Andy & Ari On3 - Tosh Lupoi kept QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele at Cal thanks to a WILD first day on the job

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Over in Berkley, California, Tosh Lupoi is getting ready for his first season as the head coach of the Cal Golden Bears. One bright spot returning from Cal is QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapoloutele. Shining in his freshman season with Cal in 2025, the presumed thought was the talented QB would hit the transfer portal, but Tosh Lupoi was determined to keep Sagapolutele on the Golden Bears roster. Watch here as Lupoi explains a WILD story on how he managed to keep his QB in Berkley.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:03) Presenting Sponsor (2:52) Intro: Previewing Tosh Lupoi (5:16) Tosh Lupoi joins: Cal’s NFL Alumni (11:34) How things are ran at Cal (17:23) The JKS story (26:47) Lupoi’s Incredible Journey to Cal (31:24) Closing out with Lupoi (32:26) Recapping Tosh Lupoi (39:25) Best Retention in CFB: Bryce Underwood (44:31) Ole Miss & Pete Golding’s Retention (47:24) Florida’s Retention in Sumrall’s Year 1 (54:33) Other Notable Players Retained (1:02:18) Closing out: Dear Andy & Ari Tomorrow!   After Coach Lupoi joins, Andy & Ari brainstorm a few of the best retention pieces in College Football. Watch here as Andy & Ari run through notable players, including 2 SEC programs with new head coaches in the mix. Who are the names we left off? Comment your favorite returners below!   For Dear Andy & Ari, send in your questions here: [e-mail] [e-mail]   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code ON3 and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code ON3. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code ON3 when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel.   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/OE4HYV8UPqE   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy Nareon 3 presented by BetMGM, new Cal coach Tosh LaPoy joins us. And he tells an epic story about what he had to do on day one of the job to make sure that Cal retained quarterback Jaron Kiave Sangapolitelli. It is one of the great recruiting stories you're going to hear. And there's a reason that Tosh has always been considered one of the best recruiters in college football. But man, this one, you'll see exactly why he has that reputation. Plus, in honor of JKS staying at Cal, Ari and I talk about some of the most important retention jobs that new coaches and that coaches in general did in college football.

It's a little bit harder when you're a new coach because you've got to come in and say, hey, here's the vision. I want you to stay. We'll talk about some of the other jobs that new coaches did retaining their best. players. All on today's Andy RN3 presented by Bet NGM. We are presented by Bed MGM. We use BetMGM lines, totals and futures on this year show. And if you're not signed up for BenMGM, now is the time because if you sign up using a bonus code on three, you can get

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See BetMGM.com for terms. 21 plus only U.S. promotional offers are not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler in the U.S. Call 8778 Hope N.Y or text Hope N.Y. 467369 in New York. Call 1-800 next step in Arizona. Call 1-800-3-27-5-0-0 in Massachusetts. It's called 1-800 bets off in Iowa or 1-800-9-81-0023 in Puerto Rico.

First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements, rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BEDMGM yet, use the bonus code on three. That's the letter O, the letter in and the number three. And get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Andy and Ari on three presented by BetMGM. and Ari, we have a great interview for the people today. Josh LaPoy, the new head coach at Cal, he's been, you know, he's been everywhere.

He's the defensive coordinator under Dan Landing at Oregon. He worked under Nick Saban in Alabama. He worked in the NFL. He was, you know, a longtime assistant of Jeff Tedford at Cal coming off being a Cal player. He worked for Sark at Washington. This guy has been everywhere, but he's always been known as one of the best recruiters in the country. And I think we're about to show the people why. Yeah, I'm a sucker for a really good recruiting story.

And I feel like these recruiting stories that used to be, you know, pretty plentiful back in the old days of, you know, conversation and grand gesture, those aren't as common anymore. And this is an old school one, and it feels really good to hear one. Yeah. So we talked to Tosh about taking over at Cal about, you know, connecting with. some of the great Cal players of the past, including Jared Goff, who was a number one overall draft pick, who apparently Tosh was the first Cal coach to reach out to him. He was still an assistant when they were recruiting Jared Goff. So it's fun to hear that. It's fun to hear the vision for the program. But when you hear what he did to make sure that JKS stayed at Cal to make sure that

Jared Kiave Sangapal, their quarterback stayed at Cal, it's awesome. And I'll just, We'll tease it a little bit. First team meeting, the question he's asking himself, where's Jaron? Yeah, that's a problem. Jaron's in Hawaii. And it unfolds from there. It's an odyssey from there. So let us talk to Tosh Lepoy, who comes into Cal, a place that has produced some pretty great players.

Marshaun Lynch, Deshawn Jackson, and Jared Gough, Tyson Aluallo, a bunch of really good players. And Tosh has already started to reconnect with those guys and show what he can do, you know, maybe with this next generation. So here's Tosh LaPoy. Man.

And I don't know how many other places in college football have that wide of a mix of staff, you know, with all the NFL influence. And then you go to this place specifically. That's where when you come back, to your alma mater, the obvious advantages of knowing, you know, okay, what are some things that we're most likely going to have to improve? You know, what are some things that we can highlight? But I can't tell you how many people, whether you're watching TV, watching the Super Bowl,

you see two starting TVs in the Super Bowl that played here at Cal or just the, you know, when Keenan Allen flashes up on the TV, Marshaun Lynch, Jared Goff, obviously Aaron Rogers, Deshawn Jackson, all the legends, Cameron Jordan, where it's like, oh, Oh, shoot, he played a cow. He was at Cal too. You know, that's the neat part about it, you know, where you have maybe a certain perception of such a high power education. This place obviously is and rated number one in so many categories,

but the combination of, you know, the NFL influence along with the higher education. Like it's, man, we're cooking with histories, man. Speaking of all those guys who played for Cal, so you had one of those guys who was the number one, one overall draft pick in the NFL draft. Come see you. So here's you and Jared Gough a few weeks ago. So I was just telling the story.

I, uh, when you got hired, I was like, man, I think, you know, I think you recruited me at some point. And I looked back through my Facebook, sure enough, the first message I ever received on Facebook from Tosh Lupoy, you know, Jared, what's going on? Big guy. Great game last night, all that, you know. Go bears. You were here at Cal, recruits me at Cal.

