NEW ORLEANS -- Chris Scelfo figures he has to recruit the players he already has at Tulane as well as find new players to come to the school.
Scelfo, hired as the Tulane coach on Monday, hopes to win over the players he inherited from former coach Tommy Bowden and live up to his reputation as a skillful recruiter."Right now the players are the most important," said Scelfo, who had been the offensive coordinator at Georgia. "We're a family. I just haven't been accepted into the family. I will be."
Scelfo plans to begin practice Wednesday for the Liberty Bowl game against Brigham Young on Dec. 31.
"My first order of business is to get our game plan for the bowl in place and get ready for practice," Scelfo said. "I'm glad we have the game to work on. It'll give the players a chance to get to know me."
Scelfo was selected over Tulane offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, who was the choice of the players and was recommended by Bowden.
"I can't talk," said running back Toney Converse, pointing to his tear-filled eyes. "I just found out. I can't believe it."
The players' unhappiness can be overcome, Scelfo said. "Most of them loved the coach before Bowden too," he said. "Nobody likes change."
Scelfo, a south Louisiana native who always wanted to coach Tulane football, will keep the program on track, athletic director Sandra Barbour predicted.
"This is the next step in Tulane's renaissance in football," she said.
Rodriguez said Barbour told him Monday he did not get the job. Rodriguez is also one of two finalists for the head coaching job at Middle Tennessee State.
He said he would also contact Southwestern Louisiana about their job again and planned to fly to Clemson today. Bowden has offered him the assistant head coach-offensive coordinator job there.
"I'm young, I'm 35. I'm going to be a I-A head coach," Rodriguez said. "It may be a couple of days. It may be five years. But the time will come and I'll prove they were wrong not to take me here."
Tulane might also lose four more of Bowden's former assistants. Offensive line coach Ron West, running backs coach Burton Burns, defensive line coach Thielen Smith and wide receivers coach Steve Bird might join Bowden at Clemson. West, Burns and Smith flew to Clemson Sunday to tour the campus and visit with Bowden.
Bowden, an assistant for 19 years before becoming Tulane's coach, stayed at the school only two years, snapping a 15-year non-winning streak his first year and going 11-0 this season.
Scelfo, 35, plans to stay longer than that.
"I am where I dreamed about as a kid, where I want to be for the rest of my life," Scelfo said. "You've heard that said before. That's the last time you'll hear it here."
Scelfo, an Abbeville, La., native, was selected because of his experience with a top-level program, expertise as a recruiter, and commitment to the program, Barbour said. He was the offensive coordinator with Georgia coach Jim Donnan at Marshall, then went with Donnan to Georgia.