The Fresno State Bulldogs were looking for a new head coach this offseason and Oregon basketball coach Dana Altman came close to losing another member of his program this week.

Fresno State had to replace Rodney Terry who left the school this offseason for UTEP and this week they had Oregon basketball assistant coach Tony Stubblefield as one of the final three choices to replace Terry. The Bulldogs ended up hiring Justin Hutson, an assistant coach at Mountain West school San Diego State.

According to the FresnoBee, Stubblefield was a finalist for the job prior to the hiring. Other coaches that interviewed for the job were Byron Jones from Fresno State, Stan Johnson of Marquette, the other two finalists. David Grace from UCLA and Dedrique Taylor of Cal State Fullerton also interviewed for the job, according to the FresnoBee.

Stubblefield was a finalist for the New Mexico State job the previous two offseasons as they made hires.

At Oregon, Stubblefield has been a key piece to building the Oregon program into what it is today. Seven of the program's 20 best recruits to sign with the Ducks were recruited by Stubblefield, including the program's highest-rated prospect Bol Bol in this year's recruiting class. During the Altman era, Stubblefield led the recruitment of four of the program's five best players to sign coming out of high school: Bol, Troy Brown, Jabari Brown, and Tyler Dorsey.

Earlier this year, Bol credited Stubblefield's connection to him as a key reason he picked the Ducks without knowing much about the program prior to Oregon's recruitment.

"I didn’t know much about the school until I started getting recruited by Oregon’s assistant coach, Tony Stubblefield," Bol said in an op-ed piece with the Player's Tribune. "And then later by Coach Altman. Before that, I knew they had a lot of jerseys, a lot of different shoe combinations, but that was about it. But it was really those first few meetings with Coach Stubblefield that impressed me the most. He was accessible. He got to know me. He was really real with me.

"And he was honest about the fact that Oregon has never really gotten a top recruit when it was between the Kentuckys and Dukes. He didn’t shy away from that. What he did was lay out the vision they had for me.

"I felt like the whole coaching staff knew my game — and I’m not just saying that. Both Coach Altman and Coach Stubblefield broke down why my style is a bit different from just any other big man. I’m tall (obviously), but I’m not my dad. He was a true big man, a guy who played in the paint and blocked shots. But I like to work from the perimeter. I like to put the ball on the floor. I get a lot of satisfaction from passing to someone who’s more open than me."

Sign up for the FREE DuckTerritory.com newsletter and get all your Oregon news sent directly to your e-mail inbox daily.

Consider following DuckTerritory on Twitter, as well as our full-time writers Matt Prehm, Erik Skopil and Kevin Wade.

If you're not a VIP subscriber to DuckTerritory.com, consider signing up and taking advantage of our FREE trial here.