Hey, Fresno State, don’t be shackled by who-you-already-know in search to replace Tedford

Let’s try this again.

Fresno State is looking for a new heart of the football program, because Jeff Tedford decided he needs his malfunctioning heart back. Good for him, by the way: proper health is where the smart money always banks.

This, of course, leaves Fresno State where it never wanted to be – needing a third coach in a decade after four decades of Jim Sweeney and Pat Hill.

They hired Tedford because they wanted a Son of the Program who would live out his days on Cedar Avenue. Everyone thinks you need a Bulldog Born and Bulldog Bred coach wearing the chief headset, and they are already creating short lists of alumni and formers.

Maybe, just maybe, that isn’t the answer.

Maybe they don’t have Timeout the Mascot tattooed on their chest. Maybe they won’t know two things about the Green V or Red Wave. It just may be that they do not, in fact, got that Bulldog Spirit down in their heart.

Get over it. We thought they were running a real-time football operation, not a mausoleum.

You don’t need the next Sweeney or Hill. You don’t have to hire The Best Alumni or Former Staffer. Last we checked, Sweeney wasn’t a Fresno State legend before he got paid to be one.

Go hire the best coach who will work within your budget, and let him do his job, until he doesn’t.

If that means hiring a Boise State graduate, or Tommy Trojan himself, so what? To stipulate that the next coach be someone who’s been here before is to guarantee you’ll only be what Fresno State has always been.

They’ve always been a good program that wins more games than it loses. They’ve always been a program that stays home for the New Year’s bowl games.

Maybe the way to get Fresno State where it’s never been is to bring someone in who’s been someplace else. There’s worse ideas out there than that, and don’t worry, we’ll think of those soon.

They hired a lifer three years ago, only to find out he wasn’t as lifer as hoped.

Tedford won a ton of games for two seasons, and everyone had a good time until they stopped winning. He was Tim DeRuyter 2.0, turning a struggling franchise into an instant winner. Difference is, he got out before there could be a second bad season.

Three years ago, we suggested Fresno State should focus on the Next Jeff Tedford instead of the Old Jeff Tedford. They went with the latter, and we were pleasantly surprised to see the Old Tedford still had some tread on the tires.

Yet here we are, three years later, starting the process all over again.

So go find the Next Jeff Tedford, even if he didn’t go to Fresno State. Because, what made Tedford a winner for two years wasn’t his Fresno State diploma. The man could coach and recruit. He did his job, and he did it well.

We can already hear you typing furiously away. Fresno State doesn’t need some young kid who uses Fresno State as a launching pad to a better job.

Why not?

If he’s good enough to get hired above after three years, it will only be because he did great while here for three years. Why is that such a problem?

DeRuyter won two titles in his first three years. No one complained. Tedford did the same thing. Again, what a blast.

If you’ve got a problem hiring coaches who win two titles every three years and then leave, then it’s only because you’ve got a problem with winning.

Besides, anyone can learn the lyrics to Bulldog Spirit.

This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Hey, Fresno State, don’t be shackled by who-you-already-know in search to replace Tedford."