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Tulane's Culture Runs Through Its Players, Not Coaches
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- Tulane's Culture Runs Through Its Players, Not Coaches
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
There's a saying that really matters in college sports about player-led teams, and the Tulane Green Wave have really built their way towards it.
Good teams are coach-led, but great teams are player-led, and looking back at the year that the Green Wave won the Cotton Bowl, that was the quintessential quality that got them there.
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Having the right head coach in place is significant to a program's success.
It's hard to think that the last four years of Tulane football would have culminated in four consecutive trips to the American Conference Championship, two titles, and a trip to the College Football Playoff without the right coaches in place.
Willie Fritz and Jon Sumrall have been essential to the program, and Will Hall will be significant in whether or not that will continue.
But the Green Wave don't win the Cotton Bowl without player leadership. When the chips were down and no one else believed they could do it, they pulled off the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history.
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Importantly, that's a trait that the current defensive leaders on the team see as their identity.
Tulane recently went down to St. Petersburg, Fl., for American Conference media days, with coach Will Hall bringing free safety Jack Tchienchou and linebacker Chris Rodgers .
Tchienchou spoke with Guerry Smith of Nola.com about that mentality within the program and why it led to several stars like himself deciding to remain rather than enter the transfer portal.
"Tulane's a program that's built around the players," Tchienchou said. "We have success here with or without Sumrall. We won with Fritz. We won with Sumrall. It's not the coach. It's the players."
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That was a strong sentiment echoed the week of the championship game when it was announced that Sumrall was leaving for the Florida Gators .
The players really locked in and looked within and spoke about winning that game for themselves and what they built with the program.
And importantly, a lot of that program still remains.
The pro with new leadership is an outside perspective, especially when one is needed.
The con is that same outside perspective, especially with position group coaches who can make or break a player's career.
By hiring Hall, the Green Wave kept a lot of that core around on staff.
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For defense, linebackers coach Tayler Polk was promoted to defensive coordinator while still coaching his unit.
Tulane is also running back cornerbacks coach J.J. McCleskey, safeties coach Bryan Berezowitz and spears coach Brayden Berezowitz on that side of the ball.
That made it a clear-cut call for Rodgers on not entering the portal.
"It was a no-brainer to stay once I saw Coach Hall got the job and Coach Polk got the promotion," Rodgers said. "Coach Hall puts a smile on your face every time you see him. I'm blessed and honored for him to be my head coach. I want to win another championship with Tulane and go out with a bang."
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The word 'continuity' came up quite a bit when Hall's hire was announced, and it'll be a debate as the season goes on about the importance of that.
But it's already clear how much of an impact that decision had on retaining the players who won games on the field, and who will be the most important factor in whether they continue to do so this upcoming season.
