ACC Media Day: Tosh Lupoi `Pleased But Absolutely Not Satisfied' With Progress

Cal took its turn in the spotlight Friday on the final day of ACC Football Kickoff media days and first-year coach Tosh Lupoi said he’s “pleased but absolutely not satisfied” with the Bears’ progress since he was hired last December.

“I’m extremely proud of where we’re at today, evaluating the hunger of our team and the challenges these guys have accepted and attacked,” Lupoi told reporters at Charlotte, NC.

A Cal alum and Bay Area native, Lupoi was joined at media day by sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, junior running back Adam Mohammed and senior defensive back Ricky Fletcher, the latter two first-year transfers.

Lupoi enjoyed great success landing talent out of the transfer portal and his still-developing 2027 high school recruiting class ranks among the top-25 nationally.

The attention now turns to the start of practice in a couple weeks with the Sept. 5 season opener against UCLA at Memorial Stadium rapidly approaching.

Lupoi said his players have embraced all the changes he’s implemented.

“The results of the season, I truly believe those are going to be dictated by our daily transactions,” he said. “That’s ultimately what culture is. It’s not about being clever or cliche, it’s about living out what we want to represent every day.

“I’m pleased but absolutely not satisfied,” he said of the progress to date. “We came here . . . to compete at the highest level. I wholeheartedly believe this is a place that can afford that opportunity. The goal is to win every opportunity, every moment.”

Cal was 7-6 last season in coach Justin Wilcox’s swan song. The Bears haven’t won as many as eight games since 2019 and have not assembled a winning conference record since 2009.

College football experts have struggled to project what the Bears might look like this fall, with USA Today most recently pegging Cal to finish 11th in the 17-team ACC.

With a first-time head coach — and first-time offensive and defensive coordinators — there certainly are plenty of questions facing the Bears.

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

But Lupoi’s first recruiting victory came on the day he was hired when he made a late-night visit to Hawaii and convinced then-freshman quarterback Sagapolutele to return to Berkeley.

“If you’ve got a quarterback, you’ve to a chance. He got his,” ACC media panelist Tom Luginbill said.

Sagapolutele passed for 3,454 yards with 18 touchdowns while starting every game as a freshman. The left-hander threw for at least 200 yards in every game, had 56 completions of 20 yards or more and had no interceptions among his final 178 pass attempts — just seven shy of the program record set by Jared Goff in 2015.

Sagapolutele was watching his high school alma mater play in the Hawaii state championship game when his mother called to let him know Lupoi was flying to the islands and expected to land around midnight.

The visit “caught me by surprise,” Sagapolutele said Friday. The two talked for three hours until 4:30 in the morning, when Sagapolutele committed to stay at Cal.

“It was a great talk. It just felt right,” Sagapolutele said. “This was where I want to be.”

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