Fresno State athletic director Jim Bartko announced that former Bulldogs quarterback and offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford will be the next head football coach.
The hiring was announced Thursday, and Tedford will be introduced in a press conference Friday by Bartko and school president Dr. Joseph Castro.
Since Bartko fired former head coach Tim DeRuyter on Oct. 22, there were immediate rumors throughout the community that Tedford was Bartko’s man to rebuild the program suffering a 1-9 season, its third consecutive losing season.
Interim head coach Eric Kiesau will coach out the remaining two games with Tedford officially stepping in as coach at season’s end. It has not been announced if Kiesau and the rest of the coaching staff will be retained under Tedford.
Tedford attended Fresno State in 1981 and 1982, playing quarterback under Jim Sweeney. After he graduated he played in the Canadian Football League for six years.
Tedford returned to Fresno State in 1992 to become the quarterback coach, again under Sweeney. The next year he became offensive coordinator and held that position through the 1997 season, spending his last year under Pat Hill. He then was hired by Oregon as offensive coordinator.
In 2002 Cal hired Tedford as head coach, his first head coaching position. He served as head coach until 2012 when he was fired after a 3-9 season and serious academic concerns with the football program. Tedford won the most games in Cal history.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Tedford in 2014 as offensive coordinator, but he only coached the team for part of the season before being granted an indefinite leave of absence because of health issues with his heart.
Tedford’s next stop was as head coach of the BC Lions of the CFL for the 2015 season. His team went 7-11, and he resigned after the season.
Tedford spent this past year as an offensive analyst for the currently number four ranked and undefeated Washington Huskies. As an offensive analyst, he was unable to actually coach the players, but he would watch film and help out the coaching staff.
Having never endured an eight-game losing streak, Fresno State football is at arguably its worst point in program history, the athletic department is also in the middle of a major stadium renovation project. Tedford is tasked to get the program back on track and position Fresno State with its renovated stadium for the uncertain future of conference alignment.