Coaches are always searching for a player-led team. Earlier this season, Jon Sumrall described the Tulane Green Wave football team as a sloppy, immature one that finds ways to win games and that he was going to lose his mind. Those characteristics aren’t exactly cohesive with that first goal. He might not have imagined that the adversity they needed to find that leadership would come from him directly. But in departing for the Florida Gators, Sumrall may have given his team a hidden edge within themselves.

Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells was known for strategically creating crises and using adversity to direct attention the right way. None of what’s going on at Tulane right now is manufactured; it’s simply the state of college football. But it’s a critical moment for this team to choose a response to. And they chose player leadership, a main trait of the team who pulled off the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history in Arlington, Tx. three years ago.

Of the now four trips to the American Conference Championship, the Green Wave only won the first one. That week of prep kicked off with noise surrounding former coach Willie Fritz to Georgia Tech. Former captains Nick Anderson, Michael Pratt, Dorian Williams, and Sincere Haynesworth held a player meeting that week to streamline their team’s focus.

One of the players in that room was wide receiver Bryce Bohanon, who is one of the few seniors remaining from that year, and the crucial 2-10 season before it. After Sumrall told his team on Sunday that he was departing for the Gators, Bohanon was the one to call for a player meeting this time, as linebacker Sam Howard explained to reports on Tuesday – most had assumed he called it.

“I wasn't the one that really initiated the meeting actually,” Howard said. “It was Bryce [Bohanon]. And then it was a collective talk like, ‘Hey, yeah, we should do it’. We all came in and the focus was, we understand what's going on. We understand coach is leaving. Everybody’s seen what happened, everybody knows. Now, if you feel like you need to hit the portal or whatever, we understand you got to do what you got to do. But nobody got up and said, ‘Hey, I'm doing that’. We gave a chance for guys to leave and nobody decided to do that.”

“If you're here and you're going to be here, then we've got to put our best foot forward for this week because we're not going to get this opportunity again. This team will never be together again. This coaching staff will never be together again. We told those guys that and the urgency, the accountability has to be an all-time high this week and it has been.”

What Tulane has that the North Texas Mean Green lack is the experience in knowing what it’s like to lose one of these championships when your goals are that close. It’s clear there's a chip on their shoulder from the harsh loss to the Army Black Knights.

“We set out to do something when we walked off that field against Army in New York at West Point last year,” Howard said.

That loss was also marred by rumors of Sumrall’s potential departure, and the outside noise very well may have played a factor. But in this head coach carousel cycle, the coaches have been the main characters rather than the players – mostly due to outside media and some poorer actors in their departures. This team wants to win for Sumrall, and finish what they set out to accomplish. But they want it for themselves more.

“I think we want it for him for sure, but we want it for us,” Howard said. “For Tulane. This is our fourth appearance, and we only got one. You’ve got to be tired of being tired.”

“I know everybody wants to make it about Coach. We love Coach, and Coach loves us, but at the end of the day, it is not just about us. It's not just about him. It's about everybody. Everybody that wears a Tulane logo, everybody that's going to wear that Tulane logo Friday night, it's about them. We’re going out there and play for everyone, not just one person.”

The Green Wave may have been sloppy and immature at one point this year. But in the face of turmoil, they turned inward. That will go further than coach speak on the sideline as they chase their second conference title.