Charles Fischer

(Press Release for Credential Media by Oregon Athletics) EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning finalized his full-time, on-field coaching staff for the 2022 season on Monday, announcing Tosh Lupoi as the Duck’s new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. “I am incredibly excited to have Tosh Lupoi joining us here at Oregon,” Lanning said. “We want to play championship-level defense on a consistent basis, and Coach Lupoi is one of the very best defensive minds in the country. I am looking forward to seeing him work with student-athletes again after spending the last few seasons in the NFL, experience that will be very valuable for our program." “I had the opportunity to work first-hand with Coach Lupoi at Alabama, where his tireless work ethic and coaching acumen set him apart as one of the game’s elite coaches while coordinating one of the top defenses in the nation. His history and familiarity with the West Coast and the Pac-12 also makes him a great fit here in Eugene. This is a very exciting hire for the Ducks. I am thrilled to welcome Tosh and his wife, Jordan, as well as their son, Locke, and their daughter, Logan, to the Oregon family.” Lupoi spent the 2021 season as the defensive line coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, his third year in the NFL after serving the same role with the Atlanta Falcons in 2020 and the Cleveland Browns in 2019. He went to the NFL after five seasons at Alabama, where he worked his way up to defensive coordinator in 2018. Lupoi began his coaching career in the Pac-12, coaching the defensive line for both California (2008-11) and Washington (2012-13). “I want to thank Coach Lanning for the opportunity to come to the University of Oregon and join the terrific staff he has put together,” Lupoi said. “I am really excited to return to college football at one of the premier spots in the nation, where we will work tirelessly to provide the very best experience for our student-athletes. We will do everything we can to help them reach their full potential as both football players and quality young men. Coach Lanning is building something special in Eugene, and I cannot wait to be a part of it. Go Ducks!” Lupoi coached some of the game’s top defensive linemen – including star defensive end Myles Garrett with the Browns – during his three seasons in the NFL, quickly establishing himself as one of the league’s top defensive assistants. He guided Garrett to 10 sacks and 11.0 tackles for loss in just 10 games in 2019, and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi was second on the team with 5.5 sacks and 11.0 TFLs. As the Falcons’ defensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2020, Lupoi helped Atlanta allow the sixth-fewest rushing yards in the league at 1,677. Grady Jarrett led the defensive line with four sacks and eight tackles for loss. Lupoi played a major role in the development of Josh Allen in 2021 with the Jaguars, coaching Allen to 7.5 sacks and 12.0 tackles for loss. Lupoi also helped Dawuane Smoot to a career year with six sacks and seven tackles for loss, and the duo combined for three sacks in Jacksonville’s season finale on Sunday as the Jaguars defeated Indianapolis, 26-11, and knocked the Colts out of the playoff race. Prior to going to the NFL, Lupoi helped Alabama make five consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, including four trips to the title game and a pair of national championships. The Crimson Tide won the national title in 2015 with Lupoi coaching outside linebackers, and again in 2017 with Lupoi in his second year as co-defensive coordinator. Lupoi was elevated to the role of defensive coordinator in 2018, helping lead Alabama to a fourth straight national championship game and coaching Quinnen Williams to the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman in college football. The Crimson Tide ranked 12th nationally in scoring defense (17.8 PPG) and 16th in total defense (319.5 YPG), and Lupoi mentored a pair of first-team all-Americans in Williams and Dieonte Thompson. Williams went on to be selected third overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. Alabama ranked in the top 12 nationally in scoring defense in each of Lupoi’s five seasons in Tuscaloosa, finishing in the top six in the country four times. The Crimson Tide led the FBS in scoring defense in both 2016 and 2017 with Lupoi as co-defensive coordinator, allowing just 11.9 points per game in 2017 and 13.0 in 2016. Alabama also led the nation in rushing defense each of those years, and the Crimson Tide was No. 1 in total defense in 2017 and No. 2 in 2016. A defensive lineman at California during his playing days, Lupoi began his coaching career at his alma mater in 2008 as the Golden Bears’ defensive line coach, becoming the youngest full-time coach in program history at the age of 26. He coached a pair of first-team all-Pac-10 selections at Cal in Tyson Alualu and Cam Jordan, as well as second-team honoree Trevor Guyton. Alualu was taken 10th overall by Jacksonville in the 2010 NFL Draft, and Jordan went 24th overall to New Orleans the following year. California led the Pac-12 in total defense in Lupoi’s final two seasons on staff, and he proved to be an ace recruiter for the Golden Bears as well. Lupoi was the 2010 Rivals Recruiter of the year after Cal landed the No. 14 ranked recruiting class in the nation, and his efforts on the recruiting trail helped the Golden Bears improve on that class with a No. 11 ranking in 2011. Lupoi went from California to Washington, where he was the Huskies’ defensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2012 and 2013. UW ranked fourth in the nation in sacks per game (3.15) in 2013, with defensive end Hau’oli Kikaha totaling 13.0 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss to earn second-team all-Pac-10 honors. Lupoi also helped Washington land its highest-ranked recruiting class in a decade with the No. 18 class in the nation. Lupoi played for the Golden Bears from 2000 to 2005, earning Pac-10 all-academic recognition in 2005. He graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in American studies, and also completed coursework towards a Master’s degree in education. A California native, Lupoi played high school football at De La Salle High School, one of the most successful programs in the history of prep football, where he earned all-state honors and won a national title. His father, John Lupoi, played college football at BYU and was later a part-time assistant coach at California.

