With Jeff Tedford stepping down, will the Bulldogs’ fundraising momentum go with him?
Fresno State has been in a quiet phase raising funds for a new football operations building that would expand the footprint of the student-athlete village adjacent to Bulldog Stadium and include spaces to benefit the athletics department and all 21 of its sports programs.
Coach Jeff Tedford made a pitch for it at the Friday morning news conference where he announced that he was stepping down due to heart-related health issues and a desire to spend more time with family.
But given the momentum Tedford and the Bulldogs’ football program have generated for the athletics department and the university over the past three years, going 26-14 with one Mountain West Conference championship and two bowl wins, did that project just absorb a critical hit?
Athletic director Terry Tumey said that he believes it will turn out to be just the opposite, that with Tedford on board in an advisory capacity and helping to generate support for the project that it will take off.
“I don’t think there is a person who can talk about the need for that investment more than the man who was sitting in it every day,” Tumey said. “I think it gets ramped up even higher, quite honestly. I have a person who understands where our difficulties are and will be able to verbalize them because he sat in the chair.
“With that, I’m excited about that piece. You’re never excited about trying to find a successor for a great person like Jeff Tedford, but you are excited about the contributions he is going to continue to make to our athletics department. I’m fired up about that.”
The new building is part of a Bulldog Stadium renovation developed last April after the university scrapped plans fronted by former athletic director Jim Bartko. The new building would be privately funded.
$20 million needed
University and athletics department officials have estimated it will take around $20 million in donations and funding to take the next step and put the project in front of the California State University system for approval.
“I really believe that the facilities have to be addressed here,” Tedford said. “I think it’s really, really important that happen because I believe we’re falling behind a little in that race.
“But I think in the near future there’s a lot of traction to it – this facility is not just for football, but for the entire athletics department and I think is really critical to address.”
Fresno State us trying to get that done.
“I think our success just doubled with being able to bring Jeff Tedford on to assist us in that endeavor,” Tumey said. “The reason why I talk about Jeff is not as a football person, because this building is not just a football building.
“Let’s be honest, he is one of the highest-profile Bulldogs out there, and he’s talking about what the student-athlete experience should look like and he wants all of our student-athletes to be successful. He’s a Bulldog. When we’re able to improve our facilities, it helps all 520 of our student-athletes.”
Fresno State is well behind many of its peers in the Mountain West Conference, not just with football but also basketball.
In the CSU system, San Diego State is working a plan for a new football stadium that is scheduled to open in 2022. The Aztecs on Thursday received a $15 million donation to go toward that project, one of the largest single gifts in university history.
San Jose State in June broke ground on a football operations building to be built on the east side of CEFCU Stadium. It will feature locker rooms, an auditorium, offices, spectator seating on the 50-yard line and a Hall of Champions event space, and include space for the Spartans’ men’s and women’s soccer programs.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 5:00 AM.