This time, Tulane weathers the storm

by Jeff Goodman

Updated: September 7, 2008, 7:32 PM EST Comment

"I was calm," Dickerson said via phone from his family's home in South Carolina on Monday night. "Our university was 24 hours ahead of the city when it came to dealing with everything as far as making decisions and evacuations."

Tulane closed its doors at noon on Friday and Dickerson's primary concern was making certain all of his players were accounted for. Once that happened, Dickerson got his family on the road Saturday night around 8.

After dealing with the mass exodus from the city and the excess of traffic, they arrived in Mobile, Ala., late at night, made it to Atlanta on Sunday night and arrived in South Carolina on Monday.

"Do the two situations compare?" Dickerson said. "Yes. Katrina is still fresh on everyone's minds, but as far as organizational, the experience with Katrina helped us to evacuate more smoothly."

"Katrina was very taxing on my wife and family," he added. "This time was more routine."

Three years ago, Dickerson and his family were displaced in a hotel in Pensacola, Fla., figuring they would be able to return to their home on the West Bank in a matter of days. Instead, they spent the semester at Texas A&M before returning to New Orleans and finishing out a 12-17 campaign.

Now Dickerson continues to play the waiting game to hear the extent of any damage to his home.

"This is a frustrating time and a difficult moment because we don't know about our house," Dickerson said. "I'm hoping I can get someone in the next day or two to give me a real-life report on how our community and how our house did. I just don't know. It's a tense time for my wife and I."

"We live on the west bank of New Orleans and that's where the storm was projected to make landfall," he added. "When we left, it was predicted to be a category four or five, but they said it was just a two."

Dickerson said this time around his family made certain to have all their important personal belongings, valuables and a couple weeks of clothes packed up — unlike the last time, when they brought only enough clothes to make it through two days.

Dickerson said he receives updates from the university via e-mail. He and his staff also repeatedly check in with all the players.

"Everyone on the team is fine," Dickerson said. "The university did an unbelievable job of acting ahead of time and making sure, in no way, our students were ever in any danger."

"We're just waiting for the orders on when to come back," said Tulane assistant coach Andrew Novick, a Maine native who drove, along with his pregnant wife, Sabrina, to Birmingham, Ala.

"I hate to say we're experienced veterans, but we've been through this before so we know what to expect now," Novick added.

Both coaches said they were uncertain whether the school will re-open this week, as previously scheduled. However, Dickerson is hoping to return to his home and job as soon as possible.

Tulane is coming off a 17-15 season and Dickerson recently learkned that star point guard Kevin Sims' hip injury isn't as serious as feared and he is expected to be at 100 percent for the season opener.

"I want to get back and prepare for next week," Dickerson said. "That's when we're allowed to go back out recruiting."

Three years ago, Dickerson's frame of mind was entirely different.