Jeff Tedford Jeffrey R . " Jeff " Tedford ( born November 2 , 1961 ) is an American football coach and the former head coach of the California Golden Bears football team . He was twice named Pac - 10 Coach of the Year , and holds Cal records for most wins , games coached , and bowl game victories . Tedford played college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs before playing professionally at quarterback in the Canadian Football League ( CFL ) . In his first head coaching position , Tedford inherited a Cal team that had won only one game in its 2001 season . He was named conference coach of the year in his first season in 2002 after winning seven games . Cal was ranked No . 2 nationwide midseason in 2007 , the school ' s highest ranking since 1951 . However , Tedford ' s teams struggled later in his Cal tenure , particularly in 2010 – 2012 , and he was fired after the 2012 season . He was the highest paid state employee of California as of 2011 . Early life . Tedford was born in Lynwood , California the youngest of five children to Joe and Betty Tedford . Tedford ' s parents divorced before he turned 10 . His brother Dennis , 10 years his senior , helped raise Tedford , taking him on camping trips and driving him to football practice and games . Tedford attended Warren High School in Downey , California , where he was a letterman in football , playing quarterback and earning an All - League selection . Tedford graduated from Warren High School in 1979 . College . After high school , Tedford enrolled at Cerritos College , becoming the first member of his family to attend college . He spent two years playing quarterback at Cerritos followed by two years at Fresno State , where he established several passing records , including career marks for passing yardage ( 4 , 872 ) and touchdown passes ( 35 ) . As a senior , Tedford led the Bulldogs to a Pacific Coast Athletic Association conference championship and a last - second , 29 – 28 come - from - behind victory in the 1982 California Bowl . After graduating with a Bachelors of Science degree in physical education in 1983 , Tedford played professionally in the Canadian Football League ( CFL ) for six seasons with Hamilton , Calgary , Saskatchewan , and Winnipeg . Coaching career . Early coaching career . After retiring as a player , Tedford became a volunteer assistant coach at Fresno State ( 1987 – 1988 ) under his former coach Jim Sweeney . He then coached as an offensive assistant for the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL ( 1989 – 1991 ) ; returned to Fresno State as quarterback coach ( 1992 ) ; was promoted to offensive coordinator at Fresno State ( 1993 – 1997 ) ; and worked as offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon ( 1998 – 2001 ) . During his time at Oregon , the Ducks notched a Pac - 10 - best record of 38 – 10 while finishing progressively better each year ( 8 – 4 in 1998 , 9 – 3 in 1999 , 10 – 2 in 2000 and 11 – 1 in 2001 ) . Cal . After previous Cal coach Tom Holmoe resigned from his post amid a 1 – 10 season in 2001 , worst in Cal ' s history , then athletic director Steve Gladstone hired Tedford to become Cal ' s 32nd head football coach . Tedford inherited a program that had not had a winning season since 1993 and had only won 29 games on the field since then , including only 18 wins in Pac - 10 play . During his time at Cal , Tedford has become known for his work ethic , often working late hours in his office and sleeping on an air mattress . In evidence of his turnaround of the Cal program , season ticket sales jumped from 16 , 200 in 2002 to 41 , 336 in 2007 , setting new records each year from 2004 through 2007 . In Tedford ' s first season ( 2002 ) , he led the Golden Bears to a 7 – 5 record , their first winning football season since 1993 , the nation ' s biggest turnaround of the year , and was named Pac - 10 coach of the year . The Bears ended a 19 - game losing streak to Washington and a seven - game losing streak to arch rival Stanford in the Big Game . Despite their resurgence , the Bears didn ' t go to a bowl due to NCAA sanctions for academic fraud that were handed down shortly before Tedford took over . After the season , Tedford signed a five - year contract through 2007 to replace his original four - year contract , which ran through 2005 . In the 2003 season , Tedford ' s record of 8 – 6 included the upset of eventual national co - champion University of Southern California in triple overtime , as well as a 52 – 49 shootout victory against Virginia Tech in the 2003 Insight Bowl . The Bears won 5 of their last 6 games . In the 2004 football season , the Bears finished with a No . 9 national ranking in both the AP Poll and the ESPN / USA Today Coaches Poll with a 10 – 2 record , losing to Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl . Tedford was named Pac - 10 coach of the year for a second time . The team was undefeated at home , notched the fifth 10 - win season in school history ( and first since 1949 ) . Since Pac - 10 champion USC had earned a berth in the BCS national title game , it initially looked like the Bears , as runners - up , had the inside track to the Pac - 10 ' s berth in the Rose Bowl — which would have been their first appearance in that game since 1960 . However , after a less than impressive 26 – 16 victory over 24 - point underdog Southern Miss and heavy lobbying by Texas coach Mack Brown , Texas received enough votes to edge past Cal in the final BCS standings , giving them a berth in the Rose Bowl — an event that still rankles many Bears fans and players to this day . Following the regular season , Tedford signed an extension of his contract through 2009 , which nearly doubled his base salary to $ 1 . 5 million per year ; in the deal he also had the pay of his assistant coaches raised significantly . In 2005 , the Bears finished with a No . 25 national ranking in both the AP Poll and the ESPN / USA Today Coaches Poll with an 8 – 4 record . Cal rose as high as No . 10 in the AP Poll and No . 9 in the ESPN / USA Today Coaches Poll in week 6 before losing to UCLA 47 – 40 . They beat BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl , 35 – 28 . In 2006 , the Bears recorded an eight - game win - streak , including five straight games scoring 40 or more points , rising as high as No . 8 in the AP poll , and remaining undefeated at home . The Bears finished the season with a 45 – 10 Holiday Bowl victory over Texas A & M , a No . 