Tulane Green Wave new head coach Will Hall explains his vision for sustaining success within the football program and how it keeps values instilled by Willie Fritz and Jon Sumrall.
When introducing the Tulane Green Wave football team’s next head coach, Will Hall, athletic director David Harris mentioned that a group of student athletes came to his office during the coaching search and strongly endorsed Hall. While head coach hires are more than a popularity contest, or about who the players want, that voice is important to listen to.
The year that Tulane won the Cotton Bowl, former coach Willie Fritz empowered his captains. They were searching for their next director of strength and conditioning. The quartet of Michael Pratt, Nick Anderson, Dorian Williams, and Sincere Haynesworth interviewed the candidates themselves, and fought Fritz to bring in the late and great Kurt Hester. Multiple players from that 12-2 team credit Hester for being the reason they pulled off the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history.
The defining trait of that 2022 team was player leadership. That has been the trait that has encompassed the 2025 team over the last few weeks, culminating in a second conference championship and a berth to the College Football Playoff. It’s not the sole reason Hall was hired, but the voices of the players who have cultivated and sustained a winning culture saw him as their best chance to continue that.
In Hall’s introductory remarks as the Green Wave’s next head coach, he immediately addressed the elephant in the room. It looked like the coaching search went wrong at one point zeroing in on an unsure LSU defensive coordinator, Blake Baker. One of the qualities Harris highlighted when he talked about the hiring process after it was announced Jon Sumrall was leaving for Florida was a proven track record. Hall went 14-30 as the head coach of Southern Miss. Hall had a defining chip on his shoulder that gave his opening comments punch.
“I’ve been an overcomer all my life, and it started by how tall I was,” Hall joked. “I’m honored to be your coach. I know I wasn’t the first choice for some people in here, but I can promise you this. I am the best choice and the right choice for this place at this time.”
When Fritz left for the Houston Cougars, it felt like the success he built was potentially a glass house. Was it all a flash in the pan? The last few years have proven that success can be sustainable at Tulane. There are few people who better understand both elements of the winning culture built by Fritz and strengthened and solidified by Sumrall than Hall.
It’s important for coaches to have a unique, distinct vision. It’s also important for coaches not to have an ego that forces change when it’s not needed. It was a bit odd, and also refreshing, to have the new head coach of the Green Wave directly reference the mantras within both coaches’ cultures that he wants to keep.
From coach Fritz, who he said working under was like getting a “PhD in leadership and management,” they’ll keep his famous mantra: recruit, retain, develop. From coach Sumrall, who Hall spoke of as the best motivator of young men he’s been around, they’ll keep his four core values: attitude, toughness, discipline, and love.
From that, Hall announced his mission statement and the values it will be built on. They will affect their players in four ways: academics, athletics, character, and future.
He knows how difficult the academic challenge is at Tulane, and also the massive opportunity in life a degree from the university offers. He’s seen how to develop players to reach their full potential as athletes in two regimes, and that some of their best players to take the field have been developed within. That also includes cultivating character and leadership on and off the field. While the dream for players is to reach the NFL, about 1.6% of college athletes make it the league. So, his acknowledgement of their future past a piece of paper and a, frankly, longshot dream, was notable.
There’s a reason the saying if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, exists. The argument for continuity is a strong one when the hire intended to do so was a part of both staffs that learned what makes greatness at Tulane. It offers the best chance at retaining position group coaches who players arguably commit to more than head coaches. It was the choice that empowers the players and leaders who are the reason this golden era exists and offers the strongest shot at retaining them in the transfer portal window.
“The power of belief is so strong,” Hall said. “Guys, I believe in me, I believe in Tulane, I believe in these players, I believe in this place, and I believe in where we're going. You won't find anybody that has that feeling stronger than me.”
Winning at Tulane is both hard, and easy. The resources at the G5 level make every season an uphill battle. But the Green Wave have figured out how to do so in four consecutive seasons, over three starting quarterbacks and now three head coaches.
There will be plenty of time to break down what a Hall-led team looks like schematically, and he offered insight on that in his opening press conference. One that was interspersed with whoops in the room from a substantial group of current players sitting in the audience. Ones that feel empowered and that their player-led team isn’t a house of cards alongside the culture they want to continue strengthening under the vision of Hall.