That was the first message I ever received. and about, I don't know, a few months later, Coach Tepford offered me. That's right. This is history. Big time. So basically crediting the entire success of your career. It was the first reach out from Cal from you. So, very cool.

Yeah. Well, freaking pumped you're here, man. Thank you for having me do this. 24-7, you're here. And then I got like probably thinking four or five years until I send you your coaching contract. University of California. Thank you, man. Appreciate you.

Awesome. Now, you always, always as an assistant were known as having a great eye for talent. But being the first guy from Cal to reach out to the guy who came to Cal and was one-one in the draft, that's, I mean, that's Hall of Fame level stuff. Like, how do you know? Like, when you're watching Jared Gough play in high school,

How do you know? Yeah, I think what's so important is you have the obvious of a guy like golf of the potential armed talent. What jumped out is the competitive nature, you know, and it just goes back to as you compile these things and note take and you're in that mindset of constant growth, you fall back on these moments when it was there. or, you know, then I go to Alabama and, you know, recruited and signed to a Tonga Vailoa there. You know, the guys that have been fortunate to be a part of the process since then, but, you know, you just keep building and proving. So I'm going to take great pride in every aspect, whether it's the evaluation, the recruiting itself, the fundamentals and technique of how we coach, the schematics, you know, from a defense office, a special team standpoint. point, you know, and I don't think there needs to be a whole lot of vary and effort towards any of them, you know, if you want to go accomplish what you want. So, you know, to directly answer your question, that's what jumped off is his competitive nature, you know, and it all starts there. The resources we have, we got, I think it's over 30 Fortune 500 companies, you know, within 40 miles of this campus. You know, you could go up on the eighth floor and you look over, you turn over. you see the entire Pacific Ocean

and you see this sales force building and then just it's crazy man Ari's jealous. The view from Berkeley. Are you guys? See you guys come out here, man. Yeah, no, I, my life goal is to live in California. So, you know, if you're hiring, let me know. My wife and I look at Zillow every night in bed before we go to sleep.

But, you know, how do you access those places? Before we go any further, are you, what's your, as far as, Would you be interested in, you know, contributing with the NIL? Yes. Okay. We'll get you out here. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know how much, but I, yeah, I mean, if it got me there. His wife can contribute a lot. Yeah. We can have a conversation about that. But, you know, obviously a large portion of your job, Tosh, is, you know, fundraising in a way that maybe it wasn't in the past. You mentioned all the companies and all the resources that are in Northern California. California and Berkeley in that area, what's it been like to try to reinvigorate a place and fundraise with some of these deep pocketed people that are around you? Yeah, great question.

I think for me, just as an outsider but insider, meaning a proud Cal grad, you know, a proud Cal grad, you know, spent over a decade of my life here, man, undergrad, masters played here, obviously coached here. So I'm taking a lot of pride in this place, even when I went off to those places you mentioned, right? Alabama, NFL, good stuff. So always keeping the eye on the bears, right? One thing that, you know, there was some administrative changes that really that I noticed a little over a year ago. I think at that point, actually even Chancellor Richard Lyons coming aboard here and seeing some cool things, you know, just some respect and understanding. of the balance and how, you know, if the athletic program is moving in a successful direction, how well that can benefit the students on campus, right, and what we can do as an aligned organization.

So noticing some things early, then Ron Rivera, you know, a legend here, two-time NFL coach of the year, he comes aboard here a year ago. You start seeing some systematic just differences in their approach here. Those were exciting just as a good old Cal Bear looking at his alma mater at that time. And, you know, what really hit was not to get any details, but, you know, I was at the University of Oregon, obviously, and a place that I have tremendous respect and love for. The leader of Dan Lannning, see him as a brother, a family member, how much better Dan made me. and can't say enough great things about him. You know, the leadership there, Rob Mullins,

and obviously Phil Knight, like just awesome relationships that I have to this day, right? But that moment, we actually signed a quarterback, you know, named Jaron. You know, and I really didn't play much of a role in that recruitment. And we're preparing. We're the number one seed, you know,

in the college football playoffs. We're going off. We're going to the Rose Bowl, right? And Jaron kind of comes aboard there. And, you know, then all of a sudden, Jared's not there anymore, you know, and he's at my alma mater. And there's like a few things going like,

what's happening over here at Cal? Like, you know, like, these are not things that are, that are really, that have been necessarily occurring in the past. And just kind of seeing the start of the potential and the direction, maybe of, you know, the motivation, you know, to go win at a high level and still take great pride in the graduation rate and creating awesome young men in our society, you know, but to see that of wanting to win at a higher level. So, you know, Ari, to really to now answer your question of like starting now to dive in,

now that I'm here of, I got a unique situation where, whether it's 20 plus years of relationships, where we're knowing, you know, the history of amazing families such as the Haas family, right? That's we have the, depending on the publication you're looking at number one or two rated business school in the world, you know, 45 yards from our football facility across the street here, the Haas Business School. And that family, so many families or, again, not just something. somebody that's head up in marketing or, you know, a leader, but a founder of multiple organizations of, you know, Levi's jeans, dryers ice cream, you know, Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Crocs. I mean, this list keeps going on and on. So knowing the support that's here that perhaps possibly could be improved as well or utilized, you know,

know, in certain ways for all of us here, you know, for the students, for the university, but, and then really hitting super close to home, you know, there's three individuals, some of my best friends that are in my wedding, my wedding lineup, you know, that are, that are presidents of some of the most high power companies, you know, in the Bay Area right here, in the world, really. You know, it's, we're not going to be the program that once a year, you know, we're going to have a workshop and posted on social media and, you know, look at the career opportunities, right? Like how much follow-up you think occurs there, you know, and 120 guys sit in an auditorium, right? So, you know, my goal is there has not been a week yet. Not a single

