ESPN Offers Sneak Peek at New Era in Golden Bear Football

For those looking to get pumped up for this week’s season opener, ESPN.com published a pretty good look at the enthusiasm that the new university leadership (including the new football coaching staff) has for this current era of Cal football. The link to the full article is here.

There isn't one way to explain Cal's prolonged lack of success in football, but any attempt to do so always circles back to the same place: the top of the org chart. It's a common belief among just about anyone who pays any attention to Cal football that the ones who previously led the university had not cared enough about football to make the institutional commitment required to compete at the highest levels of the sport.

So, when Lyons became the first Cal undergraduate to be named chancellor in 2024, there was immediate hope that the dynamic would change.

"When the chancellor was hired here, I was on a bunch of text threads with ex-Cal Bears like myself, just with former teammates, there was an excitement of, 'Man, we might have someone here that gets it and supports the football team, supports the athletics and might be a change in guard here,'" new Cal coach Tosh Lupoi said.