Tulane Green Wave head coach Will Hall didn't succeed in his last coaching stint, but here's why he thinks this time will be different.
The Tulane Green Wave football team hired new coach Will Hall in December to succeed former coach Jon Sumrall, and it will be his second stint as an FBS head coach after leading the Southern Miss Golden Eagles from 2021 to 2024. His time there only saw the Golden Eagles win four total games between 2023 and 2024, and it was a blemish on a promising resume when it comes to his track record at Tulane. For one, they are in very different positions when it comes to a track record of success, strong sustained culture, donor buy-in, NIL resources, urban location, and a great education opportunity. What didn’t work at Southern Miss might very well work for the Green Wave. But that doesn’t erase past failures, and Hall addressed it head-on in a recent interview with Fox 8 in New Orleans.
He called the criticism “definitely fair,” but urged people to look at the whole picture. "That’s part of my past. The thing I would say is look at my body of work as a whole. Look at what I did as an offensive coordinator everywhere I’ve been, and then also look at my head coaching record everywhere I’ve been."
Hall was quite successful in his other head coach stops. He has a 56-20 record between his time at Division II West Alabama and FCS West Georgia. Hall also defended the fact that he led Southern Miss to a bowl win for the first time in several years. They defeated the Rice Owls in the LendingTree Bowl in 2022. The last time the Golden Eagles had won a bowl game was 2016. Hall, of course, acknowledged that the bowl win didn’t mean he had a free pass in his time there.
“Made some mistakes there towards the end. We didn’t get it done holistically."
Now, it’s important to acknowledge that one of those seasons was injury-riddled at the quarterback role. Hall cycled through so many players that he had to tap into his running backs room and start Frank Gore Jr. at one point. But Hall still posted a 14-30 record and will have to show that things will be different with the Green Wave.
Hall isn’t the first coach to get a second chance after being fired from a previous role. Anyone who has held a job knows that the right boss, the right environment, the right coworkers, the right culture, the right treatment of employees, and more, all matter as much or more than a salary. Sometimes there’s value in failing and fighting back, and there’s likely more perspective to be had in the what-not-to-do department.
Now, that all also sets up a great storyline for when Tulane hosts Southern Miss on Sept. 26 next season. Hall got the best of the Green Wave back in 2022, and will look to flip the script on his former team and chase a successful first season.