week has passed yet where a multi-millionaire on multiple occasions, billionaires right here, talking to our team, whether it's out there on the field, you know, being a part of kind of a classroom activity here, you know, with the fellows in the evening, but, you know, having that, that, that, that, not that annual workshop, you know, our workshops every week of how we're building these young men and informing them of how this is truly a reality, you know, utilizing the resources right here. I mean, I mean, I know we could go on for days. We have something called the Cameron Institute here, you know, so to my knowledge, you know, we're the only program in America that has four full-time mental preparation individuals that are present here on campus, not outsourcing,

not doing Zooms, right? And tonight, one of them, Dr. Greg Chow will be there with me in collaborative effort of talking about mental preparation. You know, the Cameron Institute, there's three major pillars within there. That's mental preparation, community engagement, and career development. And the next three Wednesdays, we're in corporate. that you know we got this unbelievable facility and people that are in there it's how can we do it better of utilizing these resources so when when you combine that and it's a collaborative effort I think the excitement you know starts roaring you know and that's where I mean we're like I said we're on a honeymoon phase we ain't done nothing yet

guys you know I'm not going to pretend but you know we we obviously signed an incredible class out of the portal and that's a start there with our talent acquisition so there's a lot of excitement, you know, and then based off of the work, the culture that we implement now, it's, you know, the confidence that I do have of the results will get as long as we go about our business, you know, the right way here. You mentioned here at Jave Sangapoletele, and I got to say, I watched him all last year, and when I knew there was a coaching change coming, my first thought was, oh, my God, everybody in the brother is going to try to get this guy to go in the portal.

How did you and Ron Rivera keep him at Cal? Yeah, I love that you bring that up. And it was you amongst many others, right? I think my man who got a great relationship and love, Kirk Herb Street, Pat McPhee as well, you know, talked about Cal, you know, being that feeder school. And so I love that, man. Like I want that so much more than a pat on the back or, you know, telling how good we are. So it's just feeling that was goal number one. So you said it and multiple. other said it is, okay? And imagine, just look at the pathway that he just saw before him, right? Fernando Mendoza, right, leaves, Heisman Trophy, right? Wins the national title. And just so you know, man, I love Fernando, by the way, another Cal Golden Bear. He reached out to me. He was so cool after the job, how pumped he is. These guys got amazing relationships here. Tons of pride here. I'm not going to say everything he said about the comparisons. Okay. But all I know is that guy's a diehard Cal Cowell Golden Bear as well. But just put yourself in in Jaron's shoes right there. What just

occurred in front of them. You know, all right, here comes a new leadership, right? Not sure what we're going into. I myself, you know, unfortunately, we lost, you know, some guys that I didn't anticipate losing, especially on the defensive side of the ball that I never met, you know, never even had the opportunity to met because of how the NCAA has, you know, the portal, how it's placed within the college football playoffs. And so I never even met, you know, players in this team that couldn't even get the opportunity, right, where they're leaving to the portal. And Jaron was potentially one of those guys. So I came aboard here on the press conference day. And so I actually asked. I actually asked to change the schedule a little bit. We had an amazing

Cal did an amazing job man, especially for my family more so, celebrating my wife and kids. And, you know, Jordan is just like my absolute queen and allows me to do this the way I want to. That's my wife. And so it's really cool to have to celebrate her in that day. But for me, that's not really what I'm looking for. You know, they had the band out there and you land on a private jet man and so cool, but all I'm thinking is about, like, how I'm addressing the team. So they had an itinerary. I think I was supposed to have lunch with the Chancellor,

go to a basketball game, and I asked them to change that. And the first thing I wanted to do is just go address the team, right? And so I had some, that was really the only preparation I kind of put into as far as, you know, speeches and all that. And so that's what we did. We went straight to the team meeting. And within that approach, you know, I had a few guys that I wanted to, stand up and ask. So for example, you know, there's a specific linebacker. He was somebody that I wanted to address. Well, he wasn't even there. He wasn't present. You know, so, and he was gone, okay? Well, Jaron, stand up. And so Jaron wasn't there either. And I'm thinking like, don't these guys have school? You know, like, what are we doing? You know, so, you know,

they weren't, these guys weren't present, you know, and so you can imagine what's going through my mind now, right so I'm addressing the team my my opportunity kind of implement you know the first my first impression extremely important because you only get one of those you only get one right so but through my mind where's jaron where's the quarterback right so when that wraps up i'm literally like muffling outside like where's like where are these guys you know and these you know guys went home or you know they just weren't sure about things or whatever right so from there um I literally just started figuring out how I'm going to get to Jaron. Okay.

So that's exactly what I did, guys. So I literally got in the car, told my wife, enjoy the rest of this. I left my family. We drove directly to the San Francisco airport on a commercial flight. I actually purchased a ticket. I got on the plane with no plan. I don't believe I even had Jaron's number in my phone yet. We got on a plane utilizing Wi-Fi.

Again, you talk about the kick-ass Cal resources, you know, yet another founder of an unbelievable million-dollar company. I hit up the founder of Olukai, knowing he lives there and there's a Cal connection there, right? Dan McKay. And so, like, he's the one who picked me up directly from the airport. Okay. I had no rental car.

I landed. Fortunately, again, Tyson Alawalu, 10th overall pick. from here I coached him at Cal and got some other connections. So I started utilizing those connections of find Jaron on the island. Okay. This is why? It's a serious, guys, right? So like this is now, you're talking about 12, 45 a.m.

Jaron was similar out there. He was cited at a high school game, but left at some point. So we're figuring things out. And I was literally dropped off at a location. And thankfully, you know, his family was willing to meet with me at that time. And we met from roughly 12.30 a.m. to 245 a.m. and, you know, just really going into the vision, the culture. You know, it's, there's a lot of really cool communication there, you know, but also me asking him to one, you know, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to.

to listen, right, to a potential vision and culture that it could be a part of, right? Number two, giving me the opportunity to see what's going to take place, even just the next 30 days, right? Just given the opportunity. And the only reason I could be even given that opportunity, guys, again, is the power of cow, man, the alumni, the resources, the respect of the education. And, you know, he wanted to be here. There was no doubt about that. But again, you know, painting that vision out. So we kind of made some agreements of what we could do. He was excited enough to kind of recommit via social media,

but obviously then the next piece is contractual agreements and all that. And what I challenged Jaron and said, just watch what we do here, man, in the next 30 days. Just watch what happens here. That's all I ask, right? So what did we do, you know, go sign the number one class in the ACC? You know, go get, in my strong opinion, you know, at least three potential NFL receivers, tight-ins, running backs, you know, compliment that with the offensive line, retain the right guys, do our best, which I think we did a great job of the right guys

that we did retain currently on this place that want to be here, you know, at Cal Berkeley, and then build it out from there. So that's that's your answer. Okay, so I just got them watching a rom-com in my brain right there. As you're trying to track him down, what are you thinking the first words are going to be and what was the first exact, like, thought of like when you finally saw it? First words, probably Aloha. Yeah.

