Fresno State to hire Jeff Tedford as head coach

Fresno State’s coaching search is coming to an end and the name is who the Bulldogs focused in on from the get go and that name is Jeff Tedford according to the Fresno Bee.

The announcement is expected this Friday to introduce the former Bulldog player and offensive coordinator. This is no surprise as Fresno State athletics director Jim Bartko has a good relationship to Tedford, and the fact that boosters and a lot of fans and alumni want to bring Tedford back to town in hopes of him revitalizing a program that has been down the past few years.

Tedford takes over for Tim DeRuyter who was let go on Oct. 23 after a 1-7 start to this season and a 31-30 record overall. DeRuyter was gifted with a lot of talent which included multiple future NFL players on the roster including quarterback Derek Carr, wide receiver Davante Adams and a few others. DeRuyter won a share of the conference title in 2012, won the league in 2013 and appeared in the conference title game in 2014. Even the 2014 year was not great as the team was 6-8 overall.

The task ahead for Tedford will be tough as this Fresno State team has been abysmal on offense the past few years and this year are 126th in the nation in scoring offense which comes out to 18.5 points per game.

Tedford is known for having good quarterbacks while at Cal as a head coach and a coordinator at other locations. The list of notable signal-callers are below, and where they were drafted.

Fresno State offensive coordinator

• Trent Dilfer 6th overall 1994, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• David Carr 1st overall 2002, Houston Texans

Oregon offensive coordinator

• Akili Smith 3rd overall 1999, Cincinnati Bengals
• Joey Harrington 3rd overall 2002, Detroit Lions

Cal head coach

• Kyle Boller 19th overall 2003, Baltimore Ravens
• Aaron Rodgers 24th overall 2005, Green Bay Packers

The track record is there and quite impressive but that was also over a decade ago and ever since leaving Cal, but there is some hope as Tedford had plenty of quality running backs at Cal and in nine of his 11 years he had a back rush for at least 1,100 yards.

Tedford went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be their offensive coordinator om 2014 but left due to health issues after one season, then went to the CFL to be the head coach of the BC Lions in 2015 and then came back to college and has been an offensive consultant with Washington this season.