The new era of Cal football is on the rise, as the university hired Dan Lanning’s defensive coordinator, Tosh Lupoi, for the head coaching job last week. It’s one of the most underrated hires of the year, and for good reason. The California native is planning to begin his head coaching career with seven-figure support already in place.

“Cal Family, first and foremost, thank you for the warm welcome back home to Berkeley! As a homegrown Bay Area native, I am extremely excited and grateful for this incredible opportunity. My family and I are here to serve this great university!” stated the report by UC Berkeley.

Admittedly, it’s a big homecoming for him because he’s a Bay Area local who actually played for Cal back in the early 2000s. His contract is a sweet five-year deal. The cool part is that his entire salary, plus the money needed to buy out the previous coach, is being paid for by private donations. The university didn’t have to use taxpayer money or tuition fees for it.

He then announced a new fundraiser called the “Fight for California–Cal Football Matching Challenge.” A group of former Cal football players has stepped up with $500,000 to match donations, aiming to raise a total of $1 million. That means every dollar given right now goes twice as far.

The primary purpose of this fundraiser is to support recruiting during the 2026 transfer portal period, which runs from January 2 to January 16.

Coach Lupoi wants Cal to be proactive, not reactive. Instead of waiting or falling behind other programs, Cal plans to move with confidence, target the right players, and build ACC-championship caliber players around freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in that two-week window.

The matching challenge is currently open, but it won’t last long. It closes at kickoff of the Hawai‘i Bowl on December 24 at 5:00 p.m. (PT), so this is the window to jump in. Any donation made before then will go directly to the Championship CALiber Fund.

This isn’t the first time Cal has been constantly raising money for its student-athletes. In fact, back in April, their donors came through during a crowdfunding challenge that helped raise $2 million for the football program in just eight days.

Mind you, he’s not running this campaign alone; he has a heavy-hitting support system, with General Manager Ron Rivera leading the charge on the business side and overseeing the funds.

The former Oregon DC is encouraging fans, alumni, and boosters to come through and be part of the new era for the program.

Big expectations for Tosh Lupoi

The Bears finished their regular season with a 7–5 record overall, which isn’t too bad, even with the mid-season coaching change that saw Justin Wilcox fired and Nick Rolovich step in as the interim head coach.

The Cal Golden Bears are finishing up their 2025 season by heading to the Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl, where they’ll take on the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on Christmas Eve. This game will be a homecoming for Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who also happens to be one of the best freshman QBs.

Looking ahead to 2026, there are some pretty high hopes for Lupoi. They’ve got some work to do in the portal, especially on the defensive side. The Cal Bears could have ended the season with an easy nine or even ten wins if their defense hadn’t been ranked around 75th or 76th in the nation.

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Additionally, the widespread consensus is that they might go out and land a top-five running back in the country to compensate for their rough 2025 run game, which ranked 136th.

Truth be told, the expectation is a conference title right away, and everybody in Berkeley knows that. It feels more achievable than delusional, especially with a QB who just casually threw for 3,000 yards in his rookie season.