Cal GM Ron Rivera calls out Tosh Lupoi at 3-6

California general manager Ron Rivera has given a blunt public review of first-year coach Tosh Lupoi with the Golden Bears at 3-6. Speaking Thursday on his weekly KNBR radio spot, Rivera said Lupoi "has bumped his head a lot" in his first season running a program, Yahoo Sports reported.

Rivera, a Cal alumnus and former NFL head coach, did not stop at that line. He said Lupoi took some of the advice the front office gave him and ignored some of it. He also said the offense had not come together and pointed to the inexperienced coordinators Lupoi brought with him. He pushed back on comparisons with UCLA, which is 8-0 and ranked No. 8 under Bob Chesney. Rivera noted that Chesney arrived as a sitting head coach and brought much of his playoff roster from James Madison. FootballScoop also covered the remarks and framed them as a demand for visible improvement over the final weeks.

The interview follows a series of midseason changes. Cal hired Lupoi, Oregon's former defensive coordinator, after Justin Wilcox was fired late in a 7-6 season in 2025. In early October, pass game coordinator Pat McCann took over play-calling from offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville. Lupoi also briefly benched quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, the player he had worked hard to keep in Berkeley after taking the job. Jackson Brousseau started the loss to Wake Forest, and Sagapolutele has started the two games since. Rivera said the remaining schedule has to show the players developing and the culture getting stronger. He spoke of three games, and possibly a fourth if the Bears reach a bowl.

What it means at Virginia

A bowl now requires Cal to win all three remaining games, and the trend is going the wrong way. The Bears have lost three in a row: 10-31 at NC State, 20-59 at No. 23 SMU and 7-41 at home against No. 21 Wake Forest. That is 37 points scored and 131 allowed over the three games. Across nine games Cal has been outscored 284-197, about 31.6 points allowed and 21.9 scored per game. All three wins were one-score ACC games or came against an FCS opponent: 21-18 at Syracuse, 49-7 over Wagner and 25-20 over Virginia Tech.

The next stop is Charlottesville on Saturday, November 14. Kickoff at Scott Stadium is 3:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network, according to Cal Athletics. The game ends a three-game road trip. Both teams are 2-4 in ACC play, and Virginia is 4-5 overall, so the loser will be scrambling for bowl eligibility. This is only the second meeting between the programs. Virginia won the first, 31-21 in Berkeley on November 1, 2025.

After Virginia, Cal comes home for Stanford on November 21 and Pittsburgh on November 28. The quarterback situation and McCann's play-calling will be watched closely. Cal's offense has not scored more than 20 points since late September. Rivera's comments make clear that the front office will judge Lupoi's first year on how these games look as well as on the results. Follow the Bears' season on our Cal team page.