Tulane

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American Athletic · Will Hall, year 1 (1-1) · Yulman Stadium · 30,000 · 24,323 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#71 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #95 (-7.4) · FPI #71
The marketKansas State by 20.5at Kansas State · our model 15% Tulane · a number, not a pick

LastW 28–24 vs South Alabama · Sat Sep 12 · Jaylin Lucas 214 rush yds, 1 TD

Nextat Kansas State · Sat Sep 19 · 12 pm ET · Bill Snyder Family Stadium · Kansas State by 20.5 · series 2-1, last win 2022 · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureNational Program II#110 all-time– holding
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 80-73 12 seasons
Best season 12-2 2022
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 3-9 '15 3-9 '16 4-8 '17 5-7 '18 7-6 '19 7-6 '20 6-5 '21 2-10 '22 12-2 '23 11-3 '24 9-5 '25 11-3

Tulane's 2014–2025 record is 80-73. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.522
Ranked seasons (AP)
4/12
Best AP finish
#14

Program outlook

Tulane helped found the SEC and the Sugar Bowl, then left the conference in 1966 and spent fifty years outside the big time. In 2025, the Green Wave won the AAC title and became the first Louisiana program ever to reach the College Football Playoff. Jon Sumrall coached the Playoff game on his way out the door to Florida.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

The founding credential is real: Tulane was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference, hosted the first Sugar Bowls, and won conference championships in the 1920s and 1930s. Then the program de-emphasized, walked away from the SEC, and spent the next half-century as a hard-luck New Orleans program playing in the Superdome while LSU owned the state's football oxygen. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 scattered the team across the country and nearly ended what remained. That history — the founding, the fall, the near-death — is the context for everything Willie Fritz and then Jon Sumrall rebuilt.

Sumrall's 2025 was the loudest chapter yet: an 11-3 season, a 34-21 win over North Texas in the AAC title game, and a Playoff berth as the No. 11 seed — the first Louisiana program ever in the field. QB Jake Retzlaff, a BYU transfer, ran for 16 touchdowns and threw for 14. Ole Miss eliminated Tulane 41-10 in the first round, and Sumrall departed for Florida the day after the season ended, having coached the Playoff game with a new job already signed. Will Hall, promoted from within, now runs the program.

The 2026 question is the one that has haunted this revival: can Tulane keep the coach who wins? Fritz left for Houston after building the 2022 Cotton Bowl team. Sumrall left for Florida after building the Playoff team. Hall is the program's third head coach in three years of sustained success — a New Orleans institution that has proven it can reach the Playoff and has not yet proven it can hold the men who took it there.

On the field

New Orleans resilience — physical, opportunistic, defense-and-run football built on a chip earned from coming back from the brink. Retzlaff's dual-threat skill set gave the 2025 offense a floor when the passing game stalled; Hall inherits a system built around that versatility and a roster that has experienced back-to-back conference title runs. Yulman Stadium, the on-campus home Tulane returned to in 2014 after decades in the Superdome, puts football back at the heart of uptown New Orleans — and makes the program feel like a destination again.

program outlook · as of 2026-06-14

All-time record · Tulane

Tulane has won 45% of its games since 1902 — 55% at home, 31% on the road.

561-661-35 all-time · 123 seasons · 1902–2026

Home 381-304-4
Away 166-347-31
Neutral 14-10
48% 1900s
49% 1910s
62% 1920s
72% 1930s
49% 1940s
36% 1950s
24% 1960s
47% 1970s
39% 1980s
33% 1990s
36% 2000s
35% 2010s
63% 2020s

Coaching Era · Tulane

Will Hall

Will Hall took over from Jon Sumrall for the 2026 season.

