The Cal Berkeley football team has disappointed this season, and first-year head coach Tosh Lupoi already appears to be on the hot seat.
Former NFL head coach turned Cal Athletic Director and GM Ron Rivera made this clear with comments during KNBR’s “Murph & Markus” morning show on Thursday morning.
“Tosh came in as a first-time head coach. He did bring a couple of inexperienced coordinators with him. Things didn’t work out the way we needed them to work out on offense,” Rivera said.
Lupoi, who played college football at Cal, spent time as an assistant coach at Alabama and as Oregon’s defensive coordinator before the Golden Bears hired him.
Cal is 3-6 and 2-4 in the ACC this season.
“He has bumped his head a lot. We have talked a lot, tried to give him a lot of advice, point him in the right direction. Some of it, he’s been very receptive, and other portions of it, he hasn’t. And it’s those things that sometimes you’ve gotta learn for yourself before you think, ‘Oh wow, this is it,’” Rivera continued.
“But I’d like to continue to stress that this is a guy that’s learning, growing.”
Then came what sounded like a warning shot.
“But now it’s time… We have to show that we are growing, there has been some growth and development of our players, our team, and the culture is getting stronger. Those are all things that you have to have going forward.”
River added, “We’ve got to get this foundation put down, we’ve got to show that we have solid roots in the ground, we are ready to go forward… We’re doing the things that we need to do. We’re putting the players in position, so let’s roll.’ And that’s what we have to do.”
It sounds like Cal’s finish to the season will determine whether Lupoi continues as their head coach.
That is, if Rivera’s decision is not already made.
