This offseason we've seen other Pac-12 schools dish out hefty contracts for new head coaches. Now our own assistants are being bought at prices the University simply cannot afford. ESPN asks a tough question: can the Bears keep up in this arms race?
Thirty-year-old Tosh Lupoi, born and bred a Cal Bear and arguably the top-recruiting assistant coach on the West Coast, bolted Berkeley on Monday for Washington -- a huge blow, 15 days before signing day, to 10th-year coach Jeff Tedford and a landscape-altering move in the Pac-12.
This is reality at Cal, where the athletic department operates under the weight of a budget deficit that exceeded, on average, more than $11 million from 2003 to 2010, according to a university report.
Lupoi, who recently finished his fourth year as defensive line coach under Tedford, reportedly earned $164,000 at Cal. At Washington, he received a new title: defensive run game coordinator -- and, no doubt, a big raise.
How does Cal match that? It can't.
This is the school that axed five sports two years ago and then reinstated baseball months later after fund-raising efforts produced nearly $10 million.
It's astounding to imagine that the University of California's unofficial flagship institution can't compete on an even field with its conference rivals. But it's true.
After the jump we have more on Tosh's departure and the recruiting implications.
Football
- Eric Kiesau has also jumped ship. Tedford and Barbour have a press release related to the matter. The comments are nothing insightful--mostly mediaspeak.
- Tosh Lupoi has accepted a job (and a huge raise...and maybe a boat) at UW. More from Faraudo.
- BearInsider has a good story on the departure.
- Gabe King found out via Twitter that Tosh was leaving. More from King: he says he understands the move but would have appreciated hearing something, anything from Tosh.
- Shaq Thompson is considering UW now thanks to his great relationship with Tosh. Aziz Shittu is not sure where he will commit now.
- Several of the non-D-line commits reaffirmed their commitment to Cal.
- Ellis McCarthy is the first recruit lost after Tosh's departure. He will instead join UCLA. More on his decision.
- Shane Vereen is the last hope for the Bears, as he remains the only Cal alum in the Super Bowl title hunt. As much as it would pain me to see New England win, I'd be happy if Shane got a ring.
- The women's team persevered through a defensive struggle to earn a 63-56 win over Utah.
- Gottlieb mentioned postgame that her team needs to continue to win these road games if it wants to become elite.
- Monty is not sure whether Brandon Smith will be available to play this weekend.
- Monty speaks at what suddenly became the least interesting press conference ever (the Lupoi news was announced midway through).
- Ryan Anderson scored a career high 30 points on Monday (to be fair, it was against the Knicks). He made 7 three-pointers and is 40 of 93 from downtown this year.
- The Bears wrapped up the UCLA Tournament with a 58-0 win over the Bruins. Cal also defeated Loyola Marymount 95-3. The Bears have outscored opponents 269-6 and have not given up a try.