Will Tulane Coach's Philosophy of Holistic Leadership Translate to More Wins?

The Tulane Green Wave's head coach has seen newcomers and returnees step up as leaders, which is important in building and sustaining a culture.

Credit: Tulane Athletics / Football

Tulane’s new head coach wants his team to be player-led, and that leadership must come across the board. Quarterback is an obvious place to look, but in lieu of a named starter, there’s a void for players to step up.

Even with a leader like Michael Pratt at quarterback, multiple players referenced linebacker Nick Anderson as someone who had an impact on them – when he wasn’t even on the team that season.

The greatest single-season turnaround in college football history was spearheaded by Tulane’s captains: Michael Pratt, Nick Anderson, Sincere Haynesworth, and Dorian Williams. Jon Sumrall is breaking from that mold and won’t have season-long captains.

After Tuesday’s practice, I asked Sumrall about his process for selecting team leaders, and how he's seen those traits in players who have stepped up outside of the quarterback room.

“We'll do game captains. There will be a core special teams captain every week that's voted on by the core special teams players, which basically means you either start on punt or you start on two or more other special teams. Those players will pick the special teams captain each week. On offense and on defense, there will be one on each side based upon practice habits and performance and games.”

He furthered his reasoning to explain that it’s not for lack of obvious leaders – rather the opposite. He sees qualities team-wide that match his player-led vision.

“I like the leadership of this team holistically. What I mean by that is there's obvious guys like Josh Remetich, Pat Jenkins, Tyler Grubbs, Ra Ra (Rashad Green), that have been here for at least a season or longer. Then there are some youngsters who were here that I think kind of get it and have seen other guys do it. I think the quarterbacks, for Kai and Mensah, both those guys were able to watch Pratt, pretty good leader. Ty was able to watch Bo Nix, pretty good leader. Those guys have added value in those roles.”

He pointed to guard Shadre Hurst, who played next to Sincere Haynesworth for several seasons. Sumrall can see how he emulates Sincere in a lot of ways. The challenge is balancing the leaders who have been with the program with incoming transfers; both have to meld and step up.

He sees the experience in his transfer cornerbacks, Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards, whose snap counts have translated to great leadership in their secondary.

One obvious piece is transfer center Vincent Murphy, who is one of Tulane’s two representatives for the SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee). The other player is linebacker Sam Howard – who just arrived in May.

“That tells you a little bit about how he’s got a voice,” Sumrall said.

When adding transfer players, he acknowledged that the playmaking ability has to be there. The important factor is their fit with the team’s culture.

“I think you reinforce the culture by what you bring in,” he explained. “We were privileged to have Matt Forte come about a week ago and talk at our team meeting. The first question he asked is, who in here sees himself as a leader? About half the room stood up, which is encouraging. He said, alright sit down. Then he asked, why did you guys who didn’t stand up not stand up?”

“There are four levels of leadership. Level one is lead yourself. Everybody's tasked to lead themselves. We're all leaders in some way. That may mean you're just showing up to work on time or to practice on time. That's leading yourself. That's different maybe than doing the team breakdown at the end or being the rah-rah guy, but everybody's got a different role of leadership. I think we've got a quality locker room.”

That will matter most when adversity hits. Teams that expect to endure a season with flying colors won’t be prepared for what Sumrall knows is inevitable in college football.

“I've never been a part of a football season where there's something that didn't go sideways. When that goes sideways, it tests your mettle of what's your real identity and what's your real character? I look to the 2022 season when we lost at Troy on a Hail Mary to App State, that tested our character, our guys responded. The week after that, Tulane lost to Southern Miss, right after beating Kansas State. Well, that tests your character. I think both teams responded really well.”

He needs his leaders to be able to handle that when it hits this year. Great teams can’t be coach-led. Sumrall trusts the leadership in Tulane’s locker room to be able to stare down whatever comes their way, be confident in who they are, and not waiver. Those are the pillars of a player-led team.