This is a movie. You know, yeah. I mean, like I said, you know, and it's a. It's something, you know, I'm born and raised from the Bay Area. My mom's from Oakland. I'm originally, I'm an East Bay guy, man. I've been from all over this place from, I've lived in Oakland on multiple occasions, Hayward, Walnut Creek, Concord.

I've spent my summers in Pittsburgh out here in the East Bay. So you name it, man, El Cerrito. So I think the only reason I mention that, guys, is like, this is a unique place, man. And the diversity that's here, the, the, the, the, what this, the Bay Area in itself, you know, what it offers. But I've been extremely comfortable whether, whether being in, you know, middle class, you know, areas there or low socioeconomic areas and being a minority in the community, you know, at times or whatever it be. I just, and being a part of Cal, you know, and that was a huge thing with my master's program here is, is the future. field work, you know, and I was at McCleiman's High School in the O for in the town for six months and did something at San Quentin Prison for six months and just, you know, eye-opening experiences

that really create your identity as you're on the way, you know. And I think all those come into those moments. I'm extremely uncomfortable in any environment I go into if you can't tell. So I'm going to be me. I'm not going to I'm not going to pretend to be anybody. All those leaders we talked about that I've been so it's been such an amazing opportunity it is not going to be copy and paste you know there's going to be principles and values that that mean everything to me from Nick Saban Dan Quinn uh Kirby smart Dan landing Mario Cristobal Rahe Morris these guys that I've been around I have great respect for and look but I'm still going to be Tosh you know and and and implement it my way and that's that's where I think that connection you know hopefully there's

been, you know, a positive, well, I know, you know, from a positive reputation, even from 20 years building, you know, when, when you're, you're who I am and you're doing things, whether from, you know, the Aluallo family, the Tonga Vailoa family, and the opportunities that have been created, and then for even, you know, the bridges that I take great pride in, such as when I'm at Alabama, and just quite frankly, the way individuals at the time are, are even perceiving or knowing what the Polynesian culture even is, you know, much less like knowing a thing about it, but then kind of branching some things where seeing some extremely successful

Polynesian young men come into the South, come into the SEC, and all of a sudden have some great success. You know, those means something to the community, right? So I think then when you go back to a place like that, and I have family that live on the island, I have, you know, a lot of my in-laws are out there on the island as well. And so just those connections mean something. So I'm going to be really comfortable in those environments.

And I think there was a good vibe there. I think, you know, I'm a great reader of people. And so when I meet a family that has a love, a connection, and, you know, a strong faith, you know, in God and, a respect for education and the desire to be to be coached at the highest level. You know, like those are things you just notice. So obviously, I'm going to be really, those are things that I love to talk about because they're all in my heart.

So, you know, that was a good conversation. So we just showed the picture. I think from that night, did you ever take your suit off from the press? If I took my suit off, I would be naked. No luggage, no nothing. No clothes. not a single thing. I mean, you guys, I'm not, this is not, this is not some sarcasm, funny, try to be cool story out. I mean, this is exactly what I told you is what occurred. And I got

that. That's amazing. Those are the same shoes. Those are Supremes with my dog, Rashad Waddu, you know, hooked me up with, you know, my, my corners coach at the last place where those are Supremes, you know, that I'm wearing and a suit that a bunch of my Cal teammates, you know, thought was apparently weak as hell as they put out there, and, you know, and, um, I think you look sharp. Sit there with Jared. I'm very disappointed in my, in my stressed out, hallie boy shocker. I mean, I got to get way looser there.

Like, I'm fully stretched out. So disappointed in how the camera shot hit me there. There you go. All right. I can't really do it that well. I've got small hands. We'll coach you up. But, um, you know, I mean, the story gets better, but I don't want to expose too much things.

but I mean, now you're in the situation, so you bought this flight. It's like, it's returning at, I don't know, it was like, it was the first flight out, you know, the last flight out, first flight out. So, you know, you're like, well, it's kind of pointless to go sleep, right? Like, what am I going to go do? So when it got late, you got to go back to airport. So again, comfortable in your environments. Like, I had an amazing nap right there to the beach on a bench.

You slept on a bench And you're a beach in a suit Same underwear, man So it's great And then got the ride back You know, Mr. McKay came back To wherever he was It was amazing.

Picked me up, took me back. You know, shout out Olukeye, man, just Incredible company if you guys haven't I mean the footwear is unbelievably elite But so You know, I have a pair. Yeah, you should. And if you don't,

this is the best recruiting story I've ever heard. I have multiple pairs. Like, our players get them here. I mean, again, these are, you know, the founder of Crocs went to Cal. The founder of Olukai went to Cal, the founder of Levi Strauss jeans, right? Guess what? I got mad jeans now, man. Can you get me one of those jean jackets with like the fur on the neck? We could, we'll look into it. Yeah.

Thank you. If Ari can raise more NIL money for you, we'll get into the Giac. The answer is yes, done. Yeah. Tosh, thank you so much. This is amazing. Yeah, and good luck. Yeah.

It was awesome to have you on here and we're excited to watch you at Cal. Appreciate it, man. We've got tons of work to do. And that's what we're doing every day, attacking it, man. And trying to do exactly that. So I'm going to leave with you, go right back in with the staff. and I'm so pumped about this staff, man, the embracement they had of the culture and how they're operating.

