Left jobless because of an NCAA investigation, it appears Tosh Lupoi is set to restart his football career at the opposite side of the country... and off the sidelines.
Citing multiple unnamed sources, CBSSports.com‘s Jeremy Fowler reported overnight that Lupoi is expected to be hired by Alabama as a football staff member. Al.com hinted that Lupoi could move into the role of assistant director of player personnel.
This past December, it was reported that Lupoi, the defensive line coach under Steve Sarkisian at Washington, gave $4,500 in impermissible benefits to defensive lineman Andrew Basham, who signed with the Huskies last February but failed to qualify academically. Lupoi, who was under consideration for a job on Sarkisian’s new staff at USC, subsequently and very vehemently denied the allegations. Because of the NCAA investigation into the allegations, Lupoi did not reunite with Sarkisian at USC.
In mid-January, it was reported that Lupoi and the football program had reached an agreement on a separation deal as he was not retained by new Huskies head coach Chris Petersen.
The NCAA completed its probe into the issue in early February, announcing that no sanctions would be meted out against either Lupoi or the UW football program.
Lupoi spent six seasons as a defensive line coach at Cal (2006-11) -- he was named Rivals.com‘s Recruiter of the Year in 2010 -- before leaving for the Huskies in January of 2012. Shortly after joining the staff at UW, Lupoi was found to have committed a minor NCAA violation unrelated to the other incident, resulting in his being “limited” during the spring evaluation period for recruits.