I talked to Cody Kennedy about an hour after he tweeted that he was leaving Tulane. Everyone knows he is going to Southern Miss, but he did not tweet that part because he was waiting for it to be official on that end. He will be the offensive line coach and run game coordinator there.
In my opinion, Kennedy is one of the two or three best assistant coaches Tulane has had in the last 10 years. He made all the right moves this year, from recognizing Caleb Thomas's improvement in the preseason to switching Ben Knutson to left tackle when Joey Claybrook got hurt (a move I panned here and then watched as Knutson did so well, he started at right tackle when Claybrook returned) to his willingness to bench a true freshman he liked (Trey Tuggle) because he wanted his best five out there (as Knutson turned out to be). With all of the freshmen who did not play earning rave reviews for their potential, this should be an outstanding group next year if no one enters the transfer portal.
Here was our conversation:
Was it a tough decision for you?
"I went back and forth on it. It was a tough decision because this is my first really big-time job and we had recruited so well in the past cycle. There's a lot of really young, talented guys. We started three freshmen and a sophomore against Memphis and won the game, so that weighs on you a little bit. I've got loyalty to coach Fritz for taking a chance on me in my first job, and I've got loyalty to coach Hall. I've been with coach Hall for a long time. That's the downside of this business. You create strong relationships working with somebody every day, but eventually you've got to break them at some point down the road. It's a good opportunity, but I also saw the lure of what Tulane has to offer and our stock's trending up here. It's hard to leave a place where you've laid the foundation and laid the groundwork for something special and not reap the highest reward from it."
How good do you feel about what you are leaving behind compared to what you inherited on the line two years ago?
"That's it, man. It's to the point where you get to breathe a little bit, and when we were healthy this year, we were on. We were able to go against anybody in the conference. It just so happened we were banged up when we went against some of the premier teams in the conference. Of all things that I thought were going to get me, I thought it was going to be the COVID, but we had the injury bug for most of the year. I don't think I started the same offensive line in back-to-back weeks since Southern Miss (not true, but the point is valid), so it was kind of a musical chairs act. I was pulling all the stops out trying to get it done."
I didn't even realize what was going on with all the linemen you lost during the Houston game. What was that like?
"It was bombs over Baghdad on the sideline. It was, hey man, put your mouthpiece in, boom, go. It was a wild one. It ended up settling down, but you earn your stripes real quick going through games like that."
Are you going to have the same title at Southern Miss?
"I'll be offensive line and run game coordinator up there. I'm a little bit old school on that. The offensive coordinator title is a little bit sacred for me, and if I'm not going to be coordinating, I don't want credit for it, good or bad. But coach Hall made it right in every way to make it enticing. He did a good job with getting all that together, but it really won't be officially official until I get up there Wednesday or Thursday. I know it's already out there, but that's why I left it gray (in his tweet, which made no mention of USM). But I don't mind people putting it out there."
How good do you think Tulane's offensive line will be next year if everyone sticks around?
"it's going to be so special, and that was the allure. That's what made it tough is we finally got a crew of five guys, and Sincere Haynesworth was rated the No. 1 Pro Football Focus center in the conference. You've got him coming back and he has three more years left (potentially), and just seeing the progress from Joey Claybrook from last year, being a little bit of a liability at times, to this year being one of the better tackles. After his two more years here, he is going to be one of the best tackles in this league. I firmly believe that, so that was the draw. It's always hard to leave those guys."
Did you talk to the linemen about your decision today?
"Yeah, I actually took them out to eat dinner last night and told them all before. It really wasn't set in stone until right before the (Memphis) game. I kind of made my decision."
You were 29 when Fritz hired you at Hall's recommendation. How much do you feel indebted to Fritz for agreeing to bring in an untested coach as young as you were?
"That means the world to me. That's tough for a guy that's been coaching for as long as Willie has been to hand the reins over to a 29-year-old line coach in the American Football Conference. I never took that lightly the whole time I was here. That will always be a little bit of a chip on my shoulder until I guess I am an old guy, but I am forever grateful for that. He took a chance on me, and you can't ever downplay that because I by no means had a track record at the time to really be in the mix. I guess I surrounded myself with good enough people to get in there, but I am forever grateful for the chance."
