California fires Jeff Tedford

Nov 20, 2012 - 8:22 PM Berkeley, CA (Sports Network) - 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.

"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.

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.