Oregon Football: Tosh Lupoi is yet another home run hire for Dan Lanning

Tosh Lupoi has reportedly been added to the Oregon football coaching staff by Dan Lanning and he continues to knock these hires out of the park.

Dan Lanning is absolutely killing it in Eugene thus far. He has yet to officially set up camp with Oregon football full-time as he’s preparing for the Orange Bowl against Michigan, but he’s putting together one heck of a coaching staff.

Not only is he hiring guys who are young and energetic who will help recruiting efforts at Oregon, but he’s bringing in coaches who have NFL experience as well.

Lanning is bringing in coaches who have learned under some legends as well as others who have spent time making names for themselves at the next level.

On Monday, reports surfaced that Lanning was adding former Alabama defensive coordinator and current Jaguars defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi to the staff as the Ducks’ defensive coordinator. On the surface, it looked like a solid hire, but when you really put in the research to see what Lupoi has done at the college level, you realize it was a home run.

Lupoi’s history will serve Oregon football well

As a defensive line coach for Cal in 2010, he was named Rivals’ Recruiter of the Year. And that’s tough to do at a school like Cal which isn’t exactly known for landing elite players. The former Cal defensive lineman then left for Washington where he was a defensive line coach for a couple of years before Nick Saban caught wind of him and hired him as a defensive analyst at Alabama.

Lupoi was at Alabama from 2014-2018 and was named the SEC recruiter of the year by 247Sports in 2017 and worked his way up to being the Tide’s defensive coordinator. While at Alabama, he helped land some of the most elite recruits in the country such as Najee Harris, Dylan Moses, Tua Tagovailoa, and Jaylen Waddle, to name just a handful.

Being instrumental in Alabama’s recruiting success is a big reason why I think he’s going to succeed at Oregon, but he’s also a brilliant defensive mind.

Lupoi has won two national titles as part of Alabama’s defensive staff. One came as a defensive analyst in 2015 and the other when he was defensive coordinator in 2017.

Lanning just hit a missile over the center field wall with this hire.