California fires football Coach Jeff Tedford

The University of California fired football coach Jeff Tedford on Tuesday after a 3-9 season that ended with five straight losses.

Tedford won a school-record 82 games in 11 seasons and resurrected a program that ranked among the worst in major college football. He rebuffed other job offers while patiently waiting for upgrades at venerable Memorial Stadium.

Ironically, Tedford’s firing comes just as the $321-million renovation has been completed. Tedford, clearly, had lost control of the program. His Berkeley career ended after his team allowed 121 points in consecutive losses to Oregon and Oregon State.

“This was an extraordinarly difficult decision, one that required a thorough and thoughtful analysis of a complex set of factors,” Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour said in a statement.

Tedford went 82-57 and took his team to eight bowl games. He led Cal to the brink of a No. 1 ranking in 2007 but the Bears are only 23-27 over the last four years.

Tedford will receive $6.9 million in compensation as the search begins immediately for a successor.

Among the obvious possible candidates is Chris Petersen, who has rejected several offers to leave Boise State. Another hot name who might be interested is Louisiana Tech Coach Sonny Dykes, who runs an up-tempo spread offense similar to Oregon’s. Other names to consider: Charlie Strong (Louisville), Gary Andersen (Utah State), Mike MacIntyre (San Jose State) and Mark Helfrich (Oregon offensive coordinator).

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