Cal has settled into being an Iowa or Wisconsin type program. Pretty good, but not going to the Rose Bowl often.

It’s too bad that when Tedford did have the Bears coming on strong Pete Carroll took USC off on a historic run. Tedford had a couple teams good enough to make it but they couldn’t get by USC. And they got screwed in 2004.

At least you achieved something you are good at even though it is lacking on the football field.

If the goal is to win a Pac-10 Championship, then I think we have seen enough on the Tedford resume to conclude that he is not likely to lead the football program to a title. Make a change NOW…and that means hiring a PROVEN winning coach.

Of course I realize that what I am recommending won’t happen given the financial and politcal realities at Cal…there’s no way that the athletic program could absorb the financial write off of buying out Tedfords’ contract and spending 15+ million for a “proven” coach.

So, Cal is “stuck” with Tedford for at least through the next 5 years or so. What that means is that Cal is going to be a 6, 7 or 8 win type of program. Cal is no longer getting top 25 caliber recruits, this year is likely to be Cal’s worst recruiting effort over the past 6 years…Cal is no longer viewed as a program that can compete at the highest levels…Cal has performed poorly each time it has had high expectations at the national level.

Tedford is NOT a terrible coach, he deserves credit (and he has certainly received tons of credit) for bringing the Cal football program to be competitive and in bowl contention each year. But ever since the 2004 loss in the Holiday Bowl to Texas Tech, the Cal program has not lived up to its expectations. The 2007 and now the 2009 seasons, are far below the pre-season expectations. Even the 2008 season was significantly below the expected results.

Also, not to be taken lightly, but Tedford appears to run a clean program that the University can be proud of…he should be commended for this (and he typically has been from the press clippings I have seen).

However, I have not seen too much criticism from the press about the fact that Tedfords’ teams have consistently underachieved for the past 4 years…Tedford seems to get a pass from the local press…as a longtime fan, and observer of college sports, I get the distinct impression that Tedford does not possess the skills to lead the Cal program to conference titles, the Cal program is on the decline and I ask Sandy Barbour what is she going to do about it? I suspect nothing.

Although I feel that the Cal football program is now in decline. They already have been passed by Stanford, UCLA, Oregon and of course USC in terms of recruiting talent for the past couple of years…and now we are starting to see these teams pass Cal in terms of on field performance as well. I don’t see how Tedford can ever lead Cal to a Pac-10 Championship.