Tulane has turned a roller coaster into a freeway

By Ed Daniels, Sports
Clarion Herald

Somehow, through the years, the phrases “seamless transition” and “Tulane football” have not quite gone together.

But, this spring, even though the head football coach who coached the most games (101) in school history and won the second-most (54) departed for a Power 5 job, optimism abounds.

It is more than five months until Jon Sumrall coaches his first game at Tulane, but Green Wave insiders like what they see.

“He has the ability to mesh the people he inherited with the people he brought with him,” said a source who wished not be identified. “Of course, he’s taking over a team that was 23-5 the last two years, not 5-23.”

Sumrall retained a host of staff, including four assistants with a wealth of experience: J.J. McCleskey (defensive backs), Greg McMahon (special teams coordinator), Dan Roushar (offensive line) and Carter Sheridan (wide receivers).

And, Tulane aced recruiting and the transfer portal.

The website 247sports ranked Tulane’s transfer class tops in the American Athletic Conference and third in freshman recruits.

Former five-star recruit Ty Thompson, a transfer from Oregon, gives the Wave a chance to approach the level of play of quarterback Michael Pratt, who tossed a school-record 90 touchdown passes in four seasons.

And, the 2024 schedule is favorable.

Tulane plays four teams that had winning records a year ago, and three of those – Kansas State, South Florida and Memphis – are at home.

Tulane may be a decided underdog in only one game this fall, a Sept. 14 game at Oklahoma.

Now, about that sustained success.

New Tulane director of athletics David Harris, when asked what it would take to get the Wave into a Power 5 league, said the first thing the school must do is win consistently.

“When I was growing up, Tulane had success, but it would be more like a roller coaster, where you had ‘high highs’ and ‘low lows,’” said Harris, a graduate of University Lab High School in Baton Rouge.

“Ultimately, for us, success and preparation mean continuing to go forward, to not have situations where we go down into the valley of not having success and try to build our way back out of it.”

Exactly.

In a 10-year stretch from 2003 to 2012, the Green Wave won a total of 33 games.

If Tulane wins 10 this season, that total will be matched in three seasons.

When Sumrall accepted the Tulane job, he said anything was possible, including winning a national championship.

“Speak it into existence,” said the new Tulane football coach.

As spring practice began this week, Tulane football had long cleared the bar of respectability and is on the verge of a new threshold, not attainable in almost 100 years.

And, that is the ability to be successful, year after year.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].