Who will be the next Fresno State football coach? Eight names to consider

Fresno State is in the market for a new football coach after Kalen DeBoer was hired by Washington on Monday to rebuild a program that was just 4-8, its fewest wins in a season not impacted by COVID-19 since going 0-12 in 2008.

Athletics director Terry Tumey has been receiving phone calls and text messages for the past few weeks as talk of DeBoer and Washington was circulating, according to sources. There will not be a shortage of credible candidates.

But Fresno State is a quirky job made good by its coaches from Jim Sweeney to Pat Hill to Tim DeRuyter to Jeff Tedford and to DeBoer, who have been able to win football games at a high level while navigating budget cuts, admissions and compliance, and a host of potential landmines on the way to success that are by no means unique, but perhaps a greater challenge than they are at other schools.

Tedford, who has signaled that he is ready for a return to the sidelines after stepping away following the 2019 season due to health issues, could be a candidate again. His credentials would be difficult to match with a .603 winning percentage in 14 seasons and vast knowledge of Fresno State and the Valley as a former Bulldogs’ quarterback, assistant coach and head coach.

He’s a layup, as DeBoer was three years ago. But if not Tedford, who?

Here are potential candidates …

Jeff Tedford, former Fresno State coach

Tedford is the easy answer for the Bulldogs, but bringing back the popular coach for a second stint as head coach could be complicated. In his first run he had a contract that had a base salary of $1.615 million and was loaded with $2.765 million available through bonuses. That pushed his total pay past $3 million. Would Fresno State, recovering from a year of lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, go back there? The university has jettisoned wrestling, men’s tennis and women’s lacrosse, but still has many of the same challenges it did three and four years ago, including a scholarship bill that it does not come close to covering. Two questions: Can Fresno State afford to hire Tedford? And, can Fresno State afford not to hire Tedford?

Derek Mason, Auburn defensive coordinator

The former Vanderbilt coach has ties to the West and to California, growing up in Phoenix and coming up the coaching ranks at Weber State, Idaho State and New Mexico State before he was hired as the defensive backs coach and then defensive coordinator at Stanford. He also spent three seasons in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings and is regarded as one of the better defensive coaches in the country. At Vanderbilt, a difficult place to win, Mason became only the second coach in school history to lead the Commodores to multiple bowl games and beat cross-state rival Tennessee three times over his final five seasons.

Troy Taylor, Sacramento State coach

Fresno State has had a lot of success with transfers from FCS Sacramento State, adding defensive end David Perales in 2019 and cornerback DaRon Bland this season. Why not its coach? Taylor is 18-6 in two seasons with the Hornets including 15-1 in Big Sky Conference games with two championships. The former Cal quarterback has been the coach of the year in the conference in both of his seasons at Sacramento State and has had offenses that ranked at or near the top of the Big Sky and the FCS. He could be looking for more of a challenge. The Hornets are the No. 4 seed in the FCS playoffs and on Saturday will play South Dakota State.

Ed Lamb, BYU assistant head coach

Lamb has been involved in coaching searches at Mountain West schools the past few years and has experience as a head coach, having run the program at Southern Utah for eight seasons. The Thunderbirds had lost 19 games in a row when Lamb was hired, with no postseason appearances. Lamb won 21 games in his first four seasons including a Great West Conference title and led Southern Utah into the Big Sky where it twice advanced to the FCS playoffs. He twice was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson coach of the year award. At BYU, Lamb coaches safeties and is the special teams coordinator.

Jay Norvell, Nevada coach

The Air Raid offense might be a tough fit in the Valley and at Fresno State – Nevada ran the football an average of only 25 times per game, the fewest in the Mountain West Conference and the third-fewest in the nation. But Norvell is a good coach and has built a solid program at Nevada and done it with fewer resources than are available to the football program at Fresno State. He was linked to the opening at Washington State, and could land another job at the Group of Five or Power Five level at some point. The Wolf Pack this season lost three games by two points, but have the highest-scoring offense in the Mountain West.

Jeff Choate, Texas co-defensive coordinator

Choate was the coach at FCS Montana State for four seasons before he was hired as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Texas. He reportedly was involved in the coaching search at Washington State, before the Cougars hired interim coach Jake Dickert to replace Nick Rolovich. Choate has made stops as an assistant at Boise State, Washington State, Florida and Washington. He went 4-7 in 2016 in his first season at Montana State and turned around the Bobcats’ program quickly. They were 8-5 just two seasons later and then 11-4, advancing to the FCS playoffs in both seasons.

Tom Herman, Chicago Bears offensive analyst

The former Houston and Texas coach is from Simi Valley and went to Cal Lutheran so there are California roots there. Before he was hired at Houston, Herman was one of the hot commodities among FBS assistant coaches, for three seasons the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. He won the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the nation in 2014, and was the Buckeyes offensive coordinator when they won the 2015 College Football Playoff championship. Herman went 13-1 and 9-3 at Houston – he inherited a program coming off back-to-back 8-5 seasons – and was 32-18 (.640) including four bowl wins in four seasons at Texas.

Morgan Scalley, Utah defensive coordinator

Scalley also lacks previous experience as a head coach, but is well-regarded and over the past six seasons has led one of the best defenses in the Pac-12. The Utes have ranked first or second in the conference in total defense for four seasons in a row, were third in the fifth and have held 13 opponents to 10 points or less over the past three-plus seasons. The former Utah safety was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2019, when Utah was second in the nation in total defense. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is under contract through 2027, so Fresno State could provide an opportunity to run a program that he might not find at home.

Rocky Long, New Mexico defensive coordinator

Long left San Diego State after a long and successful run as head coach to return to New Mexico as defensive coordinator, and also had the Lobos competitive when he was the head coach there from 1998 to 2008. Like Tedford, could Long be ready to get back into the big chair? He does have a tie to Fresno State’s Tumey – they were on the same coaching staff for two years at UCLA in the mid-1990s. There is a long track record of success in the Mountain West that would be difficult to ignore – at San Diego State, Long averaged nine wins over nine seasons, winning 10 or more games four times.

This story was originally published November 29, 2021 at 6:23 PM.