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California has fired football coach Jeff Tedford. Tedford, the winningest coach in California history, turned around a program on life support when he was hired away from Oregon at the time, where he was the Offensive Coordinator, in 2002.
The Bears were coming off a 1-10 season, and had not been above .500 since 1993. Tedford immediately turned the Bears Golden again, going 7-5 in his first season, and then guided California to 7 bowls in a row, and 8 in 9 seasons.
Things began to change in 2007, when California was undefeated, and poised to ascend to the #1 ranking in the nation, when Oregon St. pulled off the famous and infamous upset, beating the Bears 31-28, as time ran out while Tedford was throwing his clipboard, sending California into a 3 game losing streak, and losing 6 or their next 7.
Despite that bowl success, however, California missed the post season 2 of the last 3 years, and suffered the worst loss in the history of the program last Saturday night, when the Beavers routed them 62-14.
Today, California Athletic Director Sandy Barbour relieved Tedford of his duties.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com