Tony Zhou / The Daily Californian

It’s the beginning of the Sonny Dykes’ era at Cal, and hopefully it is the start of many successful seasons to come under this new head coach.

Dykes was introduced to the media at a press conference today on campus, and immediately set the expectations high for his upcoming tenure:

“Everybody’s goal in the program is to reach the Rose Bowl,” he said via CSN. “That means you’ve won a conference championship. That’s why you coach. That’s why you play.”

Dykes led Louisiana Tech to a 9-3 record this past season, leading the country in scoring with an average of 51.5 point per game. A year before, the Bulldogs won their first WAC title in an decade.

Now, he takes over a struggling Bears program that has suffered three straight losing seasons under Jeff Tedford, who they fired a couple of weeks ago. Tedford brought the program out of obscurity when he took over in 2002, but has faced difficulties in the past few seasons that led to his removal.

“We will turn it around,” Dykes said. “It’s going to be a long, arduous process. How many years is it going to take? I don’t know. Is it going to be next year? I don’t know. What’s the future hold? I can’t answer that question. But I do know that’s what’s going to drive us every day. Every single day we get in our car and come to work, our goal is going to be to get to the Rose Bowl.”

The Bears last reached the Rose Bowl in 1959 when they lost to Iowa. Their last victory in the prestigious Rose Bowl was in 1938, when they beat Alabama down in Pasadena.