The closest Cal came was in Rodgers' final season in 2004 when the Bears had a 10-1 regular season, losing 23-17 to eventual national champion Southern California. Texas beat out Cal for a Rose Bowl spot much to the dismay of the fan base. The Bears shared the conference title with USC in 2006 but lost the head-to-head matchup and settled for the Holiday Bowl.
Cal's fortunes turned downward that next season after a 5-0 start. With the Bears poised to move into the No. 1 spot in the polls following a loss by LSU, they lost to Oregon State in the closing seconds. Starting with that game, Tedford had a 34-37 record over his final 5½ seasons.
The Bears even got passed by Stanford in the Pac-12 hierarchy to the dismay of the alumni, with the Cardinal in position to get that Rose Bowl bid that has eluded Cal over the years despite losing star quarterback Andrew Luck to the NFL.
Adding to negatives for Tedford was news last month that Cal graduated only 48 percent of football players who entered school between 2002 and 2005 — the lowest rate in the Pac-12. Barbour said in a letter to donors that the low graduation rate was a "great concern."
The one bright spot in Tedford's final seasons came when Memorial Stadium reopened this fall following the major renovation. The modernized stadium and adjacent $150 million on-campus High Performance Center finally give Cal the facilities to compete with the rest of the conference.
While Tedford's work rebuilding the program and fundraising for the project were integral in its success, his successor will ultimately reap the benefits.
"This is a great job," Barbour said. "It's been made better by Jeff Tedford. This is a very attractive job that will attract a number of candidates that will meet these criteria. We will have an opportunity to make a great choice."
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