So honor to be on it, guys. Appreciate you inviting me. Yep. The honors all ours. We're going to ask you back. Ari, that was a spectacular. I can only imagine that nap on the beach. How satisfying that must have been.

Yeah, depending on the temperature. I mean, napping it. It's Hawaii. There's never a bad temperature. Yeah. Well, yeah. The suit on the bench and the same underwear thing got me laughing. I think that two takeaways from this.

One is I think that it's cool that we still live in an age where relationships and grand gestures and attempts to show importance. And, you know, basically plead your case for why the place that he's at is already his best place. Like, that still exists. That makes me feel good. I also think it should in travel. or I mean inspire more like spontaneous trap but makes no sense

because like I actually am kind of jealous that he was just like F it we're going to Hawaii, you know? Like it's just like that's cool. Right. Right. I am buying a ticket from San Francisco to Honolulu and I don't

I don't have luggage. I ain't got anything. I'm just going to talk to I'm going to see a guy about a quarterback. And I thought that that was like, I think that like you can picture how a sinking feeling it might be to be a coach that is excited and amped up to have his first team meeting and, you know, rescheduled his entire arrival at Cal around that meeting and then getting into that meeting and then your quarterback not being in that room.

Like, that's a pretty rough go of it. But I also think that it's hilarious that he was wearing the same exact suit in that picture. And I actually think that if he's successful in turning Cal around that that picture is, in that suit, you know, once the story is out there and people remember it, can become an iconic thing. Like, that's like a pretty unbelievable picture to me. Yeah. And I'm also just imagining his wife, Jordan, as he's about to, you know,

hop in a car to the San Francisco airport where he goes, enjoy the rest of this. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing that I think is really cool about the new era of college football, Andy, that, you know, hasn't always been the case. in this job, in this field, and even in these interviews, is that, like, in the past, we used to have coaches on who would tell cool stories or come on and, you know, give us the sales pitch of why they're at the right place or all the things that

their wonderful school has to offer. And, you know, Cal is certainly unique in some ways, but, you know, also the same in a lot of other ways. But in this day and age, it's not just an interview with a coach that is going to fade off into relative obscurity like this is a team that in a program anytime we have a coach on that if they strike it right could actually be relevant nationally now like that wasn't always the case and like i think that origin stories are interesting i think they're fun in dating i think they're fun in life but they're they hit a little bit different to me in college football world because an origin story like this could actually like it's not inconceivable to think that that kid could win the

heisman one day and they can show that picture in on television while they're doing the Heisman ceremony where everyone's like, tell us the insane story of how you decided to stay at Cal. And that's part of the pitch, right? Because he's worried when JKS is not there, he's worried JKS is being inundated with messages like, look at what Fernando Mendoza did. He left Cal and won a Heisman trophy.

And Tosh has to go and say, no, no, no, you can do that here. Yeah. And, you know, obviously the hard part about that is, I think, that Fernando Mendoza also won the Heisman because he was surrounded by an excellent team that competed at a high level. And that's the number one challenge. But if you're able to nail down your quarterback, a guy who probably could have gotten paid a lot of money to leave. And frankly speaking, before Tosch was even hired and Wilcox was still in charge, like last year, the trend in the first six weeks of the season when JKS was slinging all over the field,

he's going to make a team really happy next year. And it's not going to be Cal. So that was our whole joke. Like we're texting each other during Cal. games like this guy's going to make a fortune in the transfer portal next year yeah yeah so i'm actually i'm like happy that we're wrong about that like i'm happy yeah really exciting players have fun stories like this that also funnel into atypical programs that aren't a fixture in the national conversation who may one day be tosh might be ultra successful and you know lead them to the playoff or he might fail we don't know but what i do know is that everybody that comes on this show now regardless of what P4 conference they're in or what P4 team they're leading has a strikers chance of hitting it right.

And that's invigorating to me in the show. So, like, that was an awesome interview. And I'm happy we had the story. Andy, I know that you and I are working on one in print that will be on On 3's website that will maybe cater to a different audience. But I hope everybody hears the story because I think that it's something that can define a program's beginning. And I'm not trying to over- Yeah, this is the story they tell at the Heisman ceremony of JKS is ever there. Like, it's, and it's, it's fun.

Like the Cal people who, they've dealt with a lot. I mean, their conference imploded. They're in this weird, you know, situation where they're in the ACC now. The CalGRhythm, they have a very dedicated fan base. And they put up with quite a bit. It's the funniest thing, too, because they're smart and their computery. And, like, it's just such a funny name. Oh, yeah.

Andy, I wanted to ask you before. By the way, I love how he turns the whole story into a recruiting pitch. Like, the guy who picks him up from the airport is the founding partner of like a multi-million dollar apparel company, the sandal company. Like, it's, it. If being connected to businesses is the key to prosperity in college football, Cal is pretty well situated. Now, obviously the challenge like we talked about is, you know, not just being near those places, but also accessing the money. in activating those investments. And that's a large portion of a coach's job in 2026 and beyond.

But, you know, I can buy a, I can buy a pitch from a coach now. We're going to do this. We're going to do this. We're going to do this. And even at a place like Cal, I can believe it in a way that I couldn't believe it, five, six, seven years ago. And I wonder if 10 years from now, if what Kurt Signetti did is still remarkable on an island somewhere, or if that is the beginning of a trend of,

coaches doing it the right way at the right place at the right time doing big things so like i'm excited about it and i think that like that might have been one of the cooler stories you've ever had on the show and i'm really thankful to tosh and cow for for sharing it with us well and it's important too because let's let's broaden the lens here because jk s staying at cow is a huge deal it's one of the best retention jobs of the year of this offseason cycle and you and i started talking after the interview where we said, okay, now who are the other players that kind of fit this? And we said, yeah, Jeremiah Smith staying at Ohio State, obviously, because that's one of those like, you got to call him.

Sort of like when every job open, we're like, you got to call Marcus Freeman and tell him to make him say no. Same thing with Jeremiah Smith. Everybody he was going to call and make him say no, and he stayed at Ohio State. Turns out saying no is pretty easy. Yeah, yeah. Well, but Dante Moore is the more traditional, like he could have gone to the NFL or Morgan retained him.

