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Sources: WSU hiring Taylor Lucas and Mike Iupati as offensive line coaches

San Francisco 49ers rookie offensive lineman Mike Iupati (77) is shown during a drill at training camp in Santa Clara, California, on Monday, August 2, 2010. (Tribune News Service)
San Francisco 49ers rookie offensive lineman Mike Iupati (77) is shown during a drill at training camp in Santa Clara, California, on Monday, August 2, 2010. (Tribune News Service)
By Greg Woods gregw@spokesman.com(509) 459-5587

PULLMAN – Washington State has filled its offensive line coaching positions.

The Cougars are hiring Taylor Lucas as offensive line coach and Mike Iupati as assistant OL coach, multiple sources confirmed to The Spokesman-Review on Sunday, filling two more spots on head coach Jimmy Rogers’ staff.

Lucas comes from South Dakota State, where he worked under Rogers for the 2024 season, serving as assistant offensive line coach. Before that, he was an offensive line graduate assistant at Wyoming, where he spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Lucas also worked the 2021 year as the OL coach at Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point, his alma mater, where he played the 2012-15 seasons.

WSU offensive line coach Taylor Lucas (Courtesy of South Dakota State Athletics)
WSU offensive line coach Taylor Lucas (Courtesy of South Dakota State Athletics)

Lucas’ experience also includes a four-year stint as the offensive line coach at Division II Saint Anslem College, where he spent the 2018-21 seasons. Lucas picked up the Hawks’ recruiting coordinator duties ahead of the 2019 season.

A native of Brookfield, Wisconsin, Lucas worked the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the tight ends and fullbacks coach at Division III Carroll University.

In 2015, Lucas started all 10 games for Stevens Point at left guard, earning a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District 6 first team for a third consecutive season. He played in nine games in 2014, 10 in 2013 and seven in 2012.

It’s the first full-time coaching gig for Iupati, a first-round NFL draft pick out of nearby Idaho, earning one first-team All-Pro designation, one second-team All-Pro and four trips to the Pro Bowl. Starting 139 of 140 games across an 11-year NFL career, Iupati was taken by the San Francisco 49ers with the 17th overall selection in the 2010 draft.

Iupati spent the 2022 and ’23 seasons volunteering at the College of Idaho, which is about a 30-minute drive from his home in Eagle, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. He then spent last summer interning with the Los Angeles Chargers, where he worked with the Chargers’ offensive linemen during training camp.

Former offensive guard Mike Iupati is the WSU Cougars’ new assistant offensive line coach. (Getty Images)
Former offensive guard Mike Iupati is the WSU Cougars’ new assistant offensive line coach. (Getty Images)

Iupati’s playing career – which included stints with the 49ers, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks – came to an end after the 2020 season. He started 11 games at left guard, missing six games with an injury. In February 2021, he announced his retirement from the NFL.

Iupati and his wife, Ashley, have four children: Koa (12 years old), Tai (10), Luka (7) and Maikapono (4).

Lucas’ and Iupati’s hires are the fourth known by head coach Jimmy Rogers, who has also brought over offensive coordinator Danny Freund and defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit from South Dakota State, which won the 2023 FCS national title and made the 2024 semifinals.

With Lucas’ help, Jackrabbit offensive lineman Gus Miller earned Associated Press All-American first-team honors this season, anchoring an SDSU offensive line that helped the offense average 36.6 points and 441.9 yards of total offense during the regular season. Miller also earned the 2023 Rimington Award, which goes to the top FCS center, and he earned a spot on the Stats Perform All-American first team as well.

SDSU senior offensive lineman Evan Beernsten also landed on the AP All-American second team.