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CALIFORNIA BEARS
Cal to Play in Current Memorial Stadium for Final Time in 2010

By Kyle McRae

The Cal football team has played in one of the most beautiful settings in college football since Memorial Stadium was completed in 1923. Multimillion-dollar panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay and three local bridges to the west are complemented by a plush wall of pine trees planted on the Berkeley Hills to the east. Soon, the facilities in the area will rival the beauty of the location.

The Golden Bears will play in the current Memorial Stadium for the final time in 2010 before moving to a still-to-be-determined site for the 2011 campaign. When the Bears return in 2012 to a renovated Memorial Stadium, their experience will be quite different.

They will have already occupied the new Student-Athlete High Performance Center for one year, with the building projected to open in August 2011. The modern 142,000-square-foot facility will house locker rooms, offices and meeting rooms, as well as areas for strength and conditioning, sports medicine, nutrition, academics and much more for football and 12 other intercollegiate sports.

The work to renovate the west side of Memorial Stadium will begin in June and pick up in earnest following Cal's final game this upcoming season. The renovations will create many programmatic, game-day and fan-amenity improvements while respecting the architecture and character of the historic structure.

The 87 years of memories in the historic structure began on Nov. 24, 1923, with Cal's 9-0 victory over Stanford in the Big Game. Other moments to remember are numerous, including a five-lateral 57-yard kickoff return that ended with a march through the Stanford band that became simply known as "The Play," which is still one of the most recognizable events in the history of college football and gave Cal an improbable 25-20 over the Cardinal in the 1982 Big Game.

Generation of fans have seen many teams, both good and not so good, play at Memorial Stadium since 1923. Cal won its first eight games at Memorial Stadium before a Big Game tie with Stanford on Nov. 22, 1924. The Bears would win three more contests before finally suffering their first loss in the venue to the Olympic Club on Oct. 10, 1925. The best run came when "Pappy's Boys" won 21 straight games for legendary head coach Lynn O. "Pappy" Waldorf from 1947-50 and extended an unbeaten string to 24 before finally losing to USC on Oct. 20, 1951. The worst run came with eight straight home losses spanning the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

The Bears have posted 12 unbeaten seasons at home since Memorial Stadium opened, including three times in the last six years. Cal has played a total of 539 games at the venue and posted a record of 313-210-16 (.596) and really turned the facility into a home-field advantage recently, posting a 33-6 record at home in its last 39 games at Memorial Stadium. The most memorable victory during the era of head coach Jeff Tedford came when a squad that was just two seasons removed from a one-win campaign shocked No. 3 USC in triple overtime, 34-31, on Sept. 27, 2003. The 2006 club clinched a share of Cal's first Pac-10 championship in 31 years with a 26-17 victory over Stanford in the Big Game.

Fans have streamed through Memorial Stadium's gates throughout the years, including a current stretch that has seen the Bears draw at least 50,000-plus fans for a record 37 consecutive home games over the past six seasons. Before the capacity was reduced to its current size of 71,799, record crowds of 83,000 fans were on hand to witness games against Navy on Sept. 27, 1947, and Stanford on Nov. 22, 1952.

Overall, the Bears have won the second-most games in the Pac-10, behind only USC, since the arrival of Tedford in 2002, posting a 67-35 (. 596) record during the eight-year period. Tedford, who is now the longest-tenured head football coach in the Pac-10, is tied for the most victories in the school's modern era with Pappy Waldorf at 67. He also remains tied for third on the school's overall list, trailing leader Andy Smith by seven wins and James Schaeffer by only six wins.

Tedford's team will return 20 starters (nine on offense, seven on defense, four on special teams) for the 2010 campaign, which will also feature the debut of an incoming signing class that was ranked as high as No. 11 in the nation by Rivals. Cal's 2010 roster features two players that earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors last year in LB Mike Mohamed and P Bryan Anger. Mohamed was the Pac-10's leading tackler with 112, while Anger averaged 41.5 yards per punt, including 14 of 50 or more yards and 24 occasions where he pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line.

A group of six returning 2009 honorable mention All-Pac-10 selections, DB Sean Cattouse (37 tackles, started last six games at safety), OL Chris Guarnero (started all 13 games at C), DL Cameron Jordan (48 tackles, 9.5 TFL, 6.0 SK), TE Anthony Miller (26 receptions, 357 yards), OL Mitchell Schwartz (started all 13 games at RT) and TB Shane Vereen (952 rushing yards as a part-time starter), are also back and starting to emerge among the top players in the conference.

The Bears have made changes at two key positions on the coaching staff for 2010, hiring defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast and special teams coordinator Jeff Genyk in the offseason.

Pendergast brings 19 seasons of NFL and collegiate coaching experience to the position, including the past six campaigns as an NFL defensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs (2009) and Arizona Cardinals (2004-08). Pendergast was the defensive coordinator in Arizona when the Cardinals captured the 2008 NFC title to earn a berth in Super Bowl XLIII.

Genyk has spent 18 years as a collegiate coach, most recently serving as the head coach at Eastern Michigan from 2004-08. His squads were consistently among the nation's best at punt yardage defense, ranking as high as third in the country in 2006.

The team's 2010 campaign opens vs. UC Davis on Saturday, Sept. 4. The upcoming season also includes visits from Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and Washington during a seven-game home schedule. Season tickets are available by calling the Cal Athletic Ticket Office at (800) GO BEARS or visiting CalBears.com.