Decision on future of Cal’s Tedford delayed
Season- ending team meeting is moved back a day
BERKELEY — On the day after the end of Cal’s worst football season in 11 years, there was no decision on coach Jeff Tedford’s future.
Tedford was scheduled to meet Sunday with athletic director Sandy Barbour after she watched the Bears lose 62- 14 at Oregon State on Saturday night.
Barbour’s offi ce at Haas Pavilion was locked and dark Sunday afternoon, and she did not respond to a text message asking for an update. Likewise, Tedford wasn’t available for interviews.
An athletic department spokesman said in the early evening that there was no decision made or announcement planned.
A previously scheduled season- ending team meeting was moved from Sunday afternoon to Monday, with no details available.
Tedford, 51, is Cal’s winningest coach and directed the Bears to eight bowl games in 11 seasons. But the team skidded to a 3- 9 record this fall and gave up 121 points in its final two games — the most ever in a twogame span by the program.
Still, Barbour’s decision is complicated because Tedford would be owed about $ 6.9 million for the three remaining years on his contract if fired — money Barbour needed to coax out of private sources.
But the financial issue is bigger than that. Cal needs to pay down a $ 321 million debt on renovated Memorial Stadium, and Barbour has to consider whether ticket buyers — including major donors — would back off purchasing expensive endowed seats if a change is not made.
Tedford’s success contributed signifi cantly to making the much- needed stadium redo and adjoining training facility a reality. But Berkeley politics — including the in famous tree sitters outside the stadium — delayed construction, and the football program’s momentum waned a bit by the time shovels went into the ground.
Cal was 1- 10 in 2001 before Tedford came on board from Oregon, where he was the offensive coordinator with a reputation for developing quarterbacks. By his second season, the Bears played in a bowl game, beginning a streak of seven straight years through 2009 in the postseason. He owns a record of 82- 57.
Since December 2009, Cal is 15- 24, and only two of those victories were over Football Bowl Subdivision opponents with winning records.
Despite the program’s recent slide, Tedford maintains supporters, including Green Bay Packers quarterback and Cal alum Aaron Rodgers, who last week said Cal would be making a mistake by firing his old coach.
Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz, a big Cal fan, tweeted, “Tough year for @CalFootball, but @CoachTedford is the best we’ve ever had. Changed a lot of lives for the better at Cal. Hope he never leaves.”
The Bears’ final performance of the season didn’t help Tedford’s cause.
OSU’s 62 points were the third- most ever allowed by a Cal team. The Bears were skewered by two former Bay Area high school stars, as Pleasanton’s Sean Mannion threw four touchdown passes and Antioch’s Terron Ward ran for 128 yards and two TDs.
The Bears finished the season with five straight defeats for the first time in 28 years and lost those games by a combined score of 21274.
But whoever coaches the team next season should be stocked with young talent. Wracked by injuries this season, the Bears expect their offensive and defensive lines and their linebacking corps to be signifi cantly improved.
Junior quarterback Allan Bridgford, who replaced injured senior starter Zach Maynard the final two games, will face stiff competition from freshman Zach Kline, a highly regarded prospect from Danville.