FRESNO – Fresno State Director of Athletics Jim Bartko announced on Sunday that Tim DeRuyter has been relieved of his duties as the school’s head football coach. Offensive Coordinator Eric Kiesau has been named the interim head coach.“Tim DeRuyter is a man of high character – a class individual who is a leader of young men,” said Bartko. “Over the time I’ve been here, the football program has shown it has the ability to be a product the Red Wave can be excited about, but the results have not been to the standard we anticipated and expect. “When you make a coaching change the evaluation process covers many aspects of the program. Through this process the decision was made to make a change at this time. There are five remaining football games on the schedule, and the focus will be to prepare and put this team in a place to create success and engage the fan base. We look forward to Eric’s leadership, starting with Friday’s Salute to Service game against Air Force.”
DeRuyter’s tenure as the program’s 17th head football coach began in 2012. He took over a team that went 4-9 the year before and turned the tables by leading Fresno State to a pair of Mountain West championships and a 20-6 record over the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Before the DeRuyter era started, Fresno State had not won a conference championship since 1999 and in his first two seasons the ‘Dogs won back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 1992-93.
Since the 2013 senior class departed, the Fresno State football team has compiled a 10-24 record over the last two-and-a-half seasons. After starting the 2014 season 0-3 and going 3-6 through nine games, the Bulldogs won their final three games to clinch a berth in the Mountain West Championship game. But they dropped that title game and a bowl game to end the year 6-8. In 2015, Fresno State finished 3-9, stacking up the program’s fewest wins since a 3-8 season in 1977. The ‘Dogs are 1-7 through seven games in 2016.
Under DeRuyter, there were 14 student-athletes named first-team All-Mountain West and seven players were selected in the NFL Draft. However, the conclusion of the 2015 season marked the first time since 1951 that the Bulldogs did not have at least one first-team all-conference selection and Fresno State’s conference leading 15-year run of having at least one player drafted came to an end.
Off the field, DeRuyter saw 71 Academic All-Mountain West selections over his first four seasons. In that span, the team shared a Mountain West-best mark with Boise State as the only two schools in that time frame to have 15 or more honorees from football each year. The football team helped lead Fresno State to a record fall semester in the classroom by posting a school-best 3.13 department GPA in fall of 2014, led by 47 Bulldog football players with a 3.0 GPA or better."Coach DeRuyter and his family have been passionate ambassadors for our University and our community and I am grateful for their valuable contributions," said Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro. "I have appreciated his focus on developing the leadership abilities of our student-athletes while winning our first Mountain West Conference Championship. However, after evaluating the current state of the program, a change has to be made.
"The path to greater heights of success in athletics -- and in life -- is neither smooth nor straight. Our commitment to academics and athletics boldly rising together is unwavering. Student success, inside and outside of the classroom, remains the highest priority for our University.”DeRuyter has two seasons remaining on his employment contract with the university, based on an extension that was inked onApril 24, 2014.
A national search for Fresno State’s next head football coach will begin immediately.
