Nearly three weeks after losing their defensive boss to the Great White North, Fresno State officially has a replacement.
The Mountain West Conference program confirmed Tuesday that Bert Watts has been promoted to defensive coordinator. Watts will replace Orlondo Steinauer, left late last month to take the same job with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.
Watts has spent the past two seasons as linebackers coach for the Bulldogs.
“I have a lot of trust and confidence in Coach Watts as a member of our defensive staff and he will be the right person for the position,” said head coach Jeff Tedford in a statement. “I was really excited about the progress of the defense last season and the familiarity with what we are doing and the players’ familiarity with Bert will be great for our team’s overall success.”
Prior to his time at Fresno, Watts was the coordinator at UC-Davis for four seasons.
Tedford has an extensive history in Watts, with the latter playing his college football for the former at Cal. Watts first coaching job also came at his alma mater as a graduate assistant for Tedford from 2004-05.
