California fires Jeff Tedford
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The University of California has fired head football coach Jeff Tedford.
The move comes on the heels of Cal's season-ending 62-14 setback at Oregon State over the weekend, as the Golden Bears finished their season 3-9 overall and 2-7 in Pac-12 play.
Tedford departs as the program's all-time winningest coach, compiling an 82-57 record over 11 seasons.
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"This was an extraordinarily difficult decision, one that required a thorough and thoughtful analysis of a complex set of factors," director of athletics Sandy Barbour said in a statement. "Coach Tedford deserves credit for the extraordinary effort he undertook to turn this program around and bring us to the heights of a Pac-10 co-championship in 2006."
Tedford was named Cal's head coach on Dec. 12, 2001 and guided the Bears to a 7-5 record one year after the team finished 1-10.
He earned Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors twice in his first three seasons and led the Bears to 10 wins in both 2004 and 2006.
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California appeared in eight bowl games under Tedford, but went just 23-27 over his final four seasons.
"Ultimately, I believed that we needed a change in direction to get our program back on the right track," Barbour added.
Barbour also said a national search for a new head coach will begin immediately.