Fresno State officially opens up head coaching job online; applying might be fruitless

Fresno State has listed its opening for a new head football coach which is a requirement as it is to be open for at least 14 days. The job will close on November 7 but those who want to apply might not be spending their time wisely.

Yes, getting an interview for an FBS head coaching job could be valuable to both parties down the road, but all signs point to Fresno State already making up their mind with Jeff Tedford being its next head coach.

The news was originally reported even before the firing of Tim DeRuyter was official, and now other outlets are reporting the same thing.

Here are some of the details of the job, specifically on academics:

Position Summary

• Teach sport specific skills to enhance the athletic performance of student-athletes, emphasize academic success and retention to enhance graduation rates and the academic progress rate (APR).

Let’s take a moment to note that one of the reasons that Tedford was fired from Cal due to low APR score. Yes, some of the things surrounding APR are silly like transfer players counting as a negative and even if they get their degree somewhere else or players who to the NFL. However, APR was an issue with Tedford.

Here is an excerpt from the San Jose Mercury News:

Academics: Tedford conceded that the program’s poor NCAA academic progress report (APR) score, released last summer, impacted the university’s decision to fire him. “Which is fair enough,” he said. “I was as troubled by it as anyone.”

Tedford said — and [then Cal athletic director Sandy] Barbour agreed — that a big issue was players leaving midway through their senior year, sometimes to prepare for the NFL draft, and never returning to complete their degree. “It was not a matter of football players flunking out,” Barbour said.

Tedford hired a person last fall to help bring former players back to finish their school work but said he could have used perhaps two more people on the academic staff. “There seemed to always be a stumbling block financially,” he said.

Barbour said from the time she was hired in 2004 until Tedford was let go, the academic support staff for football was tripled in size.

The APR is not perfect and there are other reasons why Tedford should not be the first and only choice for Fresno State to consider.

With reports coming out that Tedford is the guy, Fresno State could be losing out on the chance to interview quality candidates who are coordinators or even head coaches who are looking for a change or move up to the FBS (looking at you Bob Stitt).

During the press conference where athletics director Jim Bartko made the announcement of a change at the head coach he was asked about the rumor that Tedford was in town.

“I did not meet with him. I haven’t seen Jeff for quite a while,” Bartko said. “Obviously, I was with him at Cal. He has two kids in town. There’s been no discussions with any candidates. There are a lot of rumors out there.”

There is a lot of wiggle room in that statement because there could have been a phone call to Tedfod when he was in town. Someone else on staff could have contacted the former Cal coach or Bartko spoke with Tedford’s agent.

By basically announcing that the new coach is in place with Tedford it more than likely would make potential good candidates think twice about applying.