Tulane Football Coach Says NIL Commitment Helped Lure Him Back
The Name, Image and Likeness space in college athletics is one of the most competitive spaces in all of sports. Having a collective isn’t enough anymore. That collective has to be successful financially and pro-active in its support of student-athletes and programs.
Tulane football coach Jon Sumrall, who is entering his first season leading the program, told the ‘Wake Up With Mintzy’ podcast recently that if the Green Wave didn’t have its Fear the Wave collective, he might have thought twice about taking the job.
“When I went through the interview process here, had that not been in place the way it was, I don't know that I would have been as interested in this opportunity,” Sumrall said.
Recently, Sports Illustrated spoke with Michael Arata, a former Tulane football player and one of the founders of the Fear The Wave Collective.
Along with raising money for student-athletes, the collective has worked to create relationships with student-athletes, something they feel is critical for a Group of 5 school like Tulane to retain some of its student-athletes at critical moments.
The collective helped the Green Wave retain quarterback Michael Pratt after his stellar 2022 season during which Tulane won the Cotton Bowl. Arata and another former Tulane player, Jimmy Ordeneaux, were outside the locker room after the American Athletic Conference championship game loss to SMU last December.
Then-coach Willie Fritz had informed the team he was taking the job in Houston. Arata and Ordeneaux leaned on their own experience to talk with players afterward that might transfer. Both had coaches leave the program while they were playing.
“We understand what that feels like,” Arata said. “We used our own experience to say, you know what? It would be nice for us to be there, to be somebody who says, ‘Hey man, I know who you are. I know what you're going through, I'm here with you right now, and I can promise you I'm not leaving.’”
Sumrall was an assistant at Tulane a decade ago before the NIL era. In his short time back on campus, he said he’s appreciated the collective’s ability to help support his players in that space.
“The Fear the Wave collective, those guys have positioned us to be at the top of the G-5 level without question,” Sumrall said. “Without an organized collective, without a really good NIL initiative, you've got no chance in college football now.”
The Fear The Wave collective, Sumrall said, is at least giving Green Wave football a chance.
Tulane will be in Arlington, Texas, for AAC media days on Monday and Tuesday.
