Dear Sandy,

Whatever you decide this weekend after you talk with coach Tedford, as an alumni and die hard Cal fan, I’d like to tell you I just want just one thing – and that is for Cal to go to the Rosebowl in my lifetime. I’m 59 and I’m running out of life.

Go Bears!

ps I totally agree – Tedford does not play to win – he has no killer instinct. Need a new coach.

Only time i saw him on campus was against chico state in basketball. He was front row and they announced he was there and put him on the screen.

You guessed it he was wearing a red chico state shirt.

While Cal debates the Tedford issue the football program is losing recruits. This year Cal will have the worst recruiting class of JT’s tenure.

http://www.mercurynews.com/cal-bears/ci_22003579/cals-bad-season-jeff-tedford-uncertainty-affecting-recruiting?source=pkg

Lupoi will be in every recruits ear until JT leaves, telling them to avoid Cal like the plague. They have no choice but to move on now…Sandy better do it sooner than later while we still can sell some season tickets and nail some top recruits.

One thing that was mentioned by Ratto was the turnover in assistant coaches. I am sure that has had an impact on continuity and building momentum, but should not JT be accountable for at least some of that? People who are more knowledgable than I about the inner workings of a college sports team can perhaps shed some light on that.

Eric #31: don’t agree with all your points, but great post.

The difference is this:

- Tedford has been with Cal 11 years. There has been a clear downward trend since, at minimum, midway through the 2007 season. This year is far from an aberration 9as JF’s prior blog posting on the blowout losses demonstrated).

- During that same period, Cal players have gone to the NFL is greater numbers than ever before, and a number of our recruiting classes were in the Top 20. So it hasn’t been a case of recruiting or talent.

- Tedford is paid at or near the top of the Pac-10/12, but of all Pac-10 coaches, his salary does not match onfield success (Neuweasel was probably the closest comparable, and look what happened to him).

- Tedford has been repeatedly labeled a QB guru, but since AR, he has been unable to produce a quality QB.

- Since Tedford, every Pac-10/12 team has made into a BCS bowl EXCEPT for Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Cal. So while there are ups and downs, we seem not to be able to ever break through. Stanford has gone twice, even though it has had four HCs during the Tedford

- The Pac-10/12 schools that have NOT had success in the last 5 years all have made coaching changes via fires and hires: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Stanford, UCLA, Washington, and Washington State. Other than Colorado and Washington State, each has had the same or better results with the change. Indeed, in Arizona State’s case, the Erickson hiring immediately led to a 10-win season, and the Erickson firing led to a bowl eligible season this year. Colorado went against the grain by firing a supposedly well regarded coach with a less known quantity (but at the same time John Embree inherited a truly terrible program) and Washington State went with a big name (which has NOT worked this season, but I suspect that Leach will have the team very competitive next year).

- Oregon brought in Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator with the intention of grooming him to replace Bellotti (who had enjoyed years of success, including several Rose Bowls, but had also started to trend down). Since Kelly took over, Oregon has won three straight Pac-10/12 championships, played in one NC game and easily could have played in another. And this year is likely to again win the Pac-12.

Time for a change. No more excuses.