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Stadium: Walter A. Haas, Jr. Pavilion
The Walter A. Haas, Jr. Pavilion is the home of the University of California, Berkeley's basketball and volleyball teams.
The arena was originally built in 1933 as Harmon Gym. It was heavily renovated from 1997 to 1999 after a generous donation from Walter A. Haas, Jr. of Levi Strauss & Co.
The new facility retained the intimate atmosphere of its predecessor. In particular, there are no soundproofing devices. It is considered one of the louder arenas in the Pac-10 Conference, possibly second only to their cross-bay rivals, Stanford's Maples Pavilion.
The arena contains The Bench, a courtside section that holds approximately 900 occasionally raucous student fans.
Team History:
The Golden Bears first played basketball intercollegiately in 1907 and began full conference play in 1915. The 1920s was the dominant decade for Cal basketball, as the Bears won 6 conference titles under coaches E.H. Wright and Nibs Price.
Nibs Price would coach Cal with great success for 30 years from 1924 to 1954, earning a 449-294 total record, many single season winning records, and an additional 3 conference titles in the 1930s and 1940s.
Cal reached the pinnacle of the sport during the tenure of Pete Newell, who was head coach from 1955 to 1960. The Golden Bears earned the conference title four out of his five years and in 1959, won the NCAA title. In his last year, Cal came close to another NCAA title, but lost to Ohio State in the final.
The fortunes of Cal men's basketball would never be the same after Pete Newell; as of 2006 Cal has not won a conference title since 1960. The 1970s and 1980s were for the most part down years for the program, despite having players such as Kevin Johnson. The highlight of this era was a 75-67 victory over UCLA in 1986 that ended a 25-year, 52 game losing streak to the Bruins.
Season Preview:
If one compiled a poll of the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision programs -- with each head coach, offensive and defensive coordinator taking part -- there would probably be two names atop the "Best Offensive Mind" list.
Sure, the Ole Ball coach would receive some votes, but after a miserable two-year stint with the Washington Redskins and mixed results at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier can no longer claim the crown.
Hawaii's June Jones? Sure, he deserves some nods for running arguably the most entertaining offensive system in the nation.
And, yes, others would grab a vote or two here and there, but in the end, Florida's Urban Meyer and Cal's Jeff Tedford would rank 1-2, and not necessarily in that order. Sure, Meyer has the national title, plus the undefeated run with Utah in 2004, but this isn't about wins and losses per se, it's about which coach maxes out his offensive talent on a season-to-season basis. Is there anyone willing to debate Cal had more talent on its roster last season than Florida? Didn't think so. In many ways, it's strange that Tedford is at Berkeley for his sixth year as head coach. And he doesn't seem to be going anywhere else very soon. In the spring, he signed an extension through 2013, and the program has committed to improving its facilities. Since inheriting a team that won a single game in 2001, Tedford is 43-20, having never won fewer than seven games. All that said, at 45, he seems like the perfect candidate for an NFL head coaching job, with a pedigree and offensive genius much like a young Bill Walsh at Stanford back in the late 1970s.
Official Site:
berkeley.edu
