Fresno State, Jeff Tedford and $1 million question. Will it pay championship-winning coach?

When Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford returned to his alma mater in 2021 after taking a health-related hiatus, he signed a university-friendly contract, well below market value.

The university and its athletics department, which runs lean even during the best of times, was struggling to make up ground with institutional support cut back by $4 million a year and the impacts of revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a significant break, at a difficult time.

But Tedford, who has won two Mountain West championships in his four seasons at Fresno State, is now ranked just sixth in the conference in salary, posing a potential problem for the university and its athletics department.

Will they risk losing him to a market that continues to rise?

Or, will Fresno State rip up that contract, which runs through January 2027, and give Tedford a more competitive deal?

The university has had discussions on extending or amending the contract, according to an athletics department source, but it has yet to put anything in front of the football coach.

Tedford declined to comment after practice on Tuesday.

“I’m just focused on trying to win games,” he told The Bee.

But his contract sticks out in a conference that he has dominated.

Tedford this season will be paid $1.55 million in base salary, considerably less than coaches in the Mountain West with far less impressive resumes.

Tedford is sixth highest paid coach in Mountain West

Here are the top five MW coaches’ salaries, according to a USA Today database that was updated Tuesday:

Craig Bohl (Wyoming) $2,337,000

Brent Brennan (San Jose State) $2,300,000

Barry Odom (UNLV) $1,785,000

Andy Avalos (Boise State) $1,750,000

Jay Norvell (Colorado State) $1,700,000

Those five between them have won one Mountain West title — San Jose State in 2020, the COVID-impacted season. Odom is off to a solid 4-1 start in his first season at UNLV, but Bohl has a .496 winning percentage (56-57), Brennan has a .378 winning percentage (28-46), Avalos has a .613 winning percentage (19-12) and Norvell has a winning percentage of .313 at Colorado State (5-11) and .507 overall (38-37).

Tedford has a winning percentage of .695 (41-18) in his fifth season at Fresno State and has pulled off two feats that no one in college football history has accomplished: inheriting a program that won just one game and winning 10 or more games in his first two seasons and then winning nine games in a row last season to finish 10-4 after a 1-4 start.

The Fresno State coach has $1,850,000 in academic and on-field performance bonuses in his contract, but they are capped at $350,000 annually, excluding bonuses for upper-tier bowl participation. If Fresno State were to play in a New Year’s Six bowl Tedford would receive $250,000 or $350,000 for winning that game. If playing in a College Football Playoff semifinal the bonus is $500,000 and for a berth in the CFP national championship game it is $500,000 and $1 million for winning that game.

The base salary escalates every year. It is $1.6 million in 2024, $1.75 million in 2025 and $1.85 million in 2026. But with the cap on performance bonuses, Tedford even maxing out the $350,000 could make less than the base salaries of the top two paid coaches in the league.

Will university act, extend Tedford contract?

Fresno State and its Athletic Corporation came up with additional money over the summer to increase the pay for the assistant coaches.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle received a contract extension through 2024 as well as a hefty raise. He had a two-year contract worth $350,000 a year, and will be paid $380,748 this season and $395,748 in 2024, according to a contract that was obtained from the university through a public records request.

The bulk of that money is paid through the Athletic Corporation, which is run by the university’s vice president of administration Debbie Adishian-Astone. Offensive coordinator Pat McCann, defensive backs coach J.D. Williams, linebackers coach Tim Skipper, running backs coach Aaron Prier, nickel coach Jim Nelson, quarterbacks coach Matt Wade, defensive line coach Jethro Franklin and offensive line coach Brian Armstrong also are paid by or receive a supplement from the athletic corporation.

Will Fresno State remove the threat that another school will make Tedford, 61, an offer too difficult to turn down?

Of that $1.55 million, $330,000 is state pay with the remainder a consulting agreement with the Athletic Corporation.

The sixth highest-paid coach at a public school in the Pac-12 this season, Justin Wilcox at Cal, will be paid $4.4 million. It also is noteworthy that Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who Tedford hired at Fresno State as offensive line coach in 2017 and promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019, will be paid $2 million this season.