Entry does not count; please refer to directions at the top of the thread. Thanks.

Thank you my friends, but another element in all of this is the valuable experience that Dan Lanning is acquiring tonight. The pressure and stage of the 'Natty, and the adjustments. He comes to Oregon as a more experienced coach than when we signed him!

Let's follow Coach Lanning and cheer his defense on! Predict the game score and how Alabama will do against a Dan Lanning defense! This one is different than the others... 1) Your predicted game score and who wins between Georgia and Alabama? 2) How many yards rushing the Crimson Tide are allowed? 3) How many passing yards does Alabama achieve against the Bulldog defense? 4) How many turnovers does Georgia squeeze out of Alabama? 5) How many sacks do the Bulldogs get? They are listed above in the order of importance, and if you do not mention all five? Your entry is not recognized, as I need them all for tiebreaker purposes. Mr. FishDuck: 30-27 Georgia, 163, 318, 3, 4

I shake my head when I see this... What is the last two lines above about? It is using his position of influence in an attempt to silence those who disagree with him. We call it "Throwing Group-Shade" here, where you are trying to inhibit those who disagree with you by stating or implying some denigrating things about those who oppose you. Is it really bad? No. But it is an example of what we strive to NOT do here, and if I or anyone does--call us on it. Just post your opinion...that's it! Don't post anything about those who disagree with you, or implying someone is not as knowledgeable, not as smart or even that they are "nuts" if they don't agree with you. Rarely do I get a public example of a leader on another site doing it, and we all can learn from it. (And yep...I am paying attention) After all, we are "The Forum with Decorum!"

So Saban wants legislation to control NIL? Is he really about "the integrity of the college game?" Or is he worried about being out-bid by other schools? (Like A&M)

Thank you Jordan, for a classy article as we all do wish him well. If a coach is NOT being retained by a new HC, then I do hope he gets hired immediately and with Mario is fine with me.

It is hard to spin any positive from it, IMHO. Fans at Oregon State and Washington State would ask why we would worry with our War Chest? But we will not win the bidding wars often, as more attractive locations with the same NIL pay will win. A super-league and a new Ivy League? I am not sure that a middle ground would survive? And of all schools...I would think that Stanford, with their alumni, could pay the most!

I think No. 16 in a pre-season ranking is quite generous. We'll take it!

I know, Ducks Wire is guilty of great titles and vacuous articles, but this one has a good list of recruiting victories already by Coach Lanning. I would suggest that an even bigger one not mentioned is the assembling of a killer-recruiting staff done while preparing for the 'Natty. An amazing start... Opinion: Dan Lanning's Ability to Utilize Transfer Portal is Encouraging for Oregon by Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire P.S. I am putting the finishing touches on my GameDay article for tomorrow and it is CHOCK full of information from our friend from Georgia. I learned some tasty information that will help prepare for the game. Then, the analysis side of me kicked in, and I added some BULLDOG BLITZ PACKAGES to watch for! Whew!

A Duck-Buddy told me that while he does not hope for injury...it would be cool to have another Herbert vs. Mariota game, especially with so much at stake. I am not sure the new coach would use Marcus in the Zone-Read as well as Gruden did...but it is all fantasy anyway. What a great game to anticipate--thanks for posting it 30Duck!

So...if it costs 30 million per class, it will cost 120 million for an entire team in the future? But that is where it has started by A&M, as now that it has begun the "bidding" will make the price tag higher. Very few teams out of the 120 D-1 programs can do this...so, I better enjoy college football while I can, as this is spiraling down faster than we could have thought.

