Tulane Green Wave Seniors Cement Powerful Legacy Against Memphis Tigers
On a special night for the seniors, the Tulane Green Wave aim to secure homefield advantage in the conference championship game by defeating the Memphis Tigers on Thanksgiving.
The team will celebrate the graduating players in their final regular season game, including long snapper Ethan Hudak, right guard Josh Remetich, and nose tackle Eric Hicks: three of the players who stayed after finishing 2-10 in the 2021 season.
Thursday, for the group who all chose to stay, is a culmination of everything they believed they could build the following December.
Tulane staved off unavoidable truths in the 2023 season by retaining Michael Pratt. Then head coach Willie Fritz departed that November.
Seniors Ethan Hudak, Josh Remetich, and Eric Hicks sat down with Tulane on Sports Illustrated to highlight their rare journey on a legacy that began three years ago and the special end to their careers under head coach Jon Sumrall.
The player-led initiative that resulted in the Cotton Bowl victory dispelled most notions about today's college football landscape. In the age of NIL, the transfer portal, and a wild west landscape that's perpetually in motion, Tulane retained all but one starter.
It started with a PowerPoint presentation by the four captains: Michael Pratt, Sincere Haynesworth, Dorian Williams, and Nick Anderson. It ended with the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history.
After Tulane beat the UCF Knights in the conference championship, I found Hudak on the field for a postgame interview with the Tulane Sports Network from LEARFIELD.
"After everything we went through last year, it means a lot to everyone who stuck around," he said. "No one gave up. We went through a lot and worked harder. It means more after what we did. We all battled, got hurt, got healthy, fought, clawed, scratched, and it's all worth it."
Hudak sees parallels in this year's team's response to adversity after tough losses in September led to a 1-2 start. Hicks expressed a similar sentiment about their mentality.
"Looking back on the 2-10 season and what followed, it was a mentality of keep going, never stopping," Hicks explained. "That mentality is one of the themes that coach Sumrall and his staff brought. Keep going no matter what. Keep chopping wood. One play at a time, one game at a time, and you don't look back."
Remetich offered nuance by highlighting the complex season in between—the one where coach Fritz left.
"In 2022, we were a player-led team. The guys came together, and we got really close," Remetich told me. "In the following year, we knew the standard and expectation, but we didn't have the same player leadership. It took us a few games this season to come together and truly play for each other. Once we got into things, we got really close and started playing together to our standard. We're seeing players step up, speak up, and lead as a team, just like we did after the 2-10 season."
Although they have only experienced one head coaching change, the turnover of coordinators and staff in college football is significant. Hicks has had a different position coach every season and a new defensive coordinator over the last three.
The focus under coordinator Greg Gasparato, coach Landius Wilkerson, and consultant Mike Storms has been on fundamentals, toughness, hand placement, and technique. They saw that payoff in the shutdown of the Navy Midshipmen.
"We weren't worried about the score. We were worried about doing our one 11th on every play, on doing our job every single time. We never stop and just keep going, one play at a time."
Remetich and Hudak have enjoyed a little more consistency, spending two seasons under coaches with NFL pedigree and an invaluable wealth of knowledge.
Remetich has had the opportunity to play alongside offensive linemen Rashad Green and Caleb Thomas, two players who have been part of this same journey and have all shown significant development under their offensive line coach.
"Dan Roushar is a hell of a coach. He's had his years in the league and in college, so he has so much experience and knowledge," Remetich endorsed. "He hones in on the fine details. The little things matter. Having him in the room and leading us is truly special."
Hudak is incredibly grateful to round out his career under the tutelage of special teams coordinator Greg McMahon.
"I'm so glad I've had these two years here with him," Hudak said of McMahon. "He has so much knowledge, and he's just an incredible human. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met. But he really cares about everybody on the team. He has so much passion. I can't thank him enough for being here."
Hudak described his time under Sumrall similarly, highlighting the joyful energy that permeated the building since he took over as the new head coach last December.
However, when it's time to get to work, Hudak has seen a new level of motivation and focus. The same energy drew Remetich in, along with a feeling of care under Sumrall.
"He brings a lot more energy to the table," Remetich explained. "It's a lot more for the player. He takes care of us and knows what needs to be done. His family and all the coaches' families are always here. You get to know more than just the coach; you get to see him around his family, and that's special."
Hicks resonated with the culture and mentality Sumrall brought and built.
"It's the culture he's grown within Tulane and the staff he brought," Hicks said. "It's the mentality to keep going. It's our core values: attitude, toughness, discipline, and love. That's all we've focused on as a team. It's played a lot into us being successful this year."
As Hicks, Hudak, Remetich, and the other seniors included in this journey take the field on Thursday night against Memphis, they do so with a special legacy melding two of the best player-led teams in program history.
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