Learning on the Fly: Cal's Tosh Lupoi to Face Clemson's Legendary Dabo Swinney

Lupoi is prepping for his fourth game as a rookie head coach; Swinney has worked the sidelines in 244 games as leader of the Tigers

Cal coach Tosh Lupoi | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Cal’s Tosh Lupoi will work his fourth game as a college football head coach on Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

On the other sideline for the 7:30 p.m. kickoff will be Dabo Swinney, who is set to coach his 244th game for Clemson over 19 seasons. 

Players ultimately have an outsized role in who wins or loses, but the Tigers will come to Berkeley with a massive edge in coaching experience.

Swinney, 56, has won 189 games, third-most among active FBS coaches. His .778 winning percentage puts him back of only Georgia’s Kirby Smart at .851. 

His teams have claimed nine ACC championships and two national titles and Swinney is a three-time winner of the Paul “Bear” Bryant national coach of the year award.

Swinney’s credentials aren’t lost on Lupoi.

“Faced him on multiple occasions in national championships,” Lupoi said. “Got a lot of respect for him and his organization, how he carries himself as a man and a coach. Super fired up about this opportunity ahead and excited.”

Those four national championship matchups took place from 2015 through ’18 when Lupoi was an assistant coach or eventually defensive coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Swinney and the Tigers came out on top in 2015 and ’18, bookends to back-to-back titles the Crimson Tide captured in ’16 and ’17.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney encourages his players. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Those experiences just confirm for Lupoi how good Swinney has been.

“They’ve had great players . . . but I think him as a leader, he’s obviously doing a lot of things right,” Lupoi said. “I don’t have an intimate personal relationship with him. Shaken his hand a number of times and had a few quick conversations, and his resume and his body of work speaks for itself. Just a very respected head coach in our profession.”

Swinney and the Tigers recently have been less invincible. They were 7-6 a year ago and they have won their past two games after being dismantled 51-10 by LSU in their season opener.

“Don’t know a whole lot about what’s going on over there,” Lupoi said. “He’s had a lot of success.”

Lupoi’s focus, as always, is on his own team, also 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC. Asked if the personal matchup with a future hall of famer is enticing, Lupoi said, “Don’t put a lot off thought into it. 

“We’re trying to grow our team and, starting with me, just focus on self-improvement. Anything I can do better for us.”

Lupoi called Tuesday morning’s practice one of the team’s best this season. 

“Seeing our team grow from Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3, that’s the goal,”he said. “We want to be like bamboo.”

Then he asked his audience of reporters to guess what he meant by that. After a couple replies that missed the mark, Lupoi explained things.

“Bamboo, once to breaches the surface, it takes two months to grow to its full potential. And it typically takes three to five years to harvest,” he said. “So the nurturing that goes into that, the preparation, right? 

“Voicing that to our team of that’s what you hope for is all our work, once it pops you start to really start see some growth and fast improvement. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Hmmm. Wonder if Dabo ever discusses the growth potential of bamboo with his teams.

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