Former Football Coach: Bustle moves over to Green Wave

Former Football Coach: Bustle moves over to Green Wave

Former Football Coach: Bustle moves over to Green Wave

Joshua Parrott, May 3, 2011, Daily Advertiser

After his nine-year run as UL’s head football coach ended in November, Rickey Bustle waited patiently for the right job before jumping back into the coaching ranks.

Bustle, 57, will make his return to the sideline in Louisiana as Tulane’s quarterbacks coach. News of the move leaked last week, but Green Wave coach Bob Toledo made the official announcement Thursday.

"First of all, I’m excited to be here," Bustle said Thursday in an interview with The Daily Advertiser. "I appreciate the opportunity to join their staff. Getting to coach quarterbacks again is just the icing on the cake for me."Bustle went 41-65 with the Ragin’ Cajuns from 2002-10. The Cajuns won a share of the Sun Belt Conference title in 2005 and posted four six-win seasons (2005, ’06, ’08 and ’09) under him before he was fired after a 3-9 campaign last year. He has been a part of nine bowl teams in 31 years as a coach at the NCAA Division I level.

Prior to his time in Lafayette, Bustle served as Virginia Tech’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1993 and 1995-2001 after working with the Hokies quarterbacks and receivers from 1987-92. He was South Carolina’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1994.Some of Bustle’s past pupils include former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jim Druckenmiller and current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, the top pick in the 2001 NFL draft and the NFL’s 2010 Comeback Player of the Year. In 1999, Virginia Tech led the nation in points scored per game (41.4) and played in the BCS championship game.

Tulane, a member of

Conference USA, is coming off a 4-8 season and is 13-35 in four years under Toledo.Bustle replaces Dan Dodd, who resigned as the Green Wave’s assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in May to become a high school football coach and athletic director in his hometown of San Clemente, Calif.

"Rickey brings an abundance of experience to our program," Toledo said in a press release. "He has been a part of many successful programs during his coaching career. His philosophies on offense and coaching quarterbacks are very similar to what we have been doing over the past four years, so I believe he will mesh very well with our staff."

Bustle plans to move into an apartment in New Orleans this weekend and occasionally commute back to Lafayette. His wife, Lynn, will continue to teach at UL.

"This is a fun transition for me," Bustle said. "The more we meet as a coaching staff, the more excited I am. I’m happy and excited. Football is fun again."Bustle admits that his final year in Lafayette was quite nerve-racking. After a 2-2 start, the Cajuns stumbled to a nine-loss season in 2010. The university paid him $100,000 to buy out the final year of his contract before hiring Mississippi State assistant coach Mark Hudspeth in December.

"It was very stressful, but that comes with the territory," Bustle said. "I feel rejuvenated. I’m having fun and ready to get going. It will be nice to coach a position again. I think head coaches miss that, and I did."He was disappointed that his tenure with the Cajuns ended like it did but is now eager to move on.

"It was a business decision," Bustle said. "The sooner you put it behind you and move on the better. I felt like I was going to put it behind me, but not until I took the next step and got another job."Bustle joins a Tulane program that returns last year’s starting quarterback in junior Ryan Griffin, who completed 59.9 percent of his passes for 2,371 yards to go with 14 touchdown passes and eight interceptions in 2010. Tulane’s other quarterbacks are junior D.J. Ponder, redshirt freshman Taylor Bullock and incoming freshmen Nick SanGiacomo and Leon Blouin IV.

The Green Wave has a number of Acadiana-area natives, including a quartet of St. Thomas More graduates in senior fullback Kasey Stelly, redshirt freshman safety Cameron DeJean, freshman defensive back Sam Scofield and freshman tight end Evan Tatford.There’s also a pair of former Catholic High of New Iberia standouts in Bullock and freshman receiver Devin Boutte.

After missing Tulane’s spring drills, Bustle is ready to make up for lost time in New Orleans.

"It was tough to be patient, but I didn’t want to just take a job to take a job," Bustle said. "I think this job really fits me really well."