“And he said, ‘Why not?’ And I said ‘Because Rich is the guy for this job. Rich has earned this job. He’s going to do a great job here.’ ”

“And he said, ‘Why not?’ And I said ‘Because Rich is the guy for this job. Rich has earned this job. He’s going to do a great job here.’ ”

Tulane’s president was supposed to call Rodriguez at 3 p.m. the day before the hiring to discuss the job but didn’t until 7 p.m. Rita had a bad feeling, but everyone was sure Rodriguez would get the job.

Rodriguez brought a green coat and tie to work that day in preparation for the press conference. Although the athletic director, Sandy Barbour, and others implied he would get the job, Chris Scelfo was hired.

When King walked into Rodriguez’s office after the announcement, he saw a look of “disbelief” on Rodriguez’s face.

“He was almost in tears, and I was like ‘uh-oh,’ ” King said. “I felt so bad. I didn’t even know what to say. I was filled with anger. It was a bad time.”

Rodriguez was bitter, and he considered taking the Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette) job that he had previously turned down.

“He was so mad and so upset, disappointed with the way this situation at Tulane was handled that he just wanted to go to any school, put them on the schedule, and beat them,” Rita said.

Rita reminded him that Tulane beat Southwestern Louisiana 72-20 that year, and Rodriguez decided to follow Bowden to Clemson to be his offensive coordinator.

The next offseason Rodriguez almost went to Texas Tech. After both sides agreed to terms, they had to wait a week to finalize the contract because of a state law regarding public jobs. Rodriguez backed out but said he probably would have taken the job had he been able to immediately. Some suspect Rodriguez found out he would take over at West Virginia after the next season.

Harsh/ loose

When King first met Rodriguez, the quarterback thought his new offensive coordinator seemed cool.

“He basically said, ‘I’m going to coach you hard,’ ” King said. “But you know what? All coaches say that.”

It wasn’t long until King realized Rodriguez was serious.

“He was just a jerk the first time we got on the field,” King said. “I hated Rich’s guts at first.”

Lance Frazier, who played at West Virginia when Rodriguez took over there and is now in the Canadian Football League, considered transferring because Rodriguez’s practices were so intense. He said many of his teammates also thought about leaving.

“I guarantee you that if you asked me if they’re happy about the decision that they made, I’d tell you that they’re 110 percent happy that they did stay,” Frazier said.

Rodriguez knows when he wants to be tough on his players and when he wants them relaxed, and he’s masterful at doing both.

Rutledge remembers the first week of spring practice in Glenville in 1994, right after he began working there. The Pioneers had a Saturday scrimmage, and Rutledge kept thinking Glenville was pretty good. After all, they played in the national title game the year before.

Halfway through the scrimmage, a guy showed up with a trailer full of watermelons and started slicing them. Nobody thought much of it.

After the scrimmage, Rodriguez laid into his team, telling them how terrible they had played.

“Right in the middle of the speech, he stops,” Rutledge said. “And he goes, ‘And don’t forget this. The watermelon is a donation from the Baptist church. Be sure to thank ‘em.’ So it went from probably some words used that the guy at the Baptist church was probably stunned by to, ‘Hey, make sure you thank the Baptist church.’ ”

Whether Rodriguez decides to be hard on his players or lay off usually depends on how well they’re playing.

“Everything I did was wrong at first, everything,” King said. “If I went left, I was supposed to go right. If I went right, I was supposed to go left. And he lets you know it.”

But Rodriguez eventually gained confidence in his quarterback. Rodriguez gave King permission to make checks at the line of scrimmage midway through his junior year. King remembers one game against East Carolina.

“I was ballin',” King said. “I mean, I was ballin’. I was having one of those games. And he called a play, and I said ‘No, it’s not going to work.’ And he was like ‘Run the play.’ So I went out there, and I checked to something else. And the ball got intercepted. And I came to the sideline.

“He came up to me, and said, ‘You know what?