Tulane enters the Will Hall era with a culture athletic director Davis Harris believes is the program's greatest asset.
The Tulane Green Wave are entering a new era with head coach Will Hall, and the buzz word of the hire was “continuity.” Now, there’s the idea that continuing a status quo could feel stale, or that it was a bandaid word being used to cover up other blemishes. But if it works, it really does work. It was clear that the Green Wave needed nearly all of conference play to gel as a full team last season, despite coming out 4-1 to begin their American slate. That makes sense when 50-plus new players join a roster, and the starting quarterback didn’t arrive until fall camp.
This season, the quarterback room is what it will be heading into the fall, and the next starter for the Wave will come out of that group led by returner Kadin Semonza and Houston Cougars transfer Zeon Chriss-Gremillion. Tulane has nearly half of their defensive snaps returning next season, headlined by a linebacker core. There were only about 17-18 new adds in the transfer portal, because there frankly weren’t too many holes to fill outside of a gaping one across the defensive line.
Green Wave athletic director David Harris recently did an interview with football flagship 106.7 The Ticket, talking about a culture that was built by the student-athletes and coaches that have made the program into “something special” the last several seasons. Hall gives them an opportunity to continue building on that track, arguing that an incoming coaches’ ability to duplicate or connect to an established, proven culture is something that helps programs sustain success.
“That’s what you saw when Jon Sumrall came in,” Harris explained. “They didn’t do things exactly as Willie Fritz had, but … he was respectful of what had gone on before him."
That same factor exists with Hall, but he also has a unique connection to both coaching staffs, previously serving as Fritz’s defensive coordinator, and this past season as Sumrall’s pass game coordinator. He learned what makes things go under both coaches who are amongst the most successful in program history.
He also has a connection to a prior era when things were still being built, as did Sumrall. The program had potential in 2020, but it was nothing like it is today. As former quarterback Michael Pratt has pointed out, the former recruiting pitch was 6-6 and a bowl game.
A lot remains to be seen in this upcoming season, and fall camp still has quite a bit to play out as the coaching staff looks to put their starting pieces in play. But like it or not, continuity is here to stay, and it has a compelling argument.