Tulane Football Invests in Valuable Strategy to Develop, Promote Staff

Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall knows that in order for his Group of Five team to compete in college football, he needs the resources to retain the coaching staff that can get them there.

One of the priorities in his extension was a competitive salary pool for the Tulane football coaches, but Sumrall goes a step further in developing his rising staff to have professional growth and opportunities.

Just as essential to the success of a football program is the talent of coaches as much as players.

Sumrall was asked by CBS’s Josh Pate about preparing for attrition on the roster and on his staff.

“They're kind of different,” Sumrall said. “The roster component's probably harder because, like you said earlier, you may develop a player who is an unknown, and you don't foresee that that player is not going to be on your roster in six months. And then how do you make up for going and getting a starter?”

While not naming anyone directly, that story certainly applies to the ascension of now-Duke Blue Devil Darian Mensah.

He tries to have proactive meetings with players prior to the transfer portal window on the value created with the Green Wave program, but so much of player movement with the infusion of NIL is out of the coach's control.

However, a head coach is always more tuned in with the staff he’s surrounded with and has a more candid read on their status.

Coaching careers are not the same as players’ short-lived opportunities to capitalize on the peak of their careers and their name, image, and likeness. Development and opportunity matter, and the discussion of created value is more holistic. Sumrall hopes to be able to grow from within via in-house promotion.

“I'm for everybody in our building staff-wise to have professional development and growth and to be able to create opportunities for themselves career-wise,” Sumrall said. "I think you probably keep a little bit closer tabs on the staff stuff and maybe backfilling certain jobs. I personally love to promote from within. It makes the systems that carry over or those transitions really, really smooth. There's something nice about adding some external guys here and there too that can give you a different lens or perspective on how they see something. But there's a lot to, hey, there's a standard here. This is how we do things. It's not always what we do, but how we do it matters just as much, because what you do, you evolve and adapt every year.”

Sumrall explained that on the field, things have to adapt to the personnel around them, making a strong point about the business of people over product. A strong mantra of Sumrall’s is humans over hardware.

“We may play one coverage one year and play it a little less the next because we have to evolve on who our people are or what works,” Sumrall said. “But I think how you do things matters.”

He hopes to see his players and staff have opportunities—obviously, he wished with Tulane but is ultimately their biggest cheerleader no matter where they go. He’s shown precedent to promote from within and retain rising personnel and staff members.

Co-offensive line coach Evan McKissack was promoted from co-offensive line coach to lead the unit in place of Dan Roushar, who departed for the job with the Chicago Bears.

Offensive recruiting specialist Kyle Schexnayder was promoted on Tuesday to Director of football recruiting. Graduate assistant Tyler Kelley is now assistant running backs coach and offensive recruiting specialist.

While players win the games on the field, coaches are the leaders who set the tone, culture, and ultimately the development of the human beings in the uniform, and the Green Wave are poised to keep that foundation.

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