Top 50 Cal Sports Moments — No. 42: Dazzling Debut, 2002

THE MOMENT: In the early afternoon of Saturday August 31, 2022, in Cal’s season opener against Baylor at Cal’s Memorial Stadium, new Golden Bears head coach Jeff Tedford called his first play as a head coach at any level. Starting from his own 29-yard line, quarterback Kyle Boller threw a long, slightly backward pass to running back Terrell Williams, who was lined up as a wide receiver near the right sideline for this play. Wiliams then straightened up and threw a long left-handed pass to freshman tight end David Gray, who was all alone behind the Baylor secondary. Gray then rambled to the end zone for a 71-yard touchdown 10 seconds into Tedford’s first game.

THE STORY: Cal’s football program was at its lowest point in history when a coaching search  committee, headed by athletic director Steve Gladstone, hired this guy named Jeff Tedford. He had never been a head coach at any level and people in Berkeley knew little about him. Tedford had been the offensive coordinator at Oregon, which had just finished the 2001 season ranked No. 2 after beating Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl.

Cal was coming off its worst season in the history of Golden Bears football, having gone 1-10 overall and 0-8 in the Pac-10 in 2001 in the final season under Tom Holmoe.  It was Cal’s fifth straight losing season, and it hadn’t had a winning season since 1993.

The Bears were picked to finish last in the Pac-10 in the 2002 preseason poll.

The first game for the 40-year-old Tedford was a home game against Baylor, and the 27,185 people in attendance wanted to see what this new coach had to offer.

After Cal’s James Bethea returned the opening kickoff 16 yards to the Cal 29-yard line, Tedford, who also acted as offensive play-caller, sent out his offense for the first play on the brand-new sod at Memorial Stadium.  It was a trick play, a double-pass from Boller to Williams to Gray that went for a 71-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead 10 seconds into the game.

The soft-spoken Tedford later said he wasn’t trying to make a statement; he just thought that play might score a touchdown.

But the crowd was awe-struck by this new coach’s chutzpah, and that was just the start. Cal scored a modern-school-record 35 points in the first quarter on its way to a 70-22 victory.  By the end of the game the crowd was chanting “We love Tedford.” The Bears went on to finish 7-5 that season, but were unable to go to a bowl because of NCAA violations under a previous regime.  Tedford was named Pac-10 coach of the year.

Cal went to bowl games each of the next seven seasons under Tedford, and the Bears were ranked in the top 10 at some point in five of those seven seasons. The Bears were Pac-10 co-champions in 2006, to this day the only time since 1958 the Golden Bears claimed a conference title.

Cal’s season-ticket sales jumped from 16,200 in 2002 to 41,336 in 2007 as Tedford stayed at Cal despite big-money offers from other schools.

It ended with a whimper, when Tedford was fired after a 3-9 season in 2012, but it had started with a loud bang on August 31, 2002.

.* Top 50 Moments — No. 43: Anigwe 30-30, 2019

* Top 50 Moments — No. 44: East Feast, 1895

*Only specific acts that occurred while the team or athlete was at Cal were considered, and an accomplishment of a season or a career was not included unless it can be identified in a particular moment.

*Leslie Mitchell of the Cal Bears History twitter site aided in the selection of the top 50 moments.

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