Lupoi is off to Washington and there goes the recruiting class...
By now all Golden Bears fans have heard about the terrible week our football program is having. After a groundbreaking day of recruiting just a week ago, it has all been unravelled by the selfish actions of a once loyal Golden Bear.
Tosh Lupoi's departure to Washington is painful on several levels, but until reading this California Golden Blogs report I didn't know how damaging it was. If the facts of this report are true, Tosh Lupoi reneged on all his talk of honor, dedication, and honesty he passed on to recruits. Jordan Payton is reconsidering his verbal commitment, Shaq Thompson is now 50/50 between Cal or UW, Arik Armstead (and his USC transfer brother) has pretty much ruled out Cal, and Ellis McCarthy de-committed from the Bears and pledged to UCLA. Our top 10 class is now potentially in shambles unless Tedford works some kind of magic to keep these 18 year-olds committed to the Bears.
The entire recruiting scene is damaged by this because if reports are true, Lupoi has basically burned all the credibility he built up as one of the nation's best recruiters. Too many athletes are committing to the coach that is recruiting them, rather than the institution they are representing. These young men should be choosing where they want to spend the next 4 years of their lives based on other factors than their connection to the recruiter. If they play PS3 well together that's all well and good, but if that coach leaves for the NFL, another school, or gets fired what's to entice the athlete to stay? I'm aware that most of these guys are going to college just to play sports, that's fine, that's the nature of the beast. But at least pick a school because you like the social life, girls, sports program, or student population as a whole. Don't pick it because you're buddy-buddy with a coach.
Lupoi really stabbed Berkeley in the back and it's all the more frustrating because he was born and bred as a Bear. He played for Tedford. He was a good D line coach and recruiter for us, but now he leaves us in this fashion not for the NFL or an SEC school, but for our Pac-12 North foe, Washington.
