Jeff Tedford

Jeffrey Raye Tedford (born November 2, 1961) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Fresno State Bulldogs, a position he also held from 2017 to 2019.

Tedford graduated from Warren High School in 1979.

After high school, Tedford enrolled at Cerritos College, becoming the first member of his family to attend college.

He spent two years playing quarterback at Cerritos followed by two years at Fresno State, where he established several passing records, including career marks for passing yardage (4,872) and touchdown passes (35).

As a senior, Tedford led the Bulldogs to a Pacific Coast Athletic Association conference championship and a last-second, 29–28 come-from-behind victory in the 1982 California Bowl.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education in 1983, Tedford played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for six seasons with Hamilton, Calgary, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg.

After retiring as a player, Tedford became a volunteer assistant coach at Fresno State (1987–1988) under his former coach Jim Sweeney.

He then coached as an offensive assistant for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL (1989–1991); returned to Fresno State as quarterback coach (1992); was promoted to offensive coordinator at Fresno State (1993–1997); and worked as offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon (1998–2001).

While at Fresno State, he was instrumental in developing many players who went on to the NFL: QB Trent Dilfer (1992–1993), QB Billy Volek (1997), RB Ron Rivers (1993), RB Reggie Brown (1994–1995), RB Michael Pittman (1993–1997), and WR Charlie Jones (1993–1995).

Tedford inherited a program that had not had a winning season since 1993 and had only won 29 games on the field since then, including only 18 wins in Pac-10 play.

During his time at Cal, Tedford became known for his work ethic, often working late hours in his office and sleeping on an air mattress.

During his time at Oregon, the Ducks notched a Pac-10-best record of 38–10 while finishing progressively better each year (8–4 in 1998, 9–3 in 1999, 10–2 in 2000 and 11–1 in 2001).

From 1998–2001 at Oregon he worked with future NFL talents such as: QB Akili Smith, QB A. J. Feeley, QB Joey Harrington, RB Reuben Droughns, RB Maurice Morris, RB Onterrio Smith, WR Tony Hartley, WR Keenan Howry, WR Samie Parker, TE Justin Peelle, and TE George Wrighster.

In his first head coaching position, Tedford inherited a Golden Bears team that had won only one game in its 2001 season.

After previous Cal coach Tom Holmoe resigned from his post amid a 1–10 season in 2001, the worst in Cal's history up to that point (the Bears would later go 1–11 in 2013), then-athletic director Steve Gladstone hired Tedford to become Cal's 32nd head football coach.

From 2002 to 2012, Tedford was the head football coach for the California Golden Bears, where he was twice named Pac-10 Coach of the Year and holds the California program records for most wins, games coached, and bowl game victories.

Tedford played as a quarterback, playing college football for the Cerritos Falcons and Fresno State, then he played in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

He was named conference coach of the year in his first season in 2002 after winning seven games.

In evidence of his turnaround of the Cal program, season ticket sales jumped from 16,200 in 2002 to 41,336 in 2007, setting new records each year from 2004 through 2007.

In Tedford's first season (2002), he led the Golden Bears to a 7–5 record, their first winning football season since 1993, the nation's biggest turnaround of the year, and was named Pac-10 coach of the year.

The Bears ended a 19-game losing streak to Washington and a seven-game losing streak to arch rival Stanford in the Big Game.

Despite their resurgence, the Bears didn't go to a bowl due to NCAA sanctions for academic fraud that were handed down shortly before Tedford took over.

In the 2003 season, Tedford's record of 8–6 included the upset of eventual national co-champion University of Southern California in triple overtime, as well as a 52–49 shootout victory against Virginia Tech in the 2003 Insight Bowl.

The Bears won 5 of their last 6 games.

In the 2004 football season, the Bears finished with a No. 9 national ranking in both the AP Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll with a 10–2 record, losing to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl.

Tedford was named Pac-10 coach of the year for a second time.

In 2005, the Bears finished with a No. 25 national ranking in both the AP Poll and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll with an 8–4 record.

Cal rose as high as No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 9 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll in week 6 before losing to UCLA 47–40.

They beat BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl, 35–28.

California was ranked No. 2 nationwide midseason in 2007, the school's highest ranking since 1951.

After the season, Tedford signed a five-year contract through 2007 to replace his original four-year contract, which ran through 2005.

Following the regular season, Tedford signed an extension of his contract through 2009, which nearly doubled his base salary to $1.5 million per year; in the deal he also had the pay of his assistant coaches raised significantly.

However, Tedford's teams struggled later in his tenure, particularly from 2010 to 2012, and he was fired after the 2012 season.

He was the seventh highest paid California state employee as of 2016.

Tedford was born in Lynwood, California, the youngest of five children of Joe and Betty Tedford.

Tedford's parents divorced before he turned 10.

His brother Dennis, 10 years his senior, helped raise Tedford, taking him on camping trips and driving him to football practice and games.

Tedford attended Warren High School in Downey, California, where he was a letterman in football, playing quarterback and earning an All-League selection.