Twice in the past 13 years, Rich Rodriguez has been close to becoming the Tulane head football coach, and the latest close call came Monday morning.
This time it was Rodriguez passing on Tulane. The former Michigan coach removed himself from consideration in the Green Wave search Monday morning and was hired as the Arizona coach via Wildcats Athletic Director Greg Byrne's tweet.
"It's disappointing because I know how good of a coach he is," said Jimmy Ordeneaux, a former Tulane offensive tackle who played under Rodriguez. "I know what he could have done at Tulane. He is fantastic. He is a winner. With that said, I know Tulane did everything they could to bring him in, and ultimately he just felt that the Arizona job was a better job for him."
It's the shoe-on-the-other-foot scenario for Tulane. After the 1998 season and the departure of Tulane coach Tommy Bowden to Clemson, Tulane passed on Rodriguez in favor of Chris Scelfo. Rodriguez then was the Green Wave's crafty offensive coordinator and one of the spread offense's revolutionaries.
Rodriguez eventually got his shot as a big-time head coach � at West Virginia � and he made the most of it, going 60-26 in seven seasons from 2001-07. He won four Big East titles and vaulted himself onto one of college football's biggest stages when he was hired as Michigan coach in 2008.
He was fired in January, however, going 15-22 in three seasons as Wolverines boss.
Ordeneaux, who has met with Rodriguez in recent weeks, said Rodriguez came close to taking the Tulane job. Rodriguez has been in the Tulane search mix since Bob Toledo's pressured resignation in October and offensive line/co-offensive coordinator Mark Hutson was chosen the interim coach.
Rodriguez had multiple conversations with Athletic Director Rick Dickson, according to several sources. Salary numbers, the school's financial commitment to the football program and other integral issues were discussed.
"I could say that he said nobody will ever believe how close it really was," Ordeneaux said.
As the Rodriguez door closed, two sources said that Tulane is moving quickly to wrap up the search and name a new coach.
According to the two sources, Michael Haywood, the former Miami of Ohio coach, and Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken are two candidates getting much consideration.
Monken has never been a head coach but has made inroads as an assistant. He is in his first year back with Oklahoma State after serving four years as wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He had risen to the quarterbacks coach role before returning to Stillwater to take the offensive coordinator position with Oklahoma State, where he was the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2002-04.
Monken, 45, has Pelican state ties. He was the pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach at LSU from 2005-06.
Haywood, 47, turned around the Miami of Ohio program in 2010, leading the Redhawks to the GoDaddy.com bowl after a 9-4 and 8-1 MAC season. It was a dramatic turnaround from 2009's 1-11 record.
Haywood was the LSU running backs coach from 1995-2002 and coached the same position group at Texas from 2003-04. He became the Notre Dame running backs coach from 2005-08 before becoming the coach at Miami of Ohio.
The Tulane administration, which refuses to comment on any aspect of the search, is working through face-to-face interviews, the sources said, and the university is working to swiftly conclude the search in light of the upcoming recruiting season and the conclusion of the regular season when other jobs are expected to open up, creating competition for top candidates.
"We all want the big splash," Ordeneaux said. "Anyone who has spent a lot of effort on this program knows how great it would be to have that. Unfortunately there's not that many people who can have that kind of impact and Rich was one of them, and we got really close with him � so that hurts. But at the same time, we're a great school that is located in a recruiting hotbed that when it gets out of its own way, always competes successfully in athletics. By every metric I see, we are getting out of our own way, and we're going to do everything we possibly can to put together a solid program, and that's going to lead to hiring a great candidate in my opinion."
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Tammy Nunez can be reached at tnunez@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3405.
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