Will Hall Introduced to TU Fans & Media as New Football Coach
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On Tuesday morning in the Glazier Family Room in Yulman Stadium, Tulane athletics introduced Will Hall as its new head football coach. Hall returned to Tulane this past season to be the passing coordinator and wide receivers coach under Jon Sumrall. Hall wasted no time letting naysayers know, he's the man for the job.
"I'm honored to be your coach," Hall began. "I know I wasn't the first choice for some people in here, but I can promise you this: I am the best choice and the right choice for this place at this time."
He turned to the Tulane football players in attendance at the announcement, saying, "I want to thank these current players. They're a special group on a special run, and we're not done yet. It's still going," referring to the College Football Playoff game coming up in Oxford against Ole Miss on December 20th. "They really put the wind in the sails behind this whole movement."
The Glazier Family Room was packed with Tulane fans, athletes, supporters of the athletic program and others, including Tulane baseball coach Jay Uhlman.
Hall went on to thank the coaching staff at Tulane, but especially offensive coordinator Joe Craddock. "Joe wanted me back here," Hall told the crowd. "Now think about this: I had been the offensive coordinator here, and I had a lot of success. Joe had the humility to want me to come back to be with him this football season. That says a lot about his character and the kind of person he is. Without him, I wouldn't even have been here this year."
Hall referred to Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall, saying the team will keep Sumrall's four core values: Attitude, Toughness, Discipline, and Love, "They align with mine and my previous experiences as a head coach.
"Our mission statement for our program," Hall continued, "we want to affect our players in four ways: academically, athletically, character, and future. Our philosophy is to be an extremely physical ball club, a quarterback driven team and to continue to be an outstanding special teams squad. We'll have our starters on special teams, so we can be the best there is."
As Tulane athletic director Davis Harris handed out thanks to the President of the University, Michael Fitz, along with others, he directed his final accolade to the man who's heading to Florida.
"Finally, I want to thank Jon Sumrall," Harris wrapped up. "We spent some time, talking about this process, and his insight, specifically with Coach Hall, was really critical as well."
Hall was pointed in saying he was going to be Tulane's head football coach in 2026, referring to Sumrall sticking around to coach Tulane through the College Football Playoff scenario.
We asked Hall what his assistant coach lineup would look like. "The first step is to see exactly what's going to happen with Florida," Hall told us. "With coach Sumrall, some of them (assistant coaches) have been with him for some time. How many of them are going to Florida, how many of them want to stay, even if they have that opportunity. That something coach (Sumrall) and I are working through together even as we speak. Building any staff, you start top down. For me, since I'm more of an offensive guy, you start with the defensive coordinator, then you'll progress to offensive coordinator, then special teams and build your staff from the top down to make sure all your pieces fit. I am not ready to name names, but we're in a really good spot. We should get a lot of that shored up in the very near futures." Later before the media, Hall mentioned a tighter timeline, saying it would be in the next few days.
When asked if he would be his own offensive coordinator, Hall said no. "It'll be my offensive system, but called through somebody, very similar to what Lane Kiffin has done and what Ryan Day has done at Ohio State."
When asked what he learned from the only coaching stop he was not successful at, Southern Miss, Hall pointed to it being a learning experience. "I told them (AD Davis and the committee deciding who would be the next Tulane head football coach, "going through this process, my first eight years as a head coach were extremely successful. I turned three programs around, won more games than anybody had in a three-year period. I know exactly what I'm supposed to do to win, but I also know exactly what I cannot do that causes me to not win." Hall was referring to three years at West Alabama, where his teams were 25-11; his next three years at West Georgia where his clubs went 35-9, and his three-and-a-half years in Hattiesburg where his Southern Miss squad when 14-30.
The Green Wave will be playing in its first-ever CFP game when Tulane travels to Ole Miss on December 20th to play the Rebels at 2:30 p.m. that Saturday in Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.
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.