Tulane Coach Hall Talks D and Coaches, Part 3 of 5

The first year coach is excited about his defense and how his coaches are lining up.

Will Hall Interview on the Defense and Coaching Mix | On SI Tulane - Doug Jouber

Shortly after Will Hall was introduced as the new head coach at Tulane, On SI Tulane had a chance to sit down to do an exclusive, one-on-one interview before Spring camp ever opened.

As we approach the start of the Fall version of Hall Ball, we are looking back at that interview to give us a chance to see where we stood before any of us saw Hall's processes. We'll be re-releasing the videos as the countdown to Fall Practice for Tulane football continues.

Today, Hall talks about his defense and how he decided on the coaches on his staff. Though the transcript is below, this portion of the interview can be found on our YouTube channel.

How do you look for a defensive coordinator (DC)? Are you looking for someone who knows a lot more than you do or a little bit more than you do or is this guy you going to lean on?

I've had a track record of success hiring DCs. The DC at SMU was my DC. The DC at South Florida was my DC. The DC at Houston was my D-coordinator in my past. So, the thing I really look for is can they get the guys to play like their hair's on fire? It's important to schematically be correct on defense, but that to me that is secondary to those guys playing so freaking hard and for each other that it's like their life depends on it. And that was the overwhelming reason why I hired Tayler Polk and promoted him.

His players absolutely love him. He pours everything into it. He doesn't have bad days. He may have bad moments, but no bad days. He's full of energy and juice. He's also extremely intelligent. He's an overachiever as a player and a coach, and I think he's going to be a future star. I interviewed a ton of people, a ton of people that probably have bigger resumes only because they've been doing it longer. But, what Tayler's accomplished in a short amount of time speaks volume. and then what Tayler's players think about him and how hard they play for him was the overwhelming deciding factor.

It's a mix of newcomers and people who have been around the block with you and with this program. How important was that to go and keep some of the guys around if you could?

I just thought being with Coach Fritz here the first time and then with Coach Sumrall this time, there's a few people that are just really good at coaching at Tulane. You start talking about people like Carter Sheridan, and JJ McCleskey, and Tyler Spotts-Orgeron, and Collin D'Angelo, those are guys that were here with Coach Fritz and also with Coach Sumrall and they just fit here. So, keeping them here, I thought was awesome for them and for us because they understand this place. Carter and Brock (Hays) and Collin all grew up here. Then JJ played for the Saints here, so they know New Orleans. They love Tulane. Spotts grew up in Baton Rouge, and keeping Brock Hays was huge for us. So, they just really know this area and this place, and our players love them. But it was bigger than just they're from here.

I was able to sit for a year and watch how their players interact with them and watch how they motivate their players because I was in the trenches with them. That was a huge advantage for me in hiring them. So, to keep them was big. I also wanted to bring in the most qualified people I could hire, that believed in my vision, (that) treat people the way I think they should be treated, but also are masters of their craft. Because you have to be a master of your craft to coach at this level. I mean, we're Tulane, man. We've played for four straight conference titles. We should be able to hire good coaches and we have.