Fresno State’s Pat Hill could become longest tenured coach in major college football

Fresno State coach Pat Hill told The Bee this week that he has agreed to a new contract (through the 2013 season) and taken a pay cut. By the time he finishes this contract — if he finishes this contract — he could have the longest tenure of any coach in major college football. As of the 2010 season, only five men have been at their schools longer: Joe Paterno at Penn State (45 years), Chris Ault at Nevada (26), Frank Beamer at Virginia (24), Larry Blakeney at Troy (20), and Bill Snyder at Kansas State (18). In the spirit of the asterisk, both Ault and Snyder left their jobs and then returned, and Troy wasn’t a Division I program until 2001. However you want to qualify them, the youngest is Blakeney, who will be 63 in September, so all five could be retired by 2013. Pat Hill at Fresno State lives on, in all its dynamics, nationally admired and locally tolerated. You know what they say about other people’s grass. — Fresno Bee