Home after heart procedure, former Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford talks about what’s next
Jeff Tedford reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small piece of paper, holds it up. It’s a to-do list. He smiles at that, amused by it or maybe proud of it. Both, probably. And, it’s full, top to bottom. “It’s funny, all these things,” he says.
There’s nothing at all there about football, no installation schedule or adjustment to a practice plan. There’s no reminder to call a recruit, no meetings with the athletics director, with admissions or compliance.
There is a trip to Costco in his very near future, though. “I’ve been probably three times in the past week … more than I go in a year,” he says.
And, at the top of the list, there in black ink and in letters bigger than all of the others, are the words river and cruise.
That’s what it was all about, fishing out that piece of paper.
He points at those two words and smiles, again.
“We saw a commercial the other night,” Tedford says. “That looked really cool …”
MAKING THE CHANGE
That’s life, which the former Fresno State coach was pointing to when he stepped down due to heart-related health issues and to spend more time with his family, his wife Donna and sons Taylor and Quinn.
He talked then about the selfishness of his profession, the long hours and the time away from family, being half in and half out even when on vacation. There always was something. “Every day, forever. It’s never off your mind,” he says. “Totally consuming.” When in his first job as a head coach, at Cal, he would sleep some nights in his office to keep to the grind and cut that morning commute down to … well, nothing.
“My wife and sons have sacrificed a lot,” he said, full of emotion on that December morning. “And, now, it’s time to live.”
Tedford, 58, is sticking to that plan.
He had his heart procedure, a cardiac ablation, two weeks ago at the Mayo Clinic. He returned home to Fresno and has been taking it easy, recuperating, following doctors orders. Or, trying to.
“That’s the way I really feel,” he says the other day over lunch, soup and a sandwich, when his December quote is put in front of him.
“I haven’t been great at managing a lot of the stresses and the anxieties that go along with the game. I’ve always been that way, since I was a little kid. I mean, nervous, throwing up before games when I was a kid. It became evident that, ‘OK, now is the time to step back and what are you going to do when you step back?’ I’m going to enjoy my family.
“It’s time to take a deep breath and for the first time look back and say, ‘OK, what has this been about?’ I’ve never had a chance to do that, really.”
Former players, teammates, coaches are glad to hear it.
“I was there at the start and saw the progression from then until to when we first got to Fresno State and even though he had adjusted by that point, he definitely deserves to take some of that stress off,” said Bert Watts, who played for Tedford at Cal and was an assistant at Fresno State the past three years before moving on to Memphis.
“It’s amazing the number of things that are on your plate day in and day out. it’s virtually impossible to let your mind go anywhere else but on the team and all the things that surround it. I know it’s going to be an adjustment for him, but I’m excited to see what he’s able to do now that he does have some of that burden removed.”
Micah St. Andrew was an offensive lineman on Tedford’s first two Fresno State teams that accomplished college football history, the first to go from double-digit losses in one season to double-digit wins in the next two.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” St. Andrew said. “It’s pretty amazing what he did for us here. He just came in and asked us what we wanted and helped us achieve all of our goals in such a short time.”
But, St. Andrew added, “You have to take care of yourself first, and I commend him for taking a step back and prioritizing his health and his family.”
Bulldogs athletics director Terry Tumey said, “Our main concern about Jeff is always going to be what’s best for Jeff. He has done so much for this university, so we are really looking to support him and what he wants to do, and we’re really excited that he’s going to help us in a variety of ways now that he’s taking a pause from coaching.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
What that future looks like, Tedford is not entirely sure.
“I’m not to that point yet,” he says. “Right now I’m just concentrating on getting healthy and then we’ll see what happens and what the opportunities are from there. I do know I’m probably going to take a little time to figure that out, because I’m dedicated to what my wife and I want to do.
“I need to look at that first, and then figure it out from there. There will be something that I want to stay busy with, stay engaged with, stay stimulated by. But I’m not to that point yet, just because it has been mainly about having this procedure done and trying to get back to 100%.”
There is that river cruise. Tedford also has taken an interest in cooking. Australia, that has come up. He has been there before, a telling story that should come as no surprise.
“I went to recruit there,” he says. “I was there for 50 minutes. It took 18 hours to get there. I got off the plane, grabbed a cab, went to the stadium, met with the recruit and his parents for 50 minutes, got back in the cab, went back to the airport and flew back, another 18 hours.”
At home, he is unpacking boxes full of football. His wife, Donna, used to keep scrapbooks of his seasons and there were some good ones.
Tedford resuscitated the program at Cal before Fresno State, taking a Golden Bears team that was 1-10 the season before his arrival to 7-5, then 8-6 and then 10-2, reaching as high as No. 4 in the national rankings.
He has come across pictures of a triple-overtime victory over USC when he was at Cal, a victory over Tennessee.
In another box were pictures from the 1982 California Raisin Bowl, a 29-28 victory over Bowling Green in which Tedford, then the Fresno State quarterback, led the Bulldogs to 22 fourth-quarter points including the winning touchdown pass to Vince Wesson with just 11 seconds to play.
“It makes you relive those things a little bit, and I’ve never ever had a chance to do that,” he says. “I’ve never reflected on life or the career or the playing days. You look back on it and think, ‘Man, that was pretty cool.’”
He wants to play a role in fundraising for and the development of a football facility at Fresno State, which has been on the drawing board for years as the Bulldogs fall farther behind Mountain West Conference rivals that have upgraded facilities, built buildings of their own, taken on stadium renovations, added nutrition programs.
“I’d really like to be there as a resource and do as much as I can,” he says. “I do have some background in it, because when I was at Cal we built that facility. There’s some experience there that maybe we can draw from.
“Really, it’s what Terry needs me to do with it. I’m looking for direction on how I can help, in any way I can. I do know this, I do know it’s something that’s needed, desperately. It’s time for that to happen. Anything we can do to try to move that forward, I’d be up for doing my part.”
But there is some life to live before he gets there.
“I’ve talked to quite a few people who have been down that road,” Tedford said. “They tell me to be confident something is going to come up that will pique my interest, but the No. 1 thing right now is to take care of yourself and get back on the right track, then that other thing will come.”
THERE’S NOT AN ON-OFF SWITCH
Tedford, who had a 26-14 record with one Mountain West championship and two bowl victories in three seasons at his alma mater, said he has thought about what it will be like when July turns to August and the focus has always narrowed to football, only football.
He is anticipating a twinge, an itch. It is too deeply ingrained, the pull after all these years too strong, the memories too deep.
There is so much there; every little thing.
It’s getting up on game day, he says. It’s getting on the bus, the police escort to the game, seeing the lights on the way to the stadium …
That’s a big one.
It’s one of the most indelible memories he has, he says, because it goes all the way back to high school; sitting on an old school bus as it motors along, making its way toward the lights and the game.
“I’ll be interested to see what that feeling is like this year, whether it’s time to go and I have a little edge on me or it’s, ‘Hey, I can’t wait to just watch.
“I will enjoy watching it. I will enjoy spending time with people. I’m going to be very supportive of what’s going on here, but I need to stay in the background, too. I have a lot of trust in Kalen (DeBoer) and that staff and I’m sure they’re going to do great.
“There are a lot of great kids on that team, a lot of great players. I think it’s going to be an exciting year, but I’m going to be in the background. That’s where I should be. It’s their show. I’m here to help, if I can help. But besides that I’m going to enjoy being a fan.”