Posted by: Chris Vannini on August 17, 2012

On Thursday, the Cal Golden Bears worked out at Memorial Stadium for the first time in 21 months.

The stadium underwent renovation for the 2011 season and Cal will return this year. Everyone involved with the program was excited to come back to their "house" for the first time, especially the head coach.

"I know the players are very excited. It feels like so long since we've been in here," Jeff Tedford said. "To practice in here again, it feels like forever. They're really excited to be in here. We always talk about our house, about owning our house. It takes on a new meaning when you actually get in your house.

"The players are really excited about it, but one of the things that I want to make really clear to them is this is beautiful, this is great, but the product that goes on out there between the lines is the important part."

For Tedford, the renovations are a symbol of what the school's winningest coach has built over the last 10 seasons.

"It means there's been a lot of hard work, a lot of devotion that has gone into this project," he said. "Being here for 10 years and knowing where it started to now there's a great sense of pride about it. Do I expect every player to understand that who hasn't been here the whole time, maybe not? But I know there are a good percentage of players on this team that do understand that this has been a big project for a long time.

"They're all very proud of it; I'm very proud of it. But again, it's all going to come down to what happens on the field. The stadium is beautiful, and I appreciate everyone's hard work to get it here, but it still comes down to what goes on between the lines."

You can see photos of the renovated stadium practice here.

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Chris Vannini is a lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com