Tulane's Brock Hays Lands Second Straight Bill Walsh Fellowship With Texans

The Tulane Green Wave football team will succeed or fail by both the players they assembled and the coaches on their staff. One coach in particular has shown a consistent ability to produce star talent, and that is running backs coach Brock Hays, who joined the staff under former coach Jon Sumrall after two years with the Troy Trojans, and who was named to the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship for a second year in a row.

After spending that fellowship with the New Orleans Saints last season, Hays will head to join the Houston Texans camp this season. The Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship was established in 1987 with the intent of increasing the number of full-time NFL minority coaches. Importantly, it looks for talent in the college and high school ranks both in coaches and former players who show real potential and bring them to an opportunity to learn the methods and ways of thinking by NFL coaches.

Hays is a noteworthy one as well as he is an offensive-minded position coach. There is a noted discrepancy in black coaches in the NFL, and that’s also hindered by the lack of offensive coordinators and offensive minded black coaches, as that side of the ball shows a better track record to becoming a head coach, something Brian Flores pointed out in his massive lawsuit against the NFL accusing them of systemic racism.

But if one is looking for a cultivator of talent, Hays is that coach. He developed future NFL star Kimani Vidal with the Trojans, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers, and showed up to Tulane ready to take Makhi Hughes’ talent and run with it. Then Hughes departed. Suddenly, enter Jamauri McClure, who may be the most purely talented back since Tyjae Spears was with the program.

That will be something that will headline the Green Wave offense this season alongside an intriguing, deep room of potential stars in the room that includes Maurice Turner, Jaylin Lucas, Johnnie Daniels, and DJ Dugar. They all have a diverse skill set that will be a focal point of that side of the ball this season.

But when they hit the field this year, they’ll now be led by a coach who has valuable NFL experience in back-to-back seasons. Hays’ consecutive selections are noteworthy as it solidifies him as a rising star in both the college and NFL ranks, and he will return poised with more knowledge to take his Green Wave stars to the next level.