That's a big one. But I want to talk about some of the new coaches. We've got something coming out on some of the more important retention jobs overall this cycle. But let's talk about some of the new coaches and what they had to do right when they got the job to keep some pretty important players. I think JKS is probably the best example of that because he is a quarterback that every single school would. have wanted it. Like, if you didn't have an established starter you felt could take you to the playoff, you wanted JKS. Yeah, especially somebody too who comes from a pretty storied high school program that has been responsible for the production of some pretty big time players at the

quarterback position and beyond. I mean, like Tua went there, Roman Wilson went there. I mean, I'm sure you know the list better than me off the top of your head with your beautiful mind, but there are a lot of really good players that went there. But also, it's a stability thing. You know, other players on this list as we continue to go on, Andy, we'll probably have other position type players. But the number one thing that you have to have, when you get out of the gate as a new coach and a new place is stability at the quarterback position and having a conversation with a quarterback that had undoubtedly

or will have and continue to have a million different options and a million different reasons to leave to stay, I think, is an invigorating thing for a program. So, like, for me, we always fall back on some of the easier things sometimes of like, yeah, well, that quarterback's good. That team's going to be good. I think that the stability of the quarterback position is by far the most important thing, obviously, for any first-year coach. And for Tosh to keep that guy in the fold while building Cal from the ground up, I think was a monumental achievement. And I think that we lose track, Andy, at times of what recruiting means. Recruiting doesn't always mean getting players to come onto your team that weren't on it before.

you know, it's keeping players on it that may have well not been on it if you didn't do what you did. So, like, he is number one on the list. And I think that we have another transition here, Andy, to somebody else that kind of fits the same type of category. I'm not sure, you know, from a hype standpoint is necessarily as high as he was a year ago. But what about Bryce Underwood at Michigan? Like, that's the other one that, you know, everybody's like, well, have fun at LSU when. Right. There was a coaching change.

And you didn't know. when Kyle Whittingham came in, would Bryce Underwood want to stay? I think Kyle Whittingham and his staff, everybody who came in made it very clear right away that they wanted to keep Bryce Underwood, that was a priority. But Bryce Underwood would have had options. He would have been able to go to a lot of different places

had he wanted to. Yeah. And he's still very early in his development. I think that you could make the case that he didn't have as good of a year development-wise as maybe you would have hoped for an investment that large, but you have a new staff now, and they're able to retain him. Can we also look back at what happened last year? Perhaps he was not as guided as well as he could have been.

Given now what we know about everything that was going on in Michigan, I think I'm actually a little bit surprised that he came out as well as he did starting as a true freshman. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, the stability of getting somebody who has been ahead. coach for a long time in Kyle Whittingham that hasn't had any of these issues that has actually punched above his weight more years than not, I think gives him a real good chance of having a breakout year this coming year. And, you know, I don't know what Michigan would have done at the time that all this happened, too, if Bryce would have left. They would have maybe been in a rough

spot. So, like, that was a pretty important retention job, I would say. I would say, Sue, Jason Beck came with Kyle Whittingham to be the offensive coordinator. Jason Beck, obviously, worked with Devin Dampier at New Mexico and then again at Utah. And so it's an interesting, you know, look at what they do. Bryce Underwood is a much better thrower than Devon Dampere. Probably not as good of a runner, but as a capable runner. So it's fun to kind of imagine what that offense is going to look like with him in it. So I think I think that's going to be a fun one.

I'll go with one. There's a couple situations in the SEC where you had a new coach. taking over. One was an internal hire and one was an external hire. And both of them, I think, are critically important. And let's just start with Pete Golding at Ole Miss because obviously Pete Golding gets the Ole Miss job. We covered the hell out of Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss, Pete Golding getting the job, what happened next, them going to the playoff. But in the midst of their playoff run, which I think, I don't know, you tell me, Ari. Did the fact that their playoff run was happening,

did that make it easier for them to retain Trinidad, Shameless, and Kiwan Lacey? I mean, I think that also hiring from within does. It's not a new person who comes from nowhere, somewhere else that you're not familiar with taking over a program. So like the stability of Ole Miss, I think they made the right hire in promoting from, within somebody who's well respected and somebody who's been in the game for a long time

because I thought that like they were in some pretty choppy waters and they were able to come out without sinking there. So I that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve credit though for for keeping these guys. I think that it still would have been really hard, especially if they had loyalty to the head coach who is going to a place that frankly is pretty sexy and kind of the talk of the world right now. And some players did. They didn't keep everybody. They lost some guys to LSU too. So, but keeping your quarterback. Princeville, O'Man Mieland Mieland, T.J. Daugher.

Yeah, they did. And it was, it was probably touch and go. And look, I think a lot of it for Shameless might have been his eligibility case. He probably had a better chance of getting to play if he stayed at a school rather than kind of went mercenary and went somewhere else. But Lacey, I don't think there was anything that was tying him. other than I love my teammates. I like this coaching staff that's still here

because Lacey would have been pretty freaking awesome at LSU too. Yeah. Kewan Lacey is a game changing back. And I just, I think getting him back is so critical to what Ole Miss is doing. Yeah, for sure. And I think that if you would have removed those two players in what your prospect of them being,

very good would be and then having them, like, that might be the difference between unranked going into the year and maybe top 15 going into the year. Like, that's a, that's a monumental shift in offensive production and performance. So, yeah, absolutely. You know, Layton Kiffin also kept Caden Durham at LSU, and that was an important piece because if you're not going to go get lazy, then keeping the guy who's a pretty productive player at LSU is good. Andy, who else do we have on our list?

Well, I think John Sumerall at Florida had a couple of guys that were absolute priorities when he got. And it's interesting because everybody was assuming it would be DJ Lagway. And I think we've learned that that was that mutual parting was mutual. It was, you know, the coaching staff was not over thrilled. He didn't necessarily want to play for them. And so he goes to Baylor. But it was very clear from the get-go. it was brought up during the first team meeting.

