{"id":15166,"date":"2025-10-21T01:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T01:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/15166\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T01:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T01:50:18","slug":"uclas-tim-skipper-was-nearly-named-fresno-state-head-coach-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/15166\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA’s Tim Skipper was nearly named Fresno State head coach last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Tim Skipper<\/a> was named the UCLA Bruins\u2019<\/a> interim head coach after the firing of DeShaun Foster, there was a bit of relief that Skipper had recently served as an interim head coach for the Fresno State Bulldogs<\/a>, doing so in 2024 but just how close was Skipper to getting the Bulldogs head coaching position?<\/p>\n

Did fourth quarter collapses cost Tim Skipper head coaching gig with Fresno State?<\/p>\n

According to the Los Angeles Times, who interviewed Fresno State\u2019s radio play-by-play announcer Paul Loeffler, Skipper<\/a> was real close to securing the head coach position but the team\u2019s inability to close out games cost Skipper the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Tim Skipper is in the same spot one year later<\/p>\n

A year later, Skipper is again coaching his way into head coaching consideration, perhaps with UCLA, perhaps with another program but Skipper was able to have his team close out a tough win on Saturday against Maryland. Skipper has saved UCLA\u2019s season but it\u2019s interesting to see how facing the Bruins<\/a> last year hurt his chances of being Fresno State\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a>Loss to UCLA may have been the nail in the coffin for Skipper in Fresno<\/p>\n

\u201cLoeffler recalled a 21-20 setback against Hawaii in which two critical penalties extended drives for the Rainbow Warriors, who rallied from a 13-point deficit with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, that was the turning point,\u201d Loeffler said. \u201cHad that game gone Fresno State\u2019s way, I think Tim Skipper probably would be the coach today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs would go on to lose to Air Force, which at the time was 1-7 and had not beaten a Football Bowl Championship team until the Falcons prevailed with a 36-28 victory over Fresno State.<\/p>\n

Maintaining trust of players, a common theme<\/p>\n

Skipper remained so beloved among players that they chanted, \u201cWe want Skip!\u201d in the locker room after the Bulldogs rebounded two weeks later to beat Colorado State and gain bowl eligibility. But an opportunity for another breakthrough was lost in the final regular-season game when Fresno State scored only three points in the second half of a 20-13 defeat against UCLA \u2014 and coach DeShaun Foster \u2014 at the Rose Bowl.\u201d Los Angeles Times\u2019 Ben Bolch wrote.<\/p>\n

Tim Skipper will need wins to avoid the same fate<\/p>\n

UCLA has a gauntlet of a schedule remaining this season<\/a> but Skipper has shown that he\u2019s head coach material, it\u2019s up to the Bruins to decide if he\u2019ll be their head coach as they move forward from the DeShaun Foster era in Westwood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Tim Skipper was named the UCLA Bruins\u2019 interim head coach after the firing of DeShaun Foster, there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[243,112,114,113,13080,13081,13086,378,5727,5725,507,1348,3143,1350,3390,1349,13084,13085,377,13082,13083,246],"class_list":["post-15166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-accessfree","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-sstssportscollegeuclafootball","tag-sstsnfootball","tag-tagair-force","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbig-10-hub","tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","tag-tagcalifornia-state-university","tag-tagcollege-football","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagfresno-state-bulldogs-football","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagsmg-listicle","tag-tagsports-coaching-training","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagucla-bruins","tag-tagucla-bruins-football","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}