Ferd Lewis: Tedford has 50,000 reasons to beat UH

FRESNO, Calif. >> The University of Hawaii football team arrives here with a price on its head.

That is to say a victory over the Rainbow Warriors Saturday would be worth a $50,000 bonus to Fresno State head coach Jeff Tedford.

Under terms of his two-year old contract made public under open records statutes by the Fresno Bee, Tedford’s bonus climbs in $50,000 increments with each victory after the sixth one up through the 11th one. And, at 6-1 (3-0 Mountain West) heading into the UH game, Tedford and the Bulldogs are seeking lucrative No. 7 as they chase a championship.

With a base salary of $1.58 million, Tedford already has one of the richest contracts in the 12-member MWC, ranking third in base salary behind coaches at Colorado State ($1.8 mil.) and Boise State ($1.65 mil). But it is his abundant bonus schedule, worth an additional $650,000 last season alone, that separates him from the rest of the pack and is meant to do the same for the Bulldogs in the MWC and the NCAA’s Group of Five conferences.

From his office overlooking the Bulldogs’ leafy campus, the man who signed off on the contract as a double down investment in a 21-team athletic program that aspires to lead at its level, Fresno State President Joseph Castro, will tell you, yes, the deal is about victories — and also what they can bring.

Tedford’s deal “is definitely an investment in our athletic program and he’s (already) been able to help us gain more support from our friends,” Castro said. “He’s already made a huge difference in such a short time.”

Tedford was a former Bulldog quarterback and assistant coach before taking over at Cal. He returned to Fresno State in 2017 after the Bulldogs had suffered their worst stretch in nearly a quarter-century punctuated by a 1-11 finish in 2016, and has gone 16-5 in just over a season and a half.

“The reason why we have decided to invest more in athletics is because we believe the university is stronger when it has strong academic and athletic programs. It is (about) developing the next generation of leaders in all fields and it is also a great way of engaging the community, whether that is the alumni, 80 percent who live in the area, or the millions of friends in the San Joaquin Valley,” Castro said.

“Friends” is Castro’s term for fans, boosters and others who wear Bulldog red and blue and can be candidates to give green.

“We’re the largest public university in this part of California and people love the Bulldogs and root for them. It is just another way of developing stronger connections with our community,” Castro said.

When Castro arrived on campus in 2013, the area’s first homegrown president, athletics received approximately $10 million a year from the campus. (Unlike UH, athletics does not receive direct state funding). This year it is $19.1 million of a $43 million budget.

At those levels, Castro acknowledges, the Bulldogs can’t go dollar-for-dollar with the well-heeled Power Five conferences who cash huge TV rights checks, but they can be competitive and maximize their income potential.

“We have big plans to get more private support and I think we have the opportunity to do that, so my hope is that the university’s contribution could begin to go down some,” Castro said. “I don’t think that is going to happen overnight.”

In the meantime, as the Bulldogs take on UH, Saturday’s homecoming game is one of the biggest opportunities for Castro’s investment to win over more “friends” for Fresno State.