Monday, March 30, 2009

SF Chronicle: Sandy Barbour Discusses Memorial Stadium Schedule

(Thanks to Richard B. for the heads up on this article).

 

Here’s the link.

Excerpts:

Q: Under Tedford, the football team has become a Pac-10 contender. But it has beaten USC only once and has yet to play in the Rose Bowl. What else needs to happen for the team to get to a BCS bowl?

A: What Jeff has done has been amazing. The transformation of our football program under his leadership has been absolutely phenomenal. And then to realize he's done it with not just substandard facilities but sub-sub-sub-standard facilities. I think the facility is the next piece to be able to attract the very best. That's the piece that helps us help Jeff mold us to the next level.

Q: Are you confident that when the project is done that you'll be in the hunt for a BCS bowl berth?

A: Absolutely. I think we're in the hunt for a BCS bowl in the short run. But I don't believe Jeff could sustain that without the necessary facilities. He's been able to do what he's done because of the promise of that. ... I never had any doubt it would happen. I just wondered what kind of damage would be done along the way in terms of how long it would take. Would Jeff get frustrated and leave? I never really felt that would happen because he kept telling me, "I'm committed." But if it had gone on another two years, that would have been difficult.

Q: When will Memorial Stadium be under construction, and how long will it take?

A: The plan is to dovetail the end of the high-performance center with the beginning of the west-side renovations, then the east side, so we're looking (at starting the stadium work) around 2011. The original plan was to not be out of the stadium at all because that's very disruptive to the program. Part of what we're looking at, because of the delay, is being out one season because we could get so much more done during that period. It would be 20 months. We could start construction on the west side of the stadium at the conclusion of the 2010 season and work through August of 2012. We would continue to work in nine-month segments between seasons (on the east side).

Q: During that 2011 season, where will the football team play?

A: Right now we don't know. We've talked to the Oakland Coliseum, Candlestick and AT&T. They've all got issues, with the Coliseum's being two permanent tenants that we would have to coexist with. Candlestick geographically is the least attractive, and AT&T is pretty small and it's a baseball facility.

Q: The football team is scheduled to play Ohio State in 2012 and 2013. But why is Eastern Washington on the football schedule in 2009 and UC Davis in 2010? Couldn't Cal find nationally prominent opponents to keep the season ticket holders happy?

A: There's a combination in keeping the season ticket holders happy and putting together a reasonable schedule that relates to the ebb and flow of a season. Jeff and I are looking to balance out three nonconference games and not have that be three national contenders. Part of it is we got dropped by some (schools) late (in 2009 and '10), and you don't have a lot of choices. We've been talking to Davis about playing for a number of years. To be honest, we pay a guarantee; why not keep that money in the state of California and help out a fellow UC system school? That's what that was about, as well as, they're going to bring some folks.

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