The University of California-Berkeley made the decision Tuesday to part ways with head coach Jeff Tedford after 11 years of Tedford walking the sidelines for the Golden Bears.
And Green Bay Packers quarterback and Cal alum Aaron Rodgers isn’t the least bit happy about it.
Rodgers called the decision by California athletic director Sandy Barbour a “terrible decision” during his weekly radio show on 540 ESPN Radio in Milwaukee according to Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com.
“It’s a terrible decision, terrible decision. And I think it’s disrespectful, too,” Rodgers said.
Tedford was fired following a 3-9 season by the Golden Bears this season, their first in a recently renovated Memorial Stadium. California was 1-10 the season before Tedford took over as head coach. Tedford led the Golden Bears to eight bowl games, including seven straight, over a nine-year stretch from 2003-2011. This season was only the second sub-.500 during Tedford’s tenure.
The success of California with Tedford at the helm finally sparked a remodel of an incredibly outdated stadium and the athletic facilities on campus. Yet, Tedford ultimately only got one year to coach the team at the new stadium before the school pulled the plug.
Rodgers believes Tedford deserved better.
“You have some competitive facilities now where you can really recruit some kids. And what do they do? They fire him,” Rodgers said. “The winningest coach in history. It’s just a shame, because when you promise a guy the stuff that they promised him and he fulfills everything you ask him to do on the field, regardless of the injuries they had this year, to always continue to prepare those guys like I know he did, and then not give him the chance to recruit to that facilities is a shame.”
Rodgers played two years for Tedford (2003-2004) after transferring from Butte Community College. Rodgers completed 63.8-perecnt of his passes and threw 43 touchdowns to just 13 interceptions in his two seasons for California.