And now Jaden Ball was at the first team meeting that John Somerall had. And so it wasn't a where's Jaron situation for John Sumerall. Jaden Ball was there and Sumerall mentioned him in the meeting. It was a very clear retention target. Jaden Ball never went in the portal. But he was one of those guys that if he had gone in the portal and obviously there were overtures being made,

everybody wanted him. Everybody. I mean, you know, Texas went out and hired Jabar Jibar Jaluk, the former Florida running backs coach,

I think with the intent of maybe having a chance to get Jaden Baugh. I mean, Texas was the team. Like, everybody was like, hey,

he's going to be good next year. So, they were in the market for good running back and they ended up getting some good running backs in the portal. Yeah.

No, but I think Jaden Baugh is also very underrated as a player. Like, I don't think that the general fan has appreciated enough. I mean,

Florida was bad last year, so it's hard to appreciate their good pieces. But if you, could you make the case, Andy, that Jaden Ball was the single most impressive piece on their entire team a year ago? Yes, I would say that. And the other guy that they really were working to retain was maybe number two or number three, and that's Jaden Woods, the edge rusher. He actually entered the portal. He took a visit to Texas.

They were pretty sure he was. gone. And then Summerall and Brad White is DC and Bam Hardman, their new position coach at that position, who is a former Florida player, went and met with Jaden Woods. And they got him to stay too. Because Florida had an interesting situation where they've got some good players on their team, but a few of them, a few of their better players who probably would have been poached targets are legacies. Like Vernel Brown the third, the receiver who was a freshman last year, and Miles Graham, the linebacker who was a sophomore last year, like those are sons of former Florida players.

They were going to be a little bit tougher to pry away. But Jaden Ball and Jaden Woods did not have that same connection, and they were considered among the best at their position, and everybody was interested. And so I think that's, Summerall getting those guys to stay is probably as big as anything he could have done in terms of bringing in a transfer. And they brought in, obviously,

Aaron Filo, the quarterback from Georgia Tech and Eric Singleton, the receiver. That's what's kind of frustrating about the whole thing, though, Andy. It's that, like, in the portal, a lot of times you get so focused on who you brought in, it's easy to lose track of who you lost. So if they would have lost Jaden Baugh and went out and got Hollywood Smothers or something, like he would have been given credit for going out and getting that player to replace Baugh. But it's like, it might not have been better off. Yeah, right.

It's better that they. still kept them. So what you go out and do isn't necessarily always what you do in your own building when you get the job. So like I think that Florida would be better off keeping Bob than losing him and getting somebody else. That's good. Especially if you want some some old like, and I don't know if you buy into this anymore. Maybe it's a dying thought. But do you want players on your team that come from previous regimes and have been at Florida for a long time to help the transition along the way? Or if it's rotten, do you want a whole new set of players too. I don't know. I think it depends on the player. If it's a good player who works hard,

who in part, I mean, look, obviously there's a financial aspect to this. Yeah. But for for Jayden Ball, he must have wanted to stay at Florida too because he literally could have gone anywhere. So he must have liked a little bit. And I think having somebody who who likes the program, likes where they are and can help sell it, I think is important. Yeah. And, And I just think about me too. And I know we had different college experiences, but like, if somebody who'd been like, hey, you're leaving Arizona, your junior year and you're going to go finish somewhere else, I don't want to do that.

Like some people just like where they live and who they're around and their friends. I was, I was very happy where I was in college. I would have been very stressed if I had to go anywhere else. Right. I enjoyed it and had gotten to feel like it was, it was home for me. And I think that's the key is some of these guys. And it sounds like the story with Tosh LaPoy talking about JKS, even those initial conversations, he got the buy the JKS wanted to be in Berkeley.

Like he enjoyed it there. And I think Jaden Baugh is the same thing. The one thing I'll say about Billy Napier at Florida, the players seem to enjoy playing for it. They enjoyed being gators. And I don't think there was a mercenary feel to it where you do get that with some other programs or you'll see a coach get fired and everybody's like, f this, I'm out of here.

You know, I didn't want to be here anyway. And I didn't get that vibe off this group of Florida players. And it's, we talked about it when they kind of saved Napier's job in 2024, that group kind of gelled together and helped them win a couple games at the end that really, really saved him. So that's probably what it was,

is there, there was an environment where they felt like they liked the place. But that said, Somerall has to be able to convince them that he can win there because Jadenbaugh and Jane Wood was like, both of them obviously being recruited by Texas. Texas is far more successful recently than Florida was. So John Somerall has to sell dreams as opposed to see Sarkesian selling reality.

Right. And that's a hard thing to do. And I think that as you kind of sift through the future a little bit and look at some of the people who are able to sell dream successfully, a lot of times there's a connection to people who are actually successful, too, like in the long term. Yeah, we'll find out because they've managed to retain a lot. And I think we'll see how wise of a choice that was to retain a lot of the old roster versus going out and really flipping everything. because we had Alice Golis on the show not long ago. And they kept a few players from Auburn, but that's going to be a radically different starting lineup on both sides of the ball for Auburn next year.

For sure. So I'm not saying one is right and one's wrong. We don't know. We got to see the results before we figure that out. Yeah. Do you want to go into some of the non-traditional ones now? Yeah, yeah. Some of the non-traditional ones,

it's not a new coach or not a new hire. We did a little bit on this last week, Andy, when Shane Beamer was on the show, but offensive tackle Josiah Thompson is somebody who went into the portal and Shane Beamer was able to convince to, or he came back to Shane Beamer, I should say, and they came to an agreement that he could come back. And they went out and got another freak offensive tackle in the meantime,

so that should mean that their team is really good up front this coming year. Well, and that was one. where, you know, when we talk to Shane Deamer about it, he made it pretty clear. Like Josiah Thompson realized he wanted to be at South Carolina. And, you know, we didn't include Dylan Stewart on this list. Who's another guy everybody would have wanted? But that's from talking to Shane Beamer. And it sounds like Dylan Stewart, Lenora Sellers were pretty much on board.

Yeah. That they were having discussions during the season and felt very comfortable that even if somebody made overtures that they weren't going to really respond to him and they didn't. They very quickly said, we're back. And yeah, yeah, they had to do a list of people that could have left who didn't. It would be like an encyclopedia. I was looking at players morally that or more so that, excuse me, that the portal and came out or we're thinking about going on the portal and didn't.

