Tosh Lupoi Describes What He Wants in Assistant Coaches

New Cal coach Tosh Lupoi has a long list of things on his to-do list over the coming days, weeks and possibly deep into January.

He will juggle two responsibilities until his job of the past four seasons, as defensive coordinator at Oregon, ends at some point during the College Football Playoff. If the Ducks advance to the championship game, he will be he pulled in two directions until Jan. 19.

The 44-year-old East Bay native and Cal grad said the Bears will have his full attention, even from Eugene, except when he’s in meetings for game planning.

Hiring a coaching staff is on the docket, but perhaps not as urgent a need as securing players he wants from the current Bears’ roster, starting with quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.

But finding the right coaches to fill his staff will be critical, even if he and Cal general manager Ron Rivera don’t plan to rush things. After all, interim head coach Nick Rolovich, whom Lupoi described as “an excellent coach,” will lead the team into the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl.

Asked what he’s looking for in assistants, Lupoi said two qualifies are non-negotiable: “Great juice with content.”

“What I mean by that is I want high-level energy out there. I think passion is contagious,” he said. “However, I don’t want a single coach on our staff that’s a guy who’s just yelling to yell.”

It’s imperative that his assistants — and Cal’s players — operate with a growth mindset.

“Any coach that’s here currently that has a fixed mindset, I would invite him to go into the coaching portal,” Lupoi explained. “I want the guys on our staff, support staff, coaching staff and every single player to be built off of a growth mindset, that we’re all — myself included — on a quest to improve.”

Yes, Lupoi said coaches from former coach Justin Wilcox’s staff who want to remain at Cal will be considered.

Rivera said he believes there are several strong coaches and recruiters on the current staff and he will encourage Lupoi to talk with all of them.

An “interview” process with them may be somewhat unorthodox.

“To be honest, I’m not very interested in having a whole bunch of long-winded meetings with a bunch of coaches,” he said. “I’m going to find that out through the recruits and through the players and through the people that I trust most here.

“Who the strongest connectors are, who the strongest recruiters are and who the strongest motivators are, along with strategic excellence. That’s what we’re on a mission to do.”

Lupoi said he already conducted three interviews, likely with NFL assistants, and that he has been barraged by text messages from potential candidates in the NFL and at elite college programs, “from organizations that everybody is going to recognize.”

When the process is complete, Lupoi said he wants a staff comprising “elite, high-level, motivated coaches that are going to come in and give these guys everything they’ve got, like myself.”

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