Jeff Tedford begins the new Bulldogs football season boosted by a much healthier fuel

The edge is still there, the intense attention to detail and the wanting and needing to be prepared for every odd bounce of an oblong sphere for four quarters of football and, well, good luck with that.

But Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford, who had to step away from coaching at his alma mater following the 2019 season due to cardiac-related health issues, is back to teaching and coaching as he has for all these years, at times at a high volume and at others with a smile, with some wit attached.

“He’s back to yelling and being excited and getting rowdy and we love it,” said tackle Dontae Bull, a sixth-year senior and preseason all-conference selection who was in Tedford’s first Fresno State recruiting class.

“I don’t really see a difference from 2017 and ’18 at all. It’s back to the same Coach Tedford we had when I got here as a young buck. In 2019 when he wasn’t well there was a bit of a difference. We didn’t know what was wrong, but something was off and then we found out.”

That is where it came apart, 2019. And, now, it’s game week with the intensity and the stress ratcheted up. The scores will be kept, dissected and evaluated at length starting Thursday when the Bulldogs open what could be a historic season at home against FCS Cal Poly.

That isn’t the primary source of the stresses or the anxieties, Tedford said. That would be the preparation, practicing every imaginable situation while fighting an inkling that something has been left out. “Those are the things, because you can’t simulate those things and they’re on you like this,” he said, snapping his fingers at a quick clip.

But, obviously, it plays a part in it, for everyone involved.

Defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle, who shared the coach’s booth in the press box for one season way back when Tedford was the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator, recalled one game where there was a knock at the door at a faraway road game. “Our box was close to the president’s box so we had some people knocking on the door to make sure we calmed down a little bit,” Coyle said, with a wry grin.

Tedford talked about that when he stepped away, going back to his playing days in high school. Ultimately it was not compatible with his health issues at the time, which were corrected by a cardiac ablation, a procedure in which tissue in the heart is scarred to block irregular electrical signals.

Appreciation, not anxiety

“I’ve been advised that the stresses and anxiety of this job do not match up with some of my cardiac issues,” he said that day.

For a team with few glaring questions headed into the 2022 football season, that is one. How will Tedford handle every piece of it? But if there is a difference now, and an answer to that question, it is in his approach.

There is appreciation rather than anxiety, which is a much healthier fuel.

“When you hit the retirement thing and of all the paperwork and go through the whole process, the finality of retirement kind of hits you over the head,” Tedford said. “It’s like, ‘Wow, really?’ “Before, I was very stressed out about a lot of things. I think I’ve switched to appreciation instead of anxiety.

“I really appreciate where I’m at and what we’re doing. I really enjoyed the camp. I love being here and doing it. Was there anxiety and stress? Yeah. But there also was actually a physiological problem. I don’t have a physiological problem now. I was thinking it was anxiety and stress, but it was really (atrial fibrillation). So once I found that out, ‘Well, OK, there’s a reason for it.’ Now that I don’t have that I think I’ll be just fine.

“I’ve really enjoyed camp. I’ve really enjoyed the scheduled. I love being here and doing it.”

It shows, Bull said.

“He just seems like he has life back into him,” he said. “He’s so happy to be out here. You can tell. He just loves the game of football so much and he loves us so much. It doesn’t always come off as caring love, but it’s tough love and he puts it on us. He wants greatness out of us and I’m so glad to have coach Tedford back.”

Tedford expects the games to be the same, as well. “I think that’s just the way it goes,” he said.

“I actually think its a stress reliever for me to be busy all the time, whether it be organization at practices, time schedules, all that, always having something to do,” Tedford said. “Having a purpose I think is good for me. As it gets closer to the games, though, that’s where it ramps up a little bit, just because you always want to make sure we’re prepared. I’m always wondering, have we prepared enough for this or for that? I’m always wondering. But once the ball is kicked off, it’s fine.”

A great day to go to work

In that way, Tedford has landed back in college football in a perfect spot, and not just because Fresno is now home and Fresno State his alma mater.

His staff is loaded with experienced coaches, many of whom he has coached or worked with previously from Coyle to defensive line coach Jethro Franklin, defensive backs coach J.D. Williams, linebackers coach Tim Skipper, tight ends coach John Baxter, running backs coach James Montgomery and offensive coordinator Kirby Moore. Tedford added wideouts coach Pat McCann, offensive line coach Saga Tuitele and nickels coach Jim Nelson.

His roster is loaded as well with players he recruited to Fresno State, including quarterback Jake Haener, who long ago bought into his program.

He knows athletics and university administration, and how those pieces fit. There are fewer headaches, certainly, and team and a program that is in position to make a major move after winning 10 or more games for three of the past four seasons not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve always appreciated what I’ve done, but I don’t think I ever woke up and said, ‘Wow, this is a great day to go to work,’” Tedford said. “I don’t think I ever looked at it that way, I went to work because you’re going to work. Now, I have a different feeling. When I get up to go to work it’s, I get to go to work. It is a little different mindset.

“I’ll still be anxious just because I want our guys to do well and I want to make sure that we’re prepared and all that. But just the appreciation of thinking you’re never going to do something again and then you get the opportunity to do it — not that I’m taking any short cuts because I’m not, I’m probably going harder now than I’ve gone in the past. But it’s a different mindset to remind yourself, ‘Hey, how lucky are you to be doing this instead of vacuuming the carpet at home?’”