And I think that this is, no, now that they got you carry his peak in the fold, Andy, like they should have a really good offensive line. And you're talking about a time that's pretty critical for Lenore's sellers, getting him good protection. I think it's going to be a huge piece. And it maybe was an accidental retention job, because if you're not the one that that reached out to save them.

There was no flight to Hawaii and sleeping on the bench in this situation. But sometimes in the rom-com, Andy, the girl comes back to the guy, right? Like so, you know. Exactly. Well, and you mentioned Jacarius Peak who came to South Carolina from NC State.

NC State had a big retention in CJ Bailey, their quarterback. Yeah. Because he's another one that I was kind of looking at during the season and thinking there is a chance that, if something changes, if we, we thought Dave Doran might be on shaky ground for a little bit of the season, but then they turned it around as the season went on and he was safe.

But CJ Bailey, who's from Miami, you wondered, okay, would Miami come after him? Would some other school that wants a veteran quarterback who has all of the tools that you want, go after CJ Bailey because he's lost Hollywood smothers? He lost Casey Concepcion the year before. They lost Jacarius Peak. You wondered about that, but he stayed steady, and he is going to be with the Wolfpack next year. And I think the way they finished last season

and bringing back CJ Bailey, I think there's a reason to be excited about them. Yeah, for sure. What about Noah Fafita at Arizona? Your alma mater, absolutely, because Noah Fafita is an interesting case because he was the hottest name going, the question was, would he leave with Jed Fish after his freshman year?

So he doesn't leave with Jedfish, doesn't go to Washington, stays at Arizona with T-MAC, his high school teammate, who's now Carolina Panther, and the offensive rookie of the year. Yeah, the second year was not good at Arizona for Fafita, but he was banged up. We talked to Brent Brennan at Big 12 Media Days last year, and he explained to us that the situation with Fafita was a little more dire than we realized in 2004 in terms of just what he was dealing with.

And you saw in 25, he came back and was awesome. So now you're looking at a guy who's been highly productive in two college seasons and then was willing to play through pain in the other one. That's the guy everybody would want. And Arizona's got him. Brennan just got a contract extension. I would imagine helping retain Fafita was part of that. You got to love how he was on the hottest of hot seats going into the year and then contract extension at the end of the year because they had such a really good season.

And a large part of that was because of their quarterback who literally could have left, I feel like seven times during his career. Oh, yeah. So. And I remember talking to Brennan about this last year in Dallas. And he's like, it was the vibe was basically you don't understand how tough this guy is. you don't understand how valuable this guy is. Everybody's just looking at the numbers from last year and they do not understand what happened.

You're about to see something. And he was right. He was absolutely right. Andy, what about another Michigan guy, Andrew Marsh, the receiver? Yes, I was wondering, because we were throwing names back and forth. And this is one I found very interesting

because Andrew Marsh came on at the end of the season and was one of the more productive freshmen in the Big Ten by the end of the season. And I think Michigan has just needed this at receiver for a while. Even that national title team, it didn't feel like they were as stocked at receiver as you'd want them to be. They've needed a guy like this and to show that a guy like this can be successful at Michigan. So I think keeping him with Bryce Underwood, allowing that offense to now progress a little bit

with these guys, I think will be a very, very big offseason, I guess we're calling it a move that wasn't made, was retaining Andrew Marsh instead of having to go find somebody else who's like Andrew Marsh. Yeah. He flashed last year. So big, big freshman and a sophomore jump could be coming up for him. And I think it's a nice little get. And I'm really excited about Michigan this year. I think that, you know, with how they played last year, with what we know how they were dealing with from behind the scenes, like getting a coach that punches above his weight is going to be a really fascinating story. A grown up in the room kind of coach, a guy who's been through it all, who's done everything, seen everything, and has never really had a chance to work with this level

of resource before. I think that, I think that's one of the most important things to consider with Kyle Whittingham is he's never been at the kind of. a place that has everything. And I think Utah probably at the end of its time in the Mountain West was one of the better resource programs in the conference. And they were dominating in the Mountain West at that point. So that's as close to what we've seen with him having those level of resources relative to everybody else.

That gets me excited about what he can do with all that he's going to have at Michigan. I think you're exactly right, Ari. I think the fact that they kept the guys that were very important. And Michigan had a few guys like that who tested the waters, thought about going to the portal, or maybe even entered the portal, and then came back out. I feel like Kyle Whitting and his staff had some meetings where somebody was maybe, and this is just like the JKS and Tosh Lepoy story, where somebody's having some doubts, and then they had that meeting.

and all of a sudden it's, oh, okay. Oh, these guys know what they're doing. Yeah. I'm in a good place. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, it's been a lot of fun. I love when we get stories like that.

Like you said, I'm a sucker for a good old school recruiting story. Have you ever done anything like that in your personal life? Did you have any grand gestures for your wife? We both did when we were living eight hours. apart early in our relationship. I was in Knoxville. She was in Gainesville. So there were a few times where one of us would hop in the car and just go and show up at the door and or at least try to show up at the door without giving away that we're, this was pre-life 360. So you couldn't tell. And if you could, you could try to hide it on the phone that you were in the car or hide it

on the phone that you were in the gas station, they don't guess you're, you're on the road. One time I drove from Columbus, Ohio to Fort Lauderdale to go to dinner with Brittany. That is incredible. I think about how, yeah, like, that's like, I think that's like a 18-hour drive. It's a hell of a dinner. It's a great dinner. It worked. Desert was good, too.

I'm going to leave it at that. Send in your questions for dear Andy Niroi, not about dessert. No dessert questions, please. Send any of your questions to Andy Staples on 3 at gmail.com. Scott Wasserman at On3.com. We will answer on Dear Andy and D.R. On Friday, plus we got another special guest. We are scheduled to be joined on Friday by Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire.

What did he learn from a Big 12 title and a college football playoff run as the Red Raiders try to run it back and get back to the CFP after their first appearance? We'll talk to you and Joey McGuire. Tomorrow.