Fresno State doesn’t have a coach, but has 14 recruits in for official visits this weekend
Fresno State does not have a football coach at the moment, but its assistant coaches have been out on the road recruiting, extending scholarship offers to prospective student-athletes.
It has 14 on campus this weekend for official visits including five who have made verbal commitments to the Bulldogs and four who had to reschedule visits when coach Jeff Tedford announced on Dec. 6 that he would step down due to heart-related health issues.
That could be an obvious tell where athletics director Terry Tumey is headed as he works his way through the search process, though potential candidates continue to emerge.
Kiesau an option?
Indiana coordinator Kalen DeBoer, who spent two seasons as the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator under Tedford, is considered the frontrunner for the position. But Fresno State could also turn to Sacramento State coach Troy Taylor, to Tim Skipper, Eric Kiesau or even go outside with coaches who do not have Bulldogs’ ties.
Skipper, the defensive coordinator at UNLV the past two seasons, played linebacker for the Bulldogs and was an assistant under Pat Hill.
Kiesau, the co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Boise State, coached wideouts at Cal under Tedford and was the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator in 2016.
Tumey will speak to recruits
With an early signing period starting on Dec. 18, more immediate is the 14 commits on campus and how the Bulldogs pull together a class.
Fresno State must have the position posted for 14 days and cannot officially hire a coach until Dec. 20, which is the final day of the early national letter of intent signing period, and if there are multiple interviews with candidates it could be even longer.
What does Fresno State tell the recruits and their families?
“There’s going to be a consistent message between the coaching staff and Terry Tumey and I know Coach Tedford has been public about his support and the direction this is going and essentially telling everybody that the last three years of heavy lifting are not going to just go by the wayside,” said offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, the interim coach.
“Obviously, 2019 wasn’t the season we were looking for, but we’re going to focus on everything that has been accomplished and where the program sits right now and we feel very confident where it’s going.”
Tumey will speak to the recruits on campus for their official visits and their families at some point over the weekend.
Tedford is not expected to take part in the recruiting weekend.
The Bulldogs have seven confirmed commitments. San Joaquin Memorial High wideout Mac Dalena, Tracy quarterback Logan Fife, Phelan tight end Matt Lowe and Cajon-San Bernardino cornerback Kamron Forest all said they still intended to sign with the Bulldogs after Tedford announced Dec. 6 that he would be stepping down due to heart-related health issues.
Whether Fresno State signs three, five, seven or no players on Wednesday, a good chunk of its 2020 recruiting class is already in.
The Bulldogs had a number of players join the program as blueshirts a year ago, pushing their scholarships into this class.
They can sign around 15 players in 2020 – the other three players to have made commitments are linebacker Hunter Kaupiko from Faith Lutheran-Las Vegas, wideout Jamir Shepard from Palo Alto and running back Malik Sherrod from Oxnard.
This story was originally published December 14, 2019 at 5:00 AM.