Bruce Snyder era (1987 - 1991)
Bruce Snyder, an assistant coach of the Los Angeles Rams, arrived as head coach at Berkeley in 1987. In 1990 Cal won seven games, Finishing Pac-10 in 4th place, which was its highest since 1977. California played in the Copper Bowl where it beat Wyoming 17–15.[67] This was the first bowl win since the 1938 Rose Bowl.[67]
The 1991 team went 10–2, reaching the 2nd place in the Pac-12. Part of Snyder's success was due to him being able to recruit a number of outstanding players, such as Russell White, Mike Pawlawski, Sean Dawkins, Troy Auzenne, David Ortega, away from football powers such as USC and UCLA.[68] One of the unfortunate highlights of that season was against future national co-champion the undefeated Washington Huskies. The game was at home, where California was able to stand up to Huskies unlike any other team that season. The team stopped Washington from scoring within the Cal red zone on multiple occasions, but lost the game on an incomplete pass with 5 seconds left in the game. Cal lost that game 17 to 24.[69] The teams other unfortunate loss was to Stanford - 21–38. The Bears finished the season ranked No. 8, defeating No. 11 Clemson Tigers in the Florida Citrus Bowl - 37–13.[68]
Keith Gilbertson era (1992-1995)
Because of negotiation problems with Cal's new athletic director, Snyder left Cal for the Arizona State Sun Devils right after the Citrus Bowl.[68] Upon leaving Snyder's salary increased from $250,000 a year at Cal to $600,000 at Arizona State.[70] The Bears were able to replace Snyder by hiring away the Washington Huskies offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson.[71] During his four years Cal had only one winning season. In 1993 it went 4–4 in the Pac-10 and placed 5th in the conference. Cal was invited to the Alamo Bowl where they defeated the 8th place Big Ten team, the Iowa Hawkeyes 37 to 3.[72] 1994 was the first year of the future Cal and NFL legend Tony Gonzales, who played both as a tight end and forward for the Golden Bears basketball team.