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Major college football program announces new head coach before College Football Playoff

Joe Cox|
A former head coach is stepping back into a head coaching role for his current employer.
A former head coach is stepping back into a head coaching role for his current employer. | Chuck Cook-Imagn Images

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Tulane Green Wave

The national coaching carousel charts another move in the endless zigs and zags of a college football season. With the big firings complete, major programs have been grabbing a mixture of head coaches and rising young coordinators. The question then becomes who will follow those departing coaches. That's the situation at Tulane, where the Green Wave have to replace Jon Sumrall.

Replacement Time at Tulane

Sumrall, who came to Tulane after two years at Troy, has now departed to Florida and the Green Wave have settled on a replacement. While South Florida decided to go with the up-and-coming coordinator pick in luring offensive coordinator Brian Hartline away from Ohio State, Tulane went with a combination approach. The Green Wave appointed from within and also hired an experience head coach.

Green Wave Pick a Familiar Face

Hall's History

Tulane has tabbed passing game coordinator WIll Hall as their next head coach. Hall came to Tulane under Jon Sumrall for 2025, but was previously the offensive coordinator at Tulane in 2019 and 2020 under then-coach Willie Fritz. Hall has been a head coach both at the Division II level and at Southern Miss from 2021 to early 2024, posting a 14-30 record with the Golden Eagles before being fired.

Hall hails from Mississippi and played quarterback in college and the Division II and FCS level. He has a career 70-50 head coaching record in total. In his two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Tulane, the Green Wave scored 33.1 and 34.7 points per game. Transfer QB Jake Retzlaff has passed for 2,862 yards and 14 touchdowns under Hall's coaching so far in 2025.

Tulane's Short-Term Plan

Sumrall, despite agreeing to take the Florida job, will stay and coach Tulane in the College Football Playoff. The Green Wave are a massive underdog in their CFP battle with Ole Miss, which will take place on December 20th.

The Circles of the Coaching Carousel

In the circular world of college football hires, Southern Miss ultimately replaced Hall with Charles Huff. Huff became famous for winning 10 games at Marshall in 2024 before being left without a contract extension. Huff has now moved on to Memphis to replace Ryan Silverfield, who was himself hired by Arkansas. The rotation of coaching vacancies seemingly never ends, but Tulane has written its next chapter with WIll Hall.

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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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