Tulane Green Wave Coach Declares Team 'Is Here To Stay' After Solid Debut Season
The Tulane Green Wave football team did not have the end to the season they wanted, but they still showed a lot of fight in a crucial year for the program's future.
Head coach Jon Sumrall led the Green Wave to 9-5 in his first season in charge.
After losing three straight games, Sumrall still seems to be in good spirits about where they are at right now, and where they are headed in the future.
When speaking to the media after the disappointing loss against the Florida Gators in the 2024 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, he was still bullish about the state of the team.
"Tulane football is here to stay man. And we're gonna keep fighting. We're not gonna back down. I told all the youngsters that are in the room that will be on the team next year that they're on the clock. Everybody in the room is on the clock and they gotta get ready to go," said Sumrall.
Despite getting approached by some bigger schools, the Green Wave coach decided to stick around.
That's why he can be a little bit more certain about what is going to be happening next season.
While walking away with 10-plus wins or a bowl victory would have been nice, and were both within reach, Sumrall accomplished the job he had in his first year to keep the program afloat.
The 9-5 record is the best in a Green Wave coach's first season in school history, in fact, it was better than most of their coaches had ever seen.
Nine others had reached nine wins in a season, and only Willie Fritz did it twice.
Fritz had built this program into the best it's ever been, so seeing it fall apart after one year would have been devastating for the program.
The buy-in right now is at an all-time high.
There is set to be a lot of turnover, though, so Sumrall will have another tough test in front of him, making the transfer portal important again.
Every quarterback on the roster with experience went into the portal after the regular season season, which could drastically change things for next year.
Sumrall has already brought in a local kid with a lot of experience in T.J. Finley, who looks to be the starter. This will be his fifth school. He began his career with the LSU Tigers and has been unable to find his footing since.
His one real starting season came in 2023 for the Texas State Bobcats.
Tulane will be hoping he can match that production when he completed 67.4% of his passes for 3,439 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
With Makhi Hughes sticking around, they should at least be able to rely on the run game heavily once again.
That is just one building block done for next year, though.
Sumrall will have has hands full in making sure that the team is actually there to stay.