Christian Gonzales was also a 4-Star on Rivals and his offer sheet is impressive as Florida, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Alabama were among those pursuing him in 2020. He is listed in the Buffalo roster as a freshman, so boy--you are right about him helping us in a position of need with experience? HUGE RECRUIT! (Transfer) Now a Duck!

I think we are all allowed to have an opinion about Player Performance and Coaching Decisions, as that is what a forum is for. We cannot get personal, and I don't think anyone was by stating an opinion that neither had great NFL prospects. Rule No. 26 makes it more clear, about current players and coaches. No. 26: Do not get personal in judgments of the Players or Coaches: We allow commenting about players and coaches as that is what message boards and forums are all about. Second-guessing coaches and judging player performance is what everyone does, but we must not get personal or nasty toward them. Questioning a play-call or whether a tackle should have been made (Performance-related) is fine, and give your thoughts as to why in one direction or the other. Whether a coach should be retained or a player replaced is also fair-game because they know they are in the public sphere and that goes with the territory. Let’s discuss, but Ad Hominem attacks on them are forbidden. No such rules with coaches at other teams, their players or their fans. Go for it and have fun!

Yep. It could be broken down into segments of time that would align with five at a time, with a ton more information given to make it more fun.

(Is that during the National Championship Game? Oh well, my DVR can record both!) EUGENE, Ore. – The University of Oregon’s men’s basketball game at Oregon State initially scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 8 has been rescheduled for Monday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. PT in Corvallis. The contest will be televised on Pac-12 Network.

'Fess-Up Time: I published the article with my name by mistake; it should have been under the "OregonReigns" label that I use on occasion when I get a guest article. I've changed it to that, but when I received this as a guest post--I looked on it as giving me a break from my two articles a week for one day. When I saw that he left out Patrick Chung, Gary Zimmerman, etc....I rolled my eyes. Sheesh. But I did not have the time to research and write more to the article, and I apologize to you all for that. Since I figured it was a Saturday article, (which is usually lightly read) I thought it may not be too bad, but I knew that I would get busted for leaving out so many big names in Oregon history. Certainly Norm Van Brocklin should have been on it too. I apologize, but do salute you all for pulling out all the great names and taking us down memory lane. That was fun. Norm Van Brocklin

I actually do not agree with the article; first it was simply a collection of old-quotes and then blah-blah assumptions about the future. Ducks Wire, in addition to this article at On3 is guilty of having an attractive title, but with no meat to the article. Part of where my disagreement comes is out of respect for Coach Cristobal; he was a relentless, untiring recruiter who used the same Alabama blueprint for recruiting that Lanning got from Kirby Smart, who got it from Saban after working with him for 13 years. I simply do not see anyone outworking Mario in the recruiting realm. So a "Revamp" is hyper-stated writing fluff, and that comes from a guy who makes great titles a big part of his life. I take pride in good titles to make people want to click, but we must have the goods in a FishDuck article to back up a tasty title. This article above does not, IMHO. We do not know how good Lanning will be yet overall, but thus far--the players he has recruited back and the first 2023 verbal is nice. But where I believe Lanning has established a higher bar is that he has recruited a better staff for recruiting than Cristobal had. The Tight End Coach difference alone is VAST between the two staffs for recruiting. Revamped...no. Improved upon by way of recruiting better coaches who can recruit players? Absolutely. And thanks to Haywarduck for posting it, because while I may have reservations about it--the bottom line is it created great discussion.

A sweet third-degree burn...

I am not going to do this all the time, but this is an epic moment in the long history of our rivalry with the Huskies, and I cannot restrain from loving and sharing this article. What Latest UW Huskies Football Departure Says About State of Program by Brent Stecker of 710Sports Makes me so sad...

Yep. It worked so well that Cristobal stopped doing it. We've seen tempo this season...used against the Ducks, and by Oregon in the second half of the Alamo Bowl when MC was not present. The coaching and management decisions by the prior staff were epic at times...

Well, he has started out recruiting a great staff, one that I think can be slightly better than what Cristobal was best at--recruiting players.

I love that moniker, but it will be harder in the future to win that game. We need one like that for the Huskies...

Jester...that was a GREAT POST, and I do appreciate it. For those who want to read an article about Cas from our Men of Oregon section of the Oregon Football Repository--this one is nice in summarizing the accomplishments of Len Casanova.

Yikes. He is GOOD. Who would you want first....him or Bo Nix?