Tulane Players in One Accord about Sumrall Leaving
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Tulane's football coach Jon Sumrall accepted the position as head coach at Florida on Sunday. This week was the first chance for media to talk to him and his players about his imminent move to Gainesville. Yesterday, we featured Sumrall's reaction, including some emotional moments for him. Today, reaction from a pair of seniors, linebacker Sam Howard, and center Jack Hollifield.
Linebacker Sam Howard
With the outside noise with all this stuff going on with Sumrall. How do you feel like the team has pulled yourselves together?
"It's a lot of talk going around, a lot of media stuff going around about coaches leaving, players leaving the transfer portals. All these things are just distractions you know and as a mature team, we understand that. We set out to do something since last year. I not would say it's a tragedy because it's good for him and his family. So, we understand that as a team, as a mature team, and we understand also that we still have goals that we have to meet and he's still going to be here with us as our coach because we love him and he's going to give us the best chance to win."
On Sunday, a team meeting was called (to discuss Sumrall leaving). Can you tell us about that, about the mood of the team?
"I wasn't the one that really like initiated the meeting actually. It was Bryce Bohannon. Then it was a collective talk like, we should do it (play with Sumrall as coach). And we all came in, we did it. We understand what's going on. We understand coaches leaving, everybody's seen what happened. But now, if you feel like you need to hit the portal or whatever, we understand. You tot to do what you got to do. But nobody got up and said, 'Hey, I'm doing that (jumping into the transfer portal).' We gave a chance for guys to leave and do that, and nobody decided to do that. So we said, 'If you're here and you're going to be here, then we got to put our best foot forward for this week,' because we're not going to get this opportunity again. This team will never be together again. This coaching staff will never be together again. And so we just told those guys that and and the urgency, the accountability has been an all-time high this week. The energy in practice has been good."
Center Jack Hollifield
Being a player-led team, and with coach Sumrall leaving, how important was it to have that leadership?
"I think that's we've seen a lot of resiliency. Sam and a lot of the leaders on the team held a player meeting. I think that was Sunday, when all the all the stuff came out, and I think I think we've bonded even more this week. I think the energy has been great in practice, and I think we're all focused on North Texas."
What was the team's reaction to Sumrall announcing he was taking the Florida job?
"I think we all love coach Sumrall and I think we're happy for him to make the best decision for him and his family. I mean I love Sumrall. I came from places that we didn't win a lot. I think the most games I won was seven and we didn't even compete for conference championships. So to be here at 10-2 and compete for a conference championship, this is my dream, and if we can win it, that's even better. So I think we're all happy (for Sumrall)coming back we're all just focused on North Texas and ready to get the win this weekend. "
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.