Let me see if I have this right.
Tulane football, which hasn’t had a winning season since 2002, is reaching big time for the next coach.
How about this list of candidates?
- Former Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski
- Former Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez
- Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach
It’s hard to believe three high profile coaches like these guys would have to go back to a program like Tulane to get their coaching careers back on track.
Boston College is the one that screwed up the Jagodzinski situation. The Eagles have been downright horrible since BC fired Jags and went with Frank Spaziani. Before Jags was kicked to the curb, Boston College went 11-3 and 20-8 in his two seasons in Chestnut Hill.
It’s tough to imagine that Rodriguez or Leach would start over at Tulane, but Jags makes more sense.
His last gig was with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. So going to Tulane is actually a promotion.
But what if it turns out both Leach and Rodriguez are truly interested? Which of these three do you go with?
It would be a great problem for Tulane to have. The Green Wave enjoyed its best season with Rodriguez as the offensive coordinator in 1998 at 12-0. But Tulane officials decided to give the head job to Chris Scelfo instead of Rodriguez.
So he went off to Clemson with Tommy Bowden and later landed at West Virginia, where he became one of the hottest coaching names in the game. He almost took the Alabama job before the Tide turned to Nick Saban, and of course he went to Michigan.
Tulane football occasionally sprinkles in a good season to go with a bunch of bad ones. So anyone of these coaches could make a real difference for a program that actually left the SEC after the 1965 season. Think Tulane would do that now?
As much as I like Rodriguez and Leach, I think Jagodzinski could do an amazing job at Tulane.
It’s a tough reclamation project, but Jags is a great coach and I could see him getting Tulane back to eight or nine wins.
Of course, that will lead to bigger and better opportunities. But it would be a strong move and the right move for Tulane.