14 ranking , and an overall 10 – 3 record . The Bears were also co - champions of the Pac - 10 for the first time since 1975 . Following the season , Tedford signed a contract extension through 2013 , which raised his base salary to $ 1 . 8 million per year and included significant performance and retention bonuses . The 2007 campaign saw the Bears jump out to a 5 – 0 start and a No . 2 national ranking , Cal ' s highest since 1951 . Set to move to No . 1 after LSU lost , Cal instead lost when freshman quarterback Kevin Riley — playing for the injured Nate Longshore — failed to get out of bounds for a game - tying field goal and time expired in a 31 – 28 home loss . This began a streak of losses in six of the seven final regular season games , including Tedford ' s first losses as head coach to Washington and Stanford to end the regular season . During the losing streak , Tedford ' s play - calling was the subject of criticism . Nevertheless , Cal was invited to a fifth straight bowl game for the first time in program history . Cal defeated Air Force 42 – 36 in the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl , giving Tedford and Cal a sixth - straight winning season . Tedford declared there would be open competition for all positions on the team in 2008 . In early January , Tedford reorganized his coaching staff , most notably hiring Frank Cignetti as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach . Tedford said he would give some of the play calling responsibility to Cignetti so he could spend more time with special teams and defensive players . He named Kevin Riley his starter for the opening game of the 2008 season , but inconsistent play and injury to Riley led him to vacillate between Riley and senior Nate Longshore as the starter for parts of the season . However , with a much improved defense in place , Tedford led the Bears to a 9 – 4 overall record and a perfect 7 – 0 record at home . Cal accepted an invitation to play in the 2008 Emerald Bowl , the program ' s sixth - straight bowl appearance , where they defeated Miami , 24 – 17 . After the season , Tedford agreed to a two - year contract extension through 2015 . In 2009 , the Bears went 8 – 5 and earned an invitation to the 2009 Poinsettia Bowl , which they lost to Utah , snapping a four game bowl winning streak that dated back to 2004 . The team also did not produce a 1 , 000 yard rusher for the first time since 2002 . The 2010 season saw Tedford surpass the legendary Pappy Waldorf to become the Cal head coach with the most career victories with a victory over UC Davis in the first game of the 2010 season . Despite early successes however , the team had an inconsistent season . The Bears had only one road victory , lost the Stanford Axe to archrival Stanford in a 48 – 14 blowout , and ended the season with a three - game losing streak to finish 5 – 7 , Tedford ' s first losing season and the team ' s first losing season since 2001 . Cal was ranked only once during the season with a No . 24 spot in the Coaches ' Poll . One bright spot for the season was running back Shane Vereen going over the 1 , 000 rushing yard mark , as he finished with 1 , 167 yards . Tedford became Cal ' s all - time leader in victories with the third win of the 2011 season to surpass Andy Smith with 75 wins . The 2011 team improved to a 7 – 5 season record , and again produced a 1 , 000 yard rusher ( Isi Sofele ) . However , 2012 was again a losing season , with the team finishing with a 3 – 9 record . They lost to Stanford for the third straight season . Cal finished the final two games of the season with the worst losses of Tedford ' s career — a 59 – 17 home loss to Oregon followed by a 62 – 14 road loss against Oregon State . A few days after the final game of the season , Tedford was fired as head coach , but was owed $ 6 . 9 million over the remaining three years of his contract . The Golden Bears were only 2 – 5 at home at Memorial Stadium , which reopened that season after a $ 321 million renovation . In his final three seasons , he was 15 – 22 , including 9 – 18 in conference games and 0 – 3 vs . Stanford . Since the loss of the 2007 game to Oregon State , Tedford was 34 – 37 . In a letter to donors , Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour called a " great concern " the 48 percent graduation rate of football players at Cal who entered the school between 2002 and 2005 ; the rate was the lowest in the Pac - 12 . Tedford left Cal with the most bowl wins ( 5 ) , conference wins ( 50 ) , and games coached ( 139 ) in the school ' s history . He also tied Pappy Waldorf for most Big Game wins ( 7 ) against Stanford . During his tenure , Cal produced 40 players drafted by the NFL , including eight first - round picks . Tedford ' s quarterbacks . Tedford is known as a groomer of quarterbacks . Two of his pupils have achieved the highest success in the NFL : Super Bowl champions Trent Dilfer and Aaron Rodgers . Dilfer won Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens . Rodgers passed for over 4 , 000 yards in his first two full - time seasons after waiting on the bench behind Brett Favre for three seasons and led the Green Bay Packers to a championship in Super Bowl XLV . Rodgers was selected to his first Pro Bowl in 2009 . There were several disappointments , including Dilfer ( who , despite winning a Super Bowl with the defensively - oriented Ravens was never regarded as an elite NFL quarterback , finishing his career with more interceptions than touchdowns ) , Joey Harrington , Akili Smith , David Carr , and Kyle Boller , none of whom ever lived up to their first round pedigree and all of whom eventually moved on from the teams which originally drafted them . Additionally , Tedford failed to develop a star quarterback at Cal after Rodgers left following the 2004 season . Tedford coached each of the following first round NFL draft picks at the quarterback position : Tedford also coached Billy Volek , a backup quarterback for the San Diego Chargers , and A . J . Feeley , a backup quarterback for the St . Louis Rams . Tedford ' s running backs . Though known primarily for his quarterbacks , Tedford , along with running backs coach Ron Gould , produced eight 1000 - yard rushers during his tenure at Cal . Personal . Tedford lives with his wife Donna in Danville , California . They have two sons , Taylor and Quinn .