Tosh Lupoi, head coach at California
Photo: George Wrighster’s College Football Podcast, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tosh Lupoi

Tosh Lupoi went 3–⁠4 as a head coach, 2026, at California. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–⁠3); by them his record is 3–⁠3.

Record
3–⁠4 career
Seasons
1
Schools
1
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Born
Jul 22, 1981
Alma mater
California 2005
Best season
2026 3–⁠4

Season by season

SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2026California3–⁠4 (Wikipedia: 3–⁠3)

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams10–⁠1
Against rivals10–⁠1
Conference games42–⁠2
Decided by 8 points or fewer32–⁠1
At home52–⁠3
On the road21–⁠1
As our Elo’s favorite21–⁠1
As our Elo’s underdog52–⁠3

His own seven games on file, 2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Syracuseseries11–⁠0
Virginia Techseries11–⁠0
Wagnerseries11–⁠0
UCLAseries10–⁠1
Wake Forestseries10–⁠1
Clemsonseries10–⁠1
UNLVseries10–⁠1

National title staffs

Every title staff

The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.

Career

YearsTeamJob
2008–⁠11CaliforniaDefensive line coach
2012–⁠13WashingtonDefensive line coach
2014–⁠15AlabamaDefensive assistant
2016AlabamaOutside linebackers coach
2017AlabamaCo-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach
2018AlabamaDefensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach
2019Cleveland Browns NFLDefensive line coach
2020Atlanta Falcons NFLDefensive line coach and running game coordinator
2021Jacksonville Jaguars NFLDefensive line coach
2022–⁠25OregonDefensive coordinator and linebackers coach
2026–presentCaliforniaHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Tosh Lupoi

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (8)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Jeff TedfordCalifornia2008–⁠11Defensive line coach
Steve SarkisianWashington2012–⁠13Defensive line coach
Marques TuiasosopoWashington2013Defensive line coach
Nick SabanAlabama2014–⁠182014–⁠15: defensive assistant; 2016: outside linebackers coach; 2017: co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach; 2018: defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach
Freddie KitchensCleveland Browns NFL2019Defensive line coach
Dan QuinnAtlanta Falcons NFL2020Defensive line coach and running game coordinator
Urban MeyerJacksonville Jaguars NFL2021Defensive line coach
Dan LanningOregon2022–⁠25Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Coached under him, later head coaches (2)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Bob GregoryCalifornia, 2026: analyst; 2026: inside linebackers coachBoise State, Washington
Nick RolovichCalifornia, 2026: assistant head coach and quarterbacks coachHawai’i, Washington State, California
Other assistants under him (5)
CoachWith him
Da’Von BrownCalifornia, 2026: co-defensive coordinator
Ike HilliardCalifornia, 2026: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach
Jordan SomervilleCalifornia, 2026: offensive coordinator
Keith HeywardCalifornia, 2026: defensive backs coach
Michael HutchingsCalifornia, 2026: defensive coordinator

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Alabamaco-defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $209,000$950,000 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Lupoi’s teams went for it on 31% of fourth downs and on 47% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 63% of plays and took 24.9 seconds a play, in 2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2026 7 g18 of 59 31%47%63%24.9−0.05

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.