Tulane's Player Leadership Culture Passes Torch to New Voices

Several months ago, the Tulane Green Wave football team’s ‘The Gauntlet’ program gave a great glimpse into how a team is built behind the scenes and through an offseason.

Fall camp that is set to begin on Aug. 5 will illuminate whether or not those lessons really stuck.

It was apparent back in January that there was some natural player leadership, but it took until closer to the end of the hourlong offseason program for real voices to start speaking up.

The team went on to eventually beat The Gauntlet and presumably gain a lot of lessons about themselves and the natural leaders on the team.

All of that will be extremely essential to whether the Green Wave see major success this season.

A lot has to do with the head coach who is hired, and Will Hall received a really strong reaction from the players in the room.

What was made clear by Tulane’s run to the College Football Playoff last season was that it ultimately comes down to the players.

One of, if not the top, leaders was linebacker Sam Howard. He spoke and everyone listened without question.

He was reminiscent of linebackers Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams with their natural player leadership.

When a player like that leaves a program, the void is arguably as great as a departed head coach.

No hire will step into that vacancy left in the huddles or on the field.

The next player up has to rise to the occasion.

Luckily for Tulane, it seems like that succession process has been quite natural.

Two major leaders to look to next season are free safety Jack Tchienchou and linebacker Chris Rodgers, and fittingly, they were the two player representatives brought alongside Hall to the American Conference media days this past week in St. Petersburg, Fl.

Looking at Tchienchou’s comments to media members, it’s clear that was a strong choice.

Tchienchou explained that they aren’t waiting around for coaches to check them when guys are messing up. The players are conducting their own independent walkthroughs.

He is in charge of the DBs, Rodgers handles the linebackers, and, encouragingly, newcomer Ed Smith on the defensive line is stepping up for his unit.

With Rodgers and Tchienchou, the stepping up makes sense. But it’s great to see transfers taking those same qualities on.

That’s what separates teams with real culture.

If built correctly, it should withstand the changing of the tides at head coach.