Ricky Rodriguez, who played football for the late Jim Ingram at Washington High in Fremont and went on to follow his high school coach into the profession, has stepped down as the head coach at James Logan.

In a text to the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday, Rodriguez said he resigned his position at the Union City school on Monday.

“My family and I have accepted a position at a school in Tennessee,” Rodriguez wrote in a text. “Although bittersweet, we are really excited for these new adventures.”

Rodriguez said he will coach varsity football and middle school baseball at Battle Ground Academy in the Nashville area. He is the second known Bay Area high school football coach to leave for the Nashville area since California last had a high school football season in fall 2019.

Sione Ta’ufo’ou left Archbishop Mitty in San Jose for a coaching job under former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer at Lipscomb Academy in June.

Rodriguez had commuted to James Logan from his home in Discovery Bay, more than an hour drive each way.

“This opportunity allows me to do what I have always wanted, which is coach and live in the same town,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez coached Logan for two seasons, going 7-4 in 2018 and 9-2 in 2019. The Colts won the Mission Valley Athletic League championship in Rodriguez’s second season with a 6-0 record. Logan had finished 2-8 the year before Rodriguez arrived.

“To try to replace Ricky right now, that’s difficult for the job he’s done the past three years at Logan,” said Eli Bagaoisan, the school’s athletic director. “Not only with the Colt community but if you remember where this program was at three years ago — with low numbers and everything else — to we’re back into the 100s … I can’t say enough.

“If you want to say something about Ricky from me, I can’t say enough and thank him enough for the services that he’s done for Logan athletics, Logan football. He’s impacted that school quite a bit.”

Before taking over at Logan, Rodriguez was the head coach at Encinal in Alameda for four seasons. He went 0-9 in his first season and 11-1 in his last, finishing there with a 24-20 record.

“We had an amazing group of kids at Encinal,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been lucky in my two spots as HC. So thankful for those two communities.”

Rodriguez has been one of the leaders in the push to bring back high school sports in California amid the pandemic. Last fall, he started the West Coast Coaches Alliance and later joined ranks with Serra coach Patrick Walsh as they collected data to convince state officials to give youth sports a chance.

It remains unclear when all high school sports will return in California.

Rodriguez graduated from Washington in 2003 and played on the last team that Ingram coached. Ingram succeeded Bill Walsh — yes, that Bill Walsh — as Washington’s head coach in 1960 and went on to win 230 games and 12 MVAL titles. Ingram died in 2013 at age 80.

Rodriguez sometimes wondered what Coach I — as Ingram was known — would think about a Washington graduate coaching at rival Logan.

He’ll no longer have to wonder now.