'We're in this to build something': Why there's renewed optimism for Cal football

BERKELEY, Calif. -- UC Berkeley chancellor Rich Lyons was about 12 when he started visiting one of his older brothers on campus. His parents hadn't gone to college, but when his brother enrolled, those trips provided him an early window into a brand-new world. An important part of that introduction came through football. He would come for the game, spend time with his brother and find himself fascinated by the larger university community.

"If I can be honest with you," Lyons said, "I think part of it was my brother was in a fraternity. So, when I'd come to the game, we'd often gather there. And it's sort of like, 'Huh, that looks interesting.'"

Without the home games, though, his visits to his brother might not have left him as enamored with the school and, perhaps, he might have sought out a different place for his own college experience when the time came. "I think it's the whole thing," Lyons said. "The academic part of it really was part of it. It was like this brother of mine's going to this best public university in the country, and there's all this other stuff going on. The whole package just kind of blew me away."

Lyons graduated from Berkeley in 1982, achieved a doctorate in economics from MIT and returned to Berkeley in 1993 to join the Haas School of Business faculty, eventually spending a decade as dean. Through it all, his Cal football fandom endured, despite the team's decades of mediocrity. Cal's last outright conference title came in 1958. It's a remarkable drought that has come despite a steady flow of NFL talent, 12 head coaches and an otherwise successful athletic department.

加利福尼亚州伯克利 -- 加州大学伯克利分校校长里奇·莱昂斯大约12岁时，开始去校园拜访他的一个哥哥。他的父母都没上过大学，但当哥哥入学后，这些探访为他打开了一扇通往全新世界的大门。而橄榄球在这一过程中扮演了重要角色。他会在比赛日前来，与哥哥共度时光，并被更大的大学社区所吸引。

“如果我对你坦诚，”莱昂斯说，“我想部分原因是我哥哥在兄弟会里。所以，当我来看比赛时，我们常常会聚在那里。这感觉就像，‘哇，那看起来很有趣。’”

然而，如果没有主场比赛，莱昂斯对哥哥的拜访或许不会让他如此热爱这所学校，甚至可能在自己上大学时选择另一所院校。“我认为这是整体的体验，”莱昂斯说，“学术部分确实是其中一部分。就像我哥哥正要去全国最好的公立大学，而这里还有那么多其他事情在发生。整个包罗万象的体验让我震撼不已。”

莱昂斯于1982年从伯克利毕业，在麻省理工学院获得经济学博士学位，并于1993年回到伯克利加入哈斯商学院任教，最终担任院长十年。 Throughout all this, his Cal football fandom endured, despite the team's decades of mediocrity. Cal's last outright conference title came in 1958. It's a remarkable drought that has come despite a steady flow of NFL talent, 12 head coaches and an otherwise successful athletic department.

关键实体：公司：苹果、特斯拉、谷歌、Salesforce、eBay、李维斯、英特尔、EA Sports | 人物：里奇·莱昂斯、托什·卢波伊、罗恩·里维拉 | 地点：加利福尼亚州伯克利、麻省理工学院、哈斯商学院

常见问题：为什么加州大学伯克利分校橄榄球队重燃希望？

renewed optimism stems from chancellor Rich Lyons, a Cal graduate, hiring Ron Rivera as general manager and Tosh Lupoi as head coach, aligning campus leadership with athletics for the first time in decades.

常见问题 Q：为什么加州大学伯克利分校橄榄球队重燃希望？

常见问题 A： renewed optimism stems from chancellor Rich Lyons, a Cal graduate, hiring Ron Rivera as general manager and Tosh Lupoi as head coach, aligning campus leadership with athletics for the first time in decades.