runs that defense. And bama recruits on a different level than everyone else.

But I’d be excited if he’s the guy.
Click to expand...
This is the first year he’s calling plays, second year as the DC/Co-DC, so he’s definitely progressing.

IMO, this is the type of hire that could vault CU into a championship caliber program. The talent will come and he has seemingly matured quite a bit as a coach and person. If it doesn’t work out in the W/L category, the cupboard won’t be bare, that’s for sure. Definitely worth the risk to me.
 
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