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For the second time in the past five years, Jeff Tedford is stepping away from his head coaching job for the Fresno State Bulldogs. Tedford, 62, announced earlier this week he is leaving his position for health reasons – which first happened back in 2019 before he was re-hired three years later when his replacement, Kalen DeBoer, left for Washington.
Tedford is a college football legend, working with quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers, Kyle Boller, David Carr, Joey Harrington, Trent Dilfer, and Akili Smith during stints at Cal, Oregon, and of course Fresno State.
For the time being the Bulldogs will promote Tim Skipper, who has been coaching college football in various roles for 20 years and played at Fresno State from 1997-2000, as interim head coach.
Skipper led the Bulldogs to a 37-10 bowl game victory over New Mexico State in 2023 without Tedford, and is a very strong candidate to keep the job after this upcoming season – especially to help keep the roster together in the transfer portal era.
However, Fresno State may opt to look nationally for a coach replacement once this season is complete, and below is a look at five candidates they could consider to replace Tedford:
1
Tim Skipper
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Current: Interim Head Coach at Fresno State
Skipper is the obvious choice, although how this Bulldogs club does in 2024 will be the biggest factor in whether the longtime assistant coach eliminates the interim tag and keeps the position full-time.
Fresno State has done a great job of retaining talent year over year in the Tedford era, and Skipper gives the team the best chance at keeping that trend going rather than undergoing a full rebuild with a new head coach ahead of the 2025 season.
2
Trent Dilfer
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Current: Head Coach at UAB
If Fresno State wants a homegrown coaching candidate, with experience, who might reasonably take the job, the only real option outside of Skipper is Trent Dilfer.
Dilfer played at Fresno State before enjoying an excellent, Super Bowl winning NFL career. He’s expressed interest in returning to his alma mater in the past, and now has Division 1 head coach experience after going 4-8 at UAB last season. If he shows improvement in 2024, it would make a ton of sense for the Bulldogs to give him a call and bring him home.
3
Marcus Arroyo
Syndication: Arizona Republic
Current: Offensive Coordinator at Arizona State
Arroyo has close connections with Tedford, serving as his quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator at Cal in 2011 and 2012. He also followed him to Tampa Bay to be the quarterbacks coach for the Buccaneers but ended up taking over as offensive coordinator when Tedford had his first issues with health.
Arroyo took 2023 off from coaching after he was fired from UNLV in 2022, and while he has deep connections to the west coast and to Tedford, his 7-23 head coach record and firing from a fellow Mountain West school is hard to ignore. How Arizona State looks offensively this year will be a big hinge in whether the 44-year-old is a strong candidate to take over at Fresno St in 2025.
4
Ron Roberts
[Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]
Current: Co-Defensive Coordinator at Florida (and linebackers coach)
Roberts has shown interest in Fresno State each of the past few times the job has been open, and while he doesn’t have a direct connection to the program he is from the Visalia area – and his resume is getting more and more impressive with stops at Baylor, Auburn, and Florida.
Working at multiple SEC jobs, and with a strong title this year for the Gators, gives Roberts a quality resume for the Bulldogs to consider – and that doesn’t include his 47-16 record at Delta State and 42-29 mark at Southeastern Louisiana.
However, Roberts hasn’t worked on the west coast in nearly 20 years, and while that could impact recruiting he remains a strong candidate for Fresno State to consider.
5
Paul Chryst
Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Current: Analyst at Texas
Although not connected to Fresno State, Chryst has received plenty of interest the past few years while serving as an analyst for Texas.
He nearly took the offensive coordinator job at Cal in 2022, and is a prime bounceback candidate after posting a 67-26 record in eight seasons at Wisconsin.
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Courtesy : https://collegesportswire.usatoday.com/lists/5-head-coach-candidates-fresno-state-could-pursue-to-replace-jeff-tedford/