Tulane Green Wave Hires New Special Teams Coordinator Boasting Top Ranked Metrics
The Tulane Green Wave have added their second new coach of the offseason, this time seeking the hidden yardage on special teams.
According to Matt Zenitz of CBS and 247 Sports, the Tulane football team is set to hire Johnathan Galante as their new special teams coordinator from the Marshall Thundering Herd.
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles briefly announced that Galante would be taking on the same role on Monday, highlighting the chaos and constant movement in college football. Will Hall, the new pass game coordinator, served as the head coach at Southern Miss before his dismissal midseason.
Galante began as a graduate assistant with Virginia Tech, his alma mater, from 2017-18. He was an outside linebacker for the Hokies. He then served as an Alabama Crimson Tide special teams analyst before joining Marshall's staff in 2022.
His unit had a pair of blocked kicks and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown in his first season. Over the last two seasons, Galante has produced the No. 2 ranked kick returner and the nation's leading specialist last year.
Ian Foster returned 16 kickoffs for 518 total yards in 2024, averaging 32.4 yards per return. Foster had transferred to the Golden Eagles to follow his now-departing coordinator. Galante's unit finished the year ranked in the top 15 nationally in kickoff returns despite recording no touchdowns. The Herd didn't concede one blocked punt in Galante's final season.
Zenitz further reported that current Tulane special teams coordinator Greg McMahon is planning to retire after leading the group for the last two years. McMahon plans to stay on as a resource for the team moving forward. The move doesn't come with much surprise after the team brought on assistant special teams coach Gunner Hudspeth last season.
Galante takes over a kickoff return unit not too far behind his prior one, as the Green Wave finished the year seven spots behind Marshall at No. 22 in efficiency and tied second in returns for touchdowns with a pair by Rayshawn Pleasant.
Pleasant will return, along with punter Will Karoll and kicker Patrick Durkin. They will need to replace punt returner Dontae Fleming. Durkin returns without a long snapper, as longtime veteran Ethan Hudak heads to the NFL Draft.
Galante has a lot to work with in the returnees but has to fill some critical roster holes. His hiring shows the attention and care paid to the special teams unit by the former coordinator himself, head coach Jon Sumrall.
Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com