<blockquote><div class="name-said">Jeff82;665921 said:</div><hr>Feeling dissed by the University, and disgusted by the legal delays on the SAHPC, Tedford leaves after the 2007 season. He moves to an equal or better job than Cal, because the coaching community blames the 2007 meltdown on DJ, and views it as a one-time aberration.<br /><br />In response, SI runs an article titled: "The Anti-Football Factory," noting that Tedford is the third Cal coach in recent memory to be run off or leave (Snyder, Mariucci) because of the perceived unwillingness of the school to support the program, most recently evidenced by its unwillingness to aggressively move against the tree-sitters and the legal challenge to the stadium.<br /><br />We end up having to again seek an assistant to move up, because no established coach will take the job given the SAHPC uncertainty. At the same time, the fact that the program is again in flux slows down SAHPC fundraising. If the new coach is unsuccessful, attendance again crashes, reigniting the debate over whether it even makes sense to redo the stadium, as opposed to moving games to the Oakland Colisseum, given the poor attendance at Memorial.<br /><br /><b>In my view, Tedford's departure would have been a plausible result of only giving him a two- to three-year extension in 2006. A five-year extension was probably the minimum necessary to bribe him through the tree-sitter/lawsuit fiasco. Assuming he had been given a five-year contract in 2006, I agree with DO that an additional extension after 2008 was probably not necessary, unless he had other offers at that time that were serious, but were not known publicly.</b> I still contend that Tedford's primary goal in his contract negotiations was to make it difficult if not impossible to get rid of him before the SAHPC and the stadium opened. He's accomplished that goal.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />But leaving that aside, Tedford's <b>January 2007 extension was for 4 years</b>, and he was automatically extended 1 year for the 9 wins in the 2008 season. The actual February 2009 extension was for 2 years.<br /><br />I think you've got it backwards on what Tedford's goals were in contract negotiations. It seems plain to me that Tedford's goal has always been from the outset to get the SAHPC built and CMS renovated. With those facilities, Cal can compete with programs like USC, Oregon, and Washington. In due time, with a rising program, Cal can aim to be a perennial Top 20 program with regular forays into the Top 10 and to make runs at winning a National Championship.<br /><br />That's the plan. That's been the plan from the beginning. Only now, 10 years after being hired in December 2001, does Tedford not have the leaden weight of inadequate, substandard, and antiquated facilities hindering his efforts in recruiting, development and coaching.