It also seems somewhat less than prudent, that they decided to embark on one of the most expensive facilities upgrades for ANY FBS school, knowing how tepid their own fan support has historically been. I mean, this is Berkley-- they're supposed to be among the smartest in the room. This was a major misjudgment from them, when there was plenty of evidence to support a cautious approach rather than a foolhardy one. I mean, they spent as much as Texas A&M did on their stadium renovation, and the ags had just joined the SEC and had plenty of big money donors of their own who are actually rabid about college football rather than... well... whatever Cal boosters appear to be.
Just a massive miscalculation from the eggheads in Berkley.
So I think there's a few elements here.
-Just because you can mint high-quality lawyers, physicist and engineers, does not make you a good decision maker. They do have a good business school, but a good business student will know that college admin is not the most profitable use of the degree.
-I think a kind of undergirding of college sports is that foolhardy financial decisions are a hallmark of successful programs. The ones that made money literally had to throw it out the window to avoid the illusion of profit. Coaches are given deals to assuage their fears of being fired, then fired to placate the bonkers money people. Facilities are built and rebuilt, nonsense is added, baseline standards rose over stupid nonsense.
-Cal also got caught in the classic spending trap. They had success, but it started to wane. When that happens, the explanation is always the same: You don't look serious about this. And the only way to be serious is spend money.
-The school was also sort of trapped because it hadn't participated in this before. The stadium still felt like it was from 1923. They had very little in the way of football infrastructure. There's a story about the team going out to practice, running into the band, learning the band reserved the multi-use field and just having to leave. Then you throw in a 90-year-old stadium on a massive fault line, so even if you're more conservative, it's still a boat load of money (and you're still 5-7 years behind everyone else).
Now of course, this all comes back to the main thing. You can be irresponsible if a lot of irrational folks with money have your back. Cal aspired because you can't get those without good product, but the reality of CFB hit them: for the most part, you are who you are.