In my opinion, Kennedy is one of the two or three best assistant coaches Tulane has had in the last 10 years. He made all the right moves this year, from recognizing Caleb Thomas's improvement in the preseason to switching Ben Knutson to left tackle when Joey Claybrook got hurt (a move I panned here and then watched as Knutson did so well, he started at right tackle when Claybrook returned) to his willingness to bench a true freshman he liked (Trey Tuggle) because he wanted his best five out there (as Knutson turned out to be). With all of the freshmen who did not play earning rave reviews for their potential, this should be an outstanding group next year if no one enters the transfer portal.
Here was our conversation:
Was it a tough decision for you?
"I went back and forth on it. It was a tough decision because this is my first really big-time job and we had recruited so well in the past cycle. There's a lot of really young, talented guys. We started three freshmen and a sophomore against Memphis and won the game, so that weighs on you a little bit. I've got loyalty to coach Fritz for taking a chance on me in my first job, and I've got loyalty to coach Hall. I've been with coach Hall for a long time. That's the downside of this business. You create strong relationships working with somebody every day, but eventually you've got to break them at some point down the road. It's a good opportunity, but I also saw the lure of what Tulane has to offer and our stock's trending up here. It's hard to leave a place where you've laid the foundation and laid the groundwork for something special and not reap the highest reward from it."
How good do you feel about what you are leaving behind compared to what you inherited on the line two years ago?
"That's it, man. It's to the point where you get to breathe a little bit, and when we were healthy this year, we were on. We were able to go against anybody in the conference. It just so happened we were banged up when we went against some of the premier teams in the conference. Of all things that I thought were going to get me, I thought it was going to be the COVID, but we had the injury bug for most of the year. I don't think I started the same offensive line in back-to-back weeks since Southern Miss (not true, but the point is valid), so it was kind of a musical chairs act. I was pulling all the stops out trying to get it done."
I didn't even realize what was going on with all the linemen you lost during the Houston game. What was that like?
"It was bombs over Baghdad on the sideline. It was, hey man, put your mouthpiece in, boom, go. It was a wild one. It ended up settling down, but you earn your stripes real quick going through games like that."
Are you going to have the same title at Southern Miss?
"I'll be offensive line and run game coordinator up there. I'm a little bit old school on that. The offensive coordinator title is a little bit sacred for me, and if I'm not going to be coordinating, I don't want credit for it, good or bad. But coach Hall made it right in every way to make it enticing. He did a good job with getting all that together, but it really won't be officially official until I get up there Wednesday or Thursday. I know it's already out there, but that's why I left it gray (in his tweet, which made no mention of USM). But I don't mind people putting it out there."
How good do you think Tulane's offensive line will be next year if everyone sticks around?
"it's going to be so special, and that was the allure. That's what made it tough is we finally got a crew of five guys, and Sincere Haynesworth was rated the No. 1 Pro Football Focus center in the conference. You've got him coming back and he has three more years left (potentially), and just seeing the progress from Joey Claybrook from last year, being a little bit of a liability at times, to this year being one of the better tackles. After his two more years here, he is going to be one of the best tackles in this league. I firmly believe that, so that was the draw. It's always hard to leave those guys."
Did you talk to the linemen about your decision today?
"Yeah, I actually took them out to eat dinner last night and told them all before. It really wasn't set in stone until right before the (Memphis) game. I kind of made my decision."
You were 29 when Fritz hired you at Hall's recommendation. How much do you feel indebted to Fritz for agreeing to bring in an untested coach as young as you were?
"That means the world to me. That's tough for a guy that's been coaching for as long as Willie has been to hand the reins over to a 29-year-old line coach in the American Football Conference. I never took that lightly the whole time I was here. That will always be a little bit of a chip on my shoulder until I guess I am an old guy, but I am forever grateful for that. He took a chance on me, and you can't ever downplay that because I by no means had a track record at the time to really be in the mix. I guess I surrounded myself with good enough people to get in there, but I am forever grateful for the chance."