Vikings Coach Leaving for College Job
The Minnesota Vikings are preparing for the third-to-last game of their 2025 season on Sunday against the New York Giants. Yes, the playoffs are out of reach, but it is still possible for the disappointing 6-8 Vikings to finish an with a winning record, if they can find victory in all three remaining games.
On Friday, we found out that they’ll go about that mission without starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw — not just for week 16 vs the G-Men — but for the rest of the season, after the stud left tackle was placed on injured reserve.
Minnesota Vikings lose young safeties coach to Cal
But the Vikings aren’t just losing players today. They also lost their safeties coach, Michael Hutchings. According to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, the fast-rising 30-year-old coach is being hired as the California Golden Bears’ next defensive coordinator.
Sources: Cal plans to hire #Vikings safeties coach Michael Hutchings as their new DC.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) December 19, 2025
A former USC LB, Hutchings has quickly risen up the coaching ranks and was in his third season with Minnesota. Cal HC Tosh Lupoi was high school teammates with Hutchings at De La Salle. pic.twitter.com/xaQ98zwDEb
The Golden Bears recently hired a new head coach, Tosh Lupoi, who’s been the defensive coordinator at Oregon since 2022. Schultz mistakenly notes that Lupoi and Hutchings played together at De La Salle high school in Concord, California.
While both coaches attended De La Salle, and grew up in the Bay area, Hutchings graduated in 2013, Lupoi in 2000. So while both are extremely familiar with each other, they’ve never actually coached together.
Michael Hutchings and Tosh Lupoi join forces at Cal
The closest they got was a near career-crossing between 2021 and 2022. That offseason, Hutchings was leaving Oregon, where he was a defensive analyst in 2021. Meanwhile, Lupoi was on his way there to take the defensive coordinator job he held from 2022-25.
| Tosh Lupoi | Michael Hutchings |
|---|---|
| California (DL) | 2008-11 | USC (GA) | 2018-19 |
| Washington (DL) | 2012-13 | USC (QC) | 2020 |
| Alabama (DA) | 2014-15 | Oregon (DA) | 2021 |
| Alabama (OLB) | 2016 | W. Kentucky (OLB) | 2022 |
| Alabama (DC/OLB) | 2017-18 | Vikings (Asst DB) | 2023 |
| Browns (DL) | 2019 | Vikings (S) | 2024-25 |
| Falcons (DL) | 2020 | |
| Jaguars (DL) | 2021 | |
| Oregon (DC/LB) | 2022-25 |
Related: MN Vikings Finally Place Star O-Lineman on IR
Hutchings never made it in the NFL, as a player, but he did play four years at USC between 2013 and 2016 where he played in 45 games and totalled 118 tackles.
Unlike his new defensive coordinator, Tosh Lupoi played five years and graduated from the University of California, where he appeared in 8 games as a senior, finishing a quiet collegiate career with 15 tackles and 1 sack.
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