Tulane Green Wave Coach Shares Hilarious Anecdote About Competitive Nature
The Tulane Green Wave are still getting settled into a new era with former Troy Trojans standout coach Jon Sumrall taking the reigns this past offseason.
While the program and fans are still getting used to their new coach, one thing about Sumrall has become clear. He's very competitive.
During an interview with Next Round Live, the Green Wave head man shared a funny insight into his life that shows just how much competitive spirit he has and how badly he wants to complete goals they set before the season.
"Goals for me, you know. You guys know, I've got an 11-year-old son. Every time I play him in basketball in the driveway, he loses. I like to win. [Tulane] wants to win every time we play," said Sumrall. "There's a reason they got electricity in the scoreboard. It's not just for the fun of it. The goal is to win and so we've got to stay focused on what's in front of us."
The 42-year-old head coach clearly holds winning in high regard and knows how important it is for a first-year program to win early.
His first goal was to win the state of Louisiana. The Green Wave faced two in-state programs this season in the Southeastern Louisiana Lions and the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns.
Tulane took care of business against the Lions with relative ease. While the Ragin Cajuns put up much more of a fight, the Green Wave were still able to take home a victory.
That marks one goal done, as they did not lose a game to an in-state opponent.
The next goal on the list would be to win the American Athletic Conference. They started conference play out with a victory last week over the UAB Blazers. Tulane should be in a good position to hold their lead of the conference into at least the end of the year.
They don't play their most tough in-conference games until the last two weeks against the Navy Midshipmen and Memphis Tigers. If they can hold on to the five games before then, in which they should be favored, the opportunity to win the American should present itself.
Sumrall's last goal would be to win the postseason, in whatever form that takes for the program by the time that comes. That could technically include the playoffs if they win the conference, but two losses already still makes that tough.
Current bowl projections from CBS Sports have the Green Wave facing the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Armed Forces Bowl.
The competitive nature did not override Sumrall's ability to make realisitic goals for the program this season. Everything seems doable and would set up for a great first year of the new era in New Orleans.
