San Marcos — Rumors began circulating through Texas State’s football program about the eventual departure of associate head coach/co-offensive coordinator Travis Bush early last week.

Bush confirmed those rumors Monday night when he accepted the position of offensive coordinator at UTSA. It wasn’t officially announced until Wednesday, but Bush had a concrete deal in place with the Roadrunners since he agreed in principle.

His first stop after making the decision was to clear the air with his friend and Bobcats head coach Brad Wright. Bush and Wright began coaching at Texas State in 2004 and once Wright assumed the head coaching position in 2007, he named Bush his offensive coordinator.

“Any time you have a relationship with somebody at the beginning, it’s always like ‘Dang, he’s leaving,’ but then you start thinking maybe it will be good for him,” Wright said.

Bush then made it a priority to discuss the situation with Texas State’s current batch of quarterbacks (Tim Hawkins, Eric Soza, Alvaro Garcia and Bryan Hill), some of whom he coached for their entire collegiate careers.

It was incredibly tough for Hawkins to swallow since he had been under Bush’s watchful eye for the last three years and was recruited by the former San Marcos High assistant coach out of high school.

“Once I heard about it, I began thinking about all the things that we’ve been through and now that he’s gone, but you’ve always got to keep your head up and keep going,” Hawkins said. “He was always talking about moving to the next level and I can’t fault him for making this decision.”

While Bush explained his actions to Wright and the quarterbacks, the question still remains as to why he left a Top 25 program for one that doesn’t begin competitive play until 2011.

“There are a lot of things involved in the decision that I don’t want to get into right now,” Bush said. “It was a strictly career-based decision in working toward the goals I had set for my career.”

One can only speculate about his reason for departure.

Maybe Bush felt when he goes to apply for a head coaching position, which is his eventual goal, having Larry Coker’s name near the top of the resume would hold more weight than Wright’s?

Perhaps Bush wanted full control of an offense and no longer wanted to share duties with co-offensive coordinator Ben Norton?

He might have also decided that with the graduation of Bradley George and several important players, the Bobcats might have reached a plateau.

“It’s not that one school is better than the other or that something is wrong at Texas State. It was an opportunity that came about and I evaluated the opportunity and at this point of my career, it’s a great opportunity,” Bush said. “I believe it’s an exciting opportunity and a great experience I can get working over here and starting a program. I think it’s going to be valuable for the goals that I have set for my career.

“You reach a point where you need to be working toward those goals that you set for yourself and if you’re at a point where you’re not working toward those goals, you need to change something or you need to change your goals.”

Whatever the case, Bush’s departure has many who follow the program scratching their heads.

He has been a presence in the sport around San Marcos for the past 13 years. Bush is a Texas State alum, was a three-year starter for the Bobcats, and also worked as an assistant under his father Bruce Bush at San Marcos High School.