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As reported repeatedly over the past few days, Jeff Tedford will be Lovie Smith's offensive coordinator. John Clayton appears to be the first to have reported it as a done deal post-Lovie Smith hire, via Brett McMurphy.
Tedford is best known as the former California Golden Bears head coach, spending a full decade at the school and producing a solid 82-57 record mostly on the back of his offenses. Tedford has no experience in the NFL, however, and his offense became less productive as the quality of his quarterbacks declined late in his career.
Offensive coordinator is a crucial hire for Lovie Smith, as he went through a slew of them at Chicago with little success, Mike Tice and Mike Martz being the most recent examples.
Jeff Tedford has an amazing track record of producing NFL-worthy quarterbacks and running backs, but many of his quarterbacks fail to produce once they do get to the NFL. Trent Dilfer, Akili Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Joey Harrington, Kyle Boller and David Carr are just some of the quarterbacks he has coached in college. With no NFL experience at any point in his career, the questions about his transition to the pro game are legitimate.
However, his college schemes have been very effective and resemble the schemes used in the pro game. Tedford's systems are known for its complexity and high amount of verbiage, as well as the heavy burden placed on the playcaller. We'll have more examining Tedford's schemes a little more in-depth tomorrow.
For now, Tedford will have to get to work evaluating Mike Glennon, Dan Orlovsky and Jordan Rodgers and then comparing them to available quarterbacks both in the draft and free agency.
