While watching Cal atomize Washington State, I noticed Tedford get really really upset with some people on his sideline.
Apparently, I'm not the only one to notice God's fury. A few other Cal cyber-discussion places have discussed why Tedford was upset and who he was upset at.
Unfortunately, because most of these people cannot identify the coaches and supporting staff as well as somebody who has worked in the organization, I've seen a lot of confusion and mis-identification of whom people think Tedford was pissed at. So I thought I'd throw in my two cents, clear up some of the confusion, and perhaps draw a more accurate theory as to what pissed Tedford off.
First, let's look at how it all started. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Cal faced a 3rd and 4. Mansion was the QB in shotgun and the play was a zone-read. The play got blown up in the backfield for a three yard loss. Tedford looked somewhat not happy about the result of the play but he clearly wasn't as upset as he would later become.
So this brought up a 4th down and 7. There appeared to be some confusion on the field and sidelines and Tedford personally called a timeout.
Tedford then become clearly upset.
The telecast went to commercial, and came back with Cal about to punt. Again, there appeared to be confusion on the field and Tedford called ANOTHER timeout. That's two consecutive timeouts in a row to clear up some problem with the punt team.
That's when Tedford got irate and blasted Tight Ends and Special Teams Coach Pete Alamar (see picture below).
So now Tedford is truly pissed off for having to burn two timeouts in a row (picture below). Tight-end and special teams coach Pete Alamar went on the field after Tedford called the second timeout and Tedford appears to be yelling something at Alamar. You know Tedford was pissed because he flipped up his microphone so he wouldn't blow out offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti's ears (Cignetti is the one that Tedford talks to with the headset).
As you can see in the picture below, the players looked confused. The Cal player on the 27 yardline seemed to pointing towards the gunner (the player on the 31 yardline and top hash) and the gunner appeared to have his hands out-stretched to his side in a "what?" type of manner.
Tedford immediately comes over to TE and Special Teams Coach Pete Alamar once Alamar returns from the field and wants an explanation (the man below with the blue hat on talking to Tedford is Coach Alamar).
The discussion is so intense, that recruiting coordinator Kevin Parker (the man without a hat and with the rope - "hold the rope!") comes over to see what's up. Tedford does not appear upset with Parker. I do not think Parker was at fault for whatever went wrong.
Next Tedford has even more strong words for Alamar and you know Tedford is pissed because he took off his headset (picture below). Tedford can be clearly seeing saying "IT'S ON YOU!!!" to Alamar.
Next, Tedford comes over and blasts two other people. Here is where most of the confusion lies. Many have speculated this is another position coach but it is not. The first person to get blasted is Ed Garland the Head Equipment Manager (in the picture below he's on the right side, wearing a hat with sunglasses on top of the hat).
Next, Tedford moves over to the next unfortunate soul.
That lucky person is the assistant equipment manager (the one wearing the sunglasses and without a hat). Tedford can be clearly made out saying "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!" to the assistant manager and gives him the eyes of death.
So what went wrong? Well, first Tedford didn't like the fact that a play got blown up for a loss of three yards, but that didn't set him off. No. What set him off was having to call two timeouts in a row to fix a problem which should have never occurred.
What was that problem? I don't know, but I know Tedford, and Tedford thinks it should never have occurred.
I can speculate what the problem was, and I'm going to say that there was probably an equipment malfunction with one of the players and somebody else had to go on the field for another player which lead to confusion on the punt team. The equipment guys (Garland and his assistant) are responsible for fixing all in-game problems on the sidelines when they occur to make sure the players are able to go back into the game without missing a play. In a 59-3 blowout, I wouldn't be too surprised if Garland and his assistant let their guard down a bit and didn't get a job finished in time.
I hope that clears things up.
*****
If Tedford looked intimidating, well, he is. Yes, even yours truly has felt the wrath of God himself.
It was a hot summer day and the team was live-scrimmaging under the sun in Memorial Stadium. Leaving out the important facts, I was assigned to do job A and others were assigned to job B. During critical moments on the field, there was a brain fart by other people which lead to the people assigned to do job B doing job A. Thus, we had double the people doing job A and nobody doing job B.
Tedford noticed this, and blasted the nearest person whom he thought was responsible. Me.
I had never experienced God's wrath before and I actually wondered if I'd live to see another day.
I wasn't at fault for the screwup yet I was getting blasted for it. I thought about arguing my case but figured Tedford wouldn't care. Thus I just switched over to doing job B instead.
I didn't say a word in response to Tedford. That's just how things are. Nobody questions God or tells him that he's lambasting the wrong person.
Seeing the Cal Football operation from the inside, it's rather funny how everyone in that organization, no matter what the rank, lives in fear of being the reason for God's fury. All the crap gets handed down the chain. Big fish tell medium sized fish to not screwup so the big fish doesn't get yelled at by God. In turn, the medium sized fish tell small fish to not screwup so the medium sized fish doesn't get yelled at by the big fish. In turn, the small sized fish tell the even smaller fish to not screw up so the smaller fish doesn't get yelled at by the medium fish. It goes on and on down the chain.
Moral of the story: DO YOUR JOB.