Coach Will Hall says keeping proven assistants who understand Tulane's culture is central to sustaining the program's success.
As the Tulane Green Wave gear up for fall camp on Aug. 5, there’s been a formula that’s been figured out with respect to success that trickles down into a lot of areas.
One of those major areas is recruiting – and the requisite retention of both players and staff that make things tick.
For new head coach Will Hall, it isn’t all new to him. It’s not his first head coaching job, and it’s not his first time at Tulane.
And while this talking point may sound like a broken record at this stage, it’s important to note that the right fit matters as much as the right person.
Coach Hall has been rather effusive at this point about why he didn’t think things worked with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Now, all he can do is prove those lessons on the field.
However, it’s clear that he understands that the same formula isn’t a blanket approach to apply at any program, and what works with the Green Wave might not work elsewhere.
But we aren’t talking about elsewhere.
And at Tulane, the people and players are what has made the program into what it is today.
Of course, NIL and facilities and the like all matter. But people make a program.
Hall has a keen understanding of that based on his conversations with Tulane on SI.
He spoke about how important it was to keep a lot of staff members here who had been around under head coaches Willie Fritz and Jon Sumrall, now respectively with the Houston Cougars and Florida Gators.
They left behind several key position group coaches who Hall feel is essential to making the program continue on this trajectory.
And it’s not just because they understand the program and how it works, but they also understand the place on a deeper level based on growing up in the area.
That applies to several of them, like wide receivers coach Carter Sheridan, quarterbacks coach Collin D’Angelo, and running backs coach Brock Hays, who grew up locally in the New Orleans area.
In addition, tight ends coach Tyler Spotts-Orgeron grew up in Baton Rouge. Defensive backs coach JJ McCleskey played locally for the New Orleans Saints.
These local ties matter in understanding the culture and how to recruit the right players the right way.
It shouldn’t be any surprise or secret that that approach translated into major player retention that should hopefully pay off in the next coming weeks when they hit the ground running with a strong start.
