Tulane Basketball Prepares for the 2025-26 Season in the Midst of Tragedy
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Emotion is always part of every sport The highs and lows of a season can make or break a team. The 2025-26 edition of the Tulane basketball program has to not only learn about each other and the various plays and defenses every team has to deal with, but it also has to figure out a way to deal with the death of their senior forward Gregg Glenn III.
"Gregg finished summer with us," Tulane head basketball coach Ron Hunter referring back to the summer sessions held for the players. "There's no playbook for dealing with what happened this summer. "
Tragedy Strikes Tulane Basketball on July 28, 2025
It was shortly after midnight on that Monday. Glenn was swimming just south of Key Biscayne's Dog Beach. Miami Fire Rescue told local news stations in that crews responded to reports of a possible drowning. Authorities said the 22-year old Glenn was underwater for approximately 30 minutes before he was pulled and transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died shortly before 2 a.m.
Glenn had transferred to Tulane from the University of Michigan in 2023 and quickly became a key component of coach Ron Hunter's Green Wave team, starting all 34 games. He had a breakout season in his first season Uptown, averaging 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds as a transfer junior.
Tulane Vice President of Student Affairs Sarah Cunningham wrote a letter to the Tulane Community. "It is with profound sadness that I reach out to you today. We have lost a cherished member of our university community, Gregg Glenn III, who died in a tragic accident this weekend. He was a talented student-athlete who enriched our lives with his spirit, dedication, and passion for both sports and academics."
In a statement on social media, Coach Hunter posted, “Gregg was not only an exceptional athlete but also a remarkable person who brought energy, dedication, and kindness to our team and community. Gregg’s spirit and passion will be deeply missed.”
Tulane Players and Coaches Working Their Way through the Grief
"This is definitely the first time publicly I've spoken about Gregg," Coach Hunter said Tuesday before the media. "I'll be honest with you, my guys are not ready for that yet. That's something we talked about the other day, (but) they're just not there yet. We got to kind of let them move at their pace with that."
For Hunter and his team, it's one foot in front of the other
"Even yesterday (Monday) being the first day of practice, what I usually show is some highlights of some things we did well last year," Hunter continued. "I couldn't do that this year because Gregg was in all of them. We're still trying to figure that out, maneuver our way through there day-by-day, and we're getting better.
"I'm kind of diving into practices and all the other stuff and taking care of everybody else, but therapeutically, I probably needed this to be honest with you. I don't think my program can move on until I can move on in that regards. We're getting there."
As shown in the team picture posted on the Tulane Basketball Instagram page, Glenn's jersey is pictured prominently front and center. The team is making a conscious effort to honor the legacy of the senior forward.
"When you walk in our locker room, we left Gregg's locker the exact same way when he left it," coach Hunter told us. "It will not be touched until after he's a senior, when he graduates with the senior class."
At the end season, the team will honor Glenn on what would have been one of his home games in Fogelman Arena.
"On senior night, he will say goodbye, like all of our seniors that particular day will," said Hunter.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.