Jeffrey Raye Tedford (born November 2, 1961) is an American football coach and former player who is currently serving as the head coach at Fresno State, a position he also held from 2017 to 2019. From 2002 to 2012, Tedford was the head football coach at California, 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 college football for Fresno State before playing professionally at quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL). In his first head coaching position, Tedford inherited a Cal team that had won only one game in its 2001 season. He was named conference coach of the year in his first season in 2002 after winning seven games. Cal was ranked No. 2 nationwide midseason in 2007, the school's highest ranking since 1951. However, Tedford's teams struggled later in his Cal 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.
Early life
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. Tedford graduated from Warren High School in 1979.
College
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.
1981: 132/250 for 1,879 yards with 11 TD vs 11 INT. Ran for 11 yards and 3 TD. 1982: 153/298 for 2,620 yards with 21 TD vs 18 INT.
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.
Coaching career
Early coaching career
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). 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).
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).
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.
California
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. 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. 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.