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The year before Michael Haywood arrived in South Bend to become the offensive coordinator under Charlie Weis, he had an offer.
It came from Tyrone Willingham, then the coach of Notre Dame, a chance to leave Texas and return to his alma mater.
He turned Willingham down, but not because he didn't want to work for the Irish head coach. The timing, he said Tuesday, didn't feel right.
"I had only been at Texas one year and I learned from Lou (Holtz) whenever you give a commitment you should at least honor your commitment for two years so it just wasn't time for me to move," Haywood said. "But I think he's a wonderful man, a great guy. The last time I sat down and talked with him, we were at this future head coaches meeting and he had come to speak and sat down in the back of the room with him and spoke with him for at least 45 minutes.
"He's a great guy."
Haywood doesn't worry about the situation at Washington now, where Willingham is in peril as the Huskies head coach, even though he has multiple ties to the situation.
The school president, Mark Emmert, had been Chancellor of LSU when Haywood was an assistant coach there from 1995-2002. Athletic director Scott Woodward was also at LSU when Haywood was there and the Notre Dame ofensive coordinator considers Woodward one of his best friends.
And then there's the guy who he almost went to work for: Willingham.
"It's a tough situation for everyone that's involved in that situation," Haywood said. "I feel for them all because there's a lot of adversity but we have a job to do. Friendships and those things and feelings that you have for other people, you put them on the back burner."
Does Haywood ever think about what could have happened if he had taken the job?
Nah. That's not his style. He, not surprisingly, isn't a what-if type of guy. In explaining why, he offered a little bit of philosophy, too.
"There (are) a lot of what-ifs in everyone's life," Haywood said. "You can only deal with the time here and the decisions you make now. People have to realize that any decision you make can be a good decision. It may not seem like a good decision when you're going through it but you can make it a good decision.
"If you make it a bad decision, that's your choice."
