This season - despite recent losses - UC-Berkeley's football team has enjoyed its highest ranking since 1951 and has played in several nationally televised games. It features a Heisman Trophy candidate in wide receiver DeSean Jackson, and last year's star running back, Marshawn Lynch, is now turning heads in the NFL. Alumni who might have blushed with embarrassment in 2001 and wouldn't give Cal Athletics a dime in donations are now clamoring to support it. Just as in politics, winners attract money. Since head coach Jeff Tedford's arrival five years ago, Cal's Athletic Department has reaped the rewards of the football team's winning ways. While non-revenue teams like men's rugby and women's swimming have found sustained success, Cal Athletics says the football team's strong performance in recent years has largely been responsible for donations soaring from $8 million in 2004 to more than $34 million last year. The university expects that number to top $38 million in 2007.
In fact, according to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Cal's athletic department was No. 8 among American universities for athletic fundraising in 2006 and tops in the Pac-10, raising more than $34 million. This amount is due mainly to efforts for the $125 million Simpson Student-Athlete High Performance Center for which the university has raised about $106 million to date.
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