Washington wasted no time hiring from Fresno State staff. Who’s left for Jeff Tedford?
Lee Marks had served as the Fresno State Bulldogs interim coach for the New Mexico Bowl and late Saturday afternoon, the job was just about done. Texas-El Paso had been dispatched 31-24, and Marks was behind a microphone in a postgame press conference when his next job at Washington came up.
Still in Fresno State gear and with the Bulldogs in an adjacent building celebrating a third bowl win in a row and a 10th win of the season, Marks was not ready to go there.
“Right now, I’m here at Fresno State. That’s all that matters to me.” he said. “You know, celebrating with our team, making sure we enjoy this moment and we do everything the right way. As far as commenting, I’m not going to comment on that. Right now, I’m just happy about Fresno State. This is big-time. This is so exciting for our kids, for our program, and to be honest with you, that’s all I’m happy about and focusing on right now.”
Washington was obviously not quite as invested in the Bulldogs’ victory.
The Huskies announced shortly after the New Mexico Bowl ended that Marks would join coach Kalen DeBoer, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and linebackers coach Julius Brown in Seattle, along with defensive coordinator William Inge, safeties coach Chuck Morrell, defensive ends coach and special teams coordinator Eric Schmidt and strength and conditioning coach Ron McKeefery.
Marks, Inge, Morrell, Schmidt and McKeefery remained with the Bulldogs through the bowl game. But DeBoer, the former Bulldogs coach hired by Washington on Dec. 1, will take six of the 10 assistant coaches and McKeefery from his staff at Fresno State the past two seasons.
That group was 12-6 in two seasons, and will face questions similar to those posed two years ago: Can the staff have success recruiting and on the football field in a new conference?
Fresno State, not likely to be all that invested in the answer.
Coach Jeff Tedford is in the process of putting together his second staff at his alma mater, and it is expected Kirby Moore will stay on as offensive coordinator after putting together the game plan and calling plays as the Bulldogs rolled up 467 yards of total offense against the Miners.
This story was originally published December 19, 2021 at 3:11 PM.