Era Will Hall · 2026–presentPrev: Jon Sumrall (2024–2025)OC: Russ CallawayPrev OC: Joe Craddock / co-Evan McKissack (2024–2025)DC: co-Nate Fuqua / Tayler PolkPrev DC: Greg Gasparato / co-Tayler Polk (2024–2025)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
1 year · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

2005

Post-Katrina near-death

Hurricane Katrina scatters the team across the country and nearly ends the program

Wound

The 2023 Cotton Bowl

Tulane beats USC 46-45 to cap a 12-2 worst-to-first season — the resurrection's signature win

2025

The first Playoff berth

An AAC title and an 11-3 record send Tulane to the first 12-team CFP, the first Louisiana team ever to make it

NFL Draft Pipeline

2023–2025

Tulane has sent 6 players to the NFL Draft since 2023 — none in the first round.

Developing. Pipeline emerging.

6 picks · 0 in round 1
#81 Tyjae Spears Running Back · 2023 · Tennessee · #1/317 final season
#88 Caleb Ransaw Cornerback · 2025 · Jacksonville · #390/537 final season
#91 Dorian Williams Inside Linebacker · 2023 · Buffalo · #11/548 final season
#75 all-time · 5 first-round picksthe talent factory →

More in this tab

Program factsStadium, mascot, and the vitals that don't change season to season.
Program résumé
1CFP apps
Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 1-1

Tulane is 1-1 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Will Hall2026
  • Jon Sumrall departs20-8, 2 seasons
  • Hired Jon Sumrall2024
  • Hired Slade Nagle (interim)2023
  • Willie Fritz departs54-47, 8 seasons
  • Slade Nagle departs (interim)0-1, 1 season
  • Hired Willie Fritz2016
  • Curtis Johnson departs15-34, 4 seasons
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

Tulane’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Eric Price2016–2018 · Doug Ruse2019–2020 · Will Hall2021 · Chip Long2022 · Jim Svoboda2023 · Slade Nagle2024–2025 · Joe Craddock / co-Evan McKissack2026 · Russ Callaway
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014 · co-Jon Sumrall / co-Lionel Washington2015 · co-Jason Rollins / co-Lionel Washington2016–2020 · Jack Curtis2021–2022 · Chris Hampton2023 · Shiel Wood2024–2025 · Greg Gasparato / co-Tayler Polk2026 · co-Nate Fuqua / Tayler Polk
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

1925 Sugar Bowl Founding

since 1925

more

Tulane co-founded the Sugar Bowl game in 1925 — the first-ever Sugar Bowl was a Tulane vs Temple matchup. The Sugar Bowl became one of CFB's premier postseason fixtures, partially due to Tulane's institutional role + New Orleans geographic identity. The Sugar Bowl's roots are uniquely Tulane's.

Willie Fritz 2022 Cotton Bowl Run

since 2022

more

Willie Fritz's 2022 12-2 + American Athletic championship + Cotton Bowl championship (beating USC 46-45 in the Cotton Bowl) + #9 final AP rank was the program's modern peak. The 2022 win + the 17-point fourth-quarter comeback + Michael Pratt at QB cemented Tulane as G5 contender.

Yulman Stadium On-Campus

since 2014

more

Yulman Stadium (built 2014) — Tulane's first on-campus stadium since 1974 — anchors the modern era. The 30,000 capacity + Uptown New Orleans setting + the Mardi Gras / Bourbon Street game-day proximity make the venue uniquely New Orleans + uniquely Tulane.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2018-2025): 3-4

Most recent: 2025 — loss 41-10 (away). Last 5 postseason: 1-4.

20252024202320222020
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

12.7k
[Postgame Thread] Tulane Defeats USC 46-45
Jan 2023 · r/cfb
1.7k
[Postgame Thread] Tulane Defeats UCF 45-28
Dec 2022 · r/cfb
823
[Postgame Thread] Tulane Defeats Memphis 38-32
Nov 2025 · r/cfb
796
[Postgame Thread] Navy Defeats Tulane 27-24
Sep 2020 · r/cfb
660
[Postgame Thread] SMU Defeats Tulane 55-26
Oct 2021 · r/cfb

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