Is Urban Meyer Premature in Naming Cal's Tosh Lupoi a Top-3 Impact New Head Coach?

Former Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer called new Cal coach Tosh Lupoi “a maniac, a nut job,” and he meant it in the most complimentary way.

It’s the reason Meyer named Lupoi as one of his top three new head coaches he expects to make an impact, according to an On3 Sports report. It’s not necessarily the best new head coaches, but the three that he believes have the best chance to turn their football programs around.

At No. 1, Meyer put new Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham. No. 2 is new Florida coach Jon Sumrall.

And here is what Meyer said about No. 3, according to On3:

“And then No. 3, Tosh Lupoi. I think at Cal — you watch Cal become a player, a national player. You know, they they’ve been okay. But you watch this guy, I’ve known this guy for a long time. He’s a maniac, nut job.

“All he does is recruit, recruit. His talent acquisition is going to be incredible. He’s a tough guy, and you can see it in the way Oregon defense plays.”

Is Meyer correct in giving Lupoi so much credit?

Cal seems to be doing well in acquiring talent through the transfer portal, but It seems a little premature to claim Lupoi will have that much impact.

Lupoi has never been a head coach before. That certainly does not disqualify him from being an instant hit. Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day had never been head coaches before getting their current jobs, and those have certainly worked out.

However, those three joined programs that had already established a national reputation. It may take a little more work at Cal, which was 7-6 this past season for its first winning season in six years, and just its third winning season in the past 14 years.

While Whittingham and Sumrall have head coaching resumes and are taking over programs that have recent histories of national prominence, Lupoi has a steeper hill to climb.

Cal now seems to be giving its football program the kind of support needed to compete at a high level, but only time will tell if Lupoi can elevate Cal football.

There is one notable precedent that favors Lupoi.

Like Lupoi, Jeff Tedford was an Oregon coordinator – Tedford on offense, Lupoi on defense -- when Tedford was hired at Cal for his first head coaching job prior to the 2002 season.

In Tedford’s first season he took a Cal team that had been 1-10 the previous year and had not had a winning season since 1993 to a 7-5 record in 2002. That was the first of eight consecutive winning seasons that included a No. 4 national ranking at the end of the 2004 regular season and a tie for the Pac-10 championship in 2006.

College football is different world now, but Lupoi seems able to navigate it. We’ll see.

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