Tulane Green Wave football

Tulane Green Wave football
2024 Tulane Green Wave football team
First season	1893; 131 years ago
Athletic director	David Harris
Head coach	Jon Sumrall 1st season, 9–3 (.750)
Stadium	Yulman Stadium (capacity: 30,000)
Year built	2014
Field surface	UBU Speed Series S5-M[1]
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana
NCAA division	Division I FBS
Conference	The American
Past conferences	SIAA (1896–1922) SoCon (1922–1932) SEC (1932–1965) Independent (1966–1995) C-USA (1996–2014)
All-time record	564–675–38 (.457)
Bowl record	7–9 (.438)
National finalist	1 (1931[2])
Conference titles	10 SIAA: 1920[3] SoCon: 1925, 1929, 1930, 1931 SEC: 1934, 1939, 1949 C-USA: 1998 AAC: 2022
Division titles	1
Rivalries	Auburn (rivalry) LSU (rivalry) Ole Miss (rivalry) Southern Miss (rivalry)
Consensus All-Americans	5
Colors	Olive green and sky blue[4]
Fight song	The Olive and the Blue
Mascot	Riptide
Marching band	Tulane University Marching Band
Outfitter	Nike
Website	TulaneGreenWave.com

The Tulane Green Wave football team represents Tulane University in the sport of American football. The Green Wave compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The football team is coached by Jon Sumrall, and plays its home games in Yulman Stadium on its campus in Uptown New Orleans.^[5]

Tulane has been both an independent and affiliated with multiple conferences.^{[6]: 183–210}

• Independent (1893–1894)^[7]
• Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1895–1921)^[8]
• Southern Conference (1922–1932)^[9]
• Southeastern Conference (1933–1965)^[10]
• Independent (1966–1995)^[11]
• Conference USA (1996–2013)^[12]
• American Athletic Conference (2014–present)^[13]

Tulane has won 10 conference football championships in five different conferences. As of 2024, Tulane's three Southeastern Conference titles are more than seven current members of the SEC: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M, or Vanderbilt.^[14]

Season	Conference	Coach	Overall Record	Conf. Record
1920†	SIAA	Clark Shaughnessy	6–2–1	5–0
1925†	SoCon		9–0–1	5–0
1929		Bernie Bierman	9–0	6–0
1930†			8–1	5–0
1931			11–1	8–0
1934†	SEC	Ted Cox	10–1	8–0
1939†		Red Dawson	8–1–1	5–0
1949		Henry E. Frnka	7–2–1	5–1
1998	C-USA	Tommy Bowden	12–0	6–0
2022	AAC	Willie Fritz	12–2	7–1

† Co-championship

Season	Division	Coach	Opponent	CG result
2018†	AAC West	Willie Fritz	N/A lost tiebreaker to Memphis

† Co-championship

Tulane has played in 17 official bowl games, with the Green Wave garnering a record of 7–9. Tulane also played in the Bacardi Bowl in 1909, playing the Havana Athletic Club, losing 11–0. This was not sanctioned by the NCAA, and thus the Green Wave do not recognize the bowl appearance. Notably, Tulane's first bowl win was the inaugural Sugar Bowl, played in their home stadium.

Season	Coach	Bowl	Opponent	Result
1931	Bernie Bierman	Rose Bowl	USC	L 12–21
1934	Ted Cox	Sugar Bowl	Temple	W 20–14
1939	Red Dawson	Sugar Bowl	Texas A&M	L 13–14
1970	Jim Pittman	Liberty Bowl	Colorado	W 17–3
1973	Bennie Ellender	Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl	Houston	L 7–47
1979	Larry Smith	Liberty Bowl	Penn State	L 6–9
1980	Vince Gibson	Hall of Fame Classic	Arkansas	L 15–34
1987	Mack Brown	Independence Bowl	Washington	L 12–24
1998	Chris Scelfo	Liberty Bowl	BYU	W 41–27
2002		Hawaii Bowl	Hawaii	W 36–28
2013	Curtis Johnson	New Orleans Bowl	Louisiana–Lafayette	L 21–24
2018	Willie Fritz	Cure Bowl	Louisiana–Lafayette	W 41–24
2019		Armed Forces Bowl	Southern Miss	W 30–13
2020		Famous Idaho Potato Bowl	Nevada	L 27–38
2022		Cotton Bowl	USC	W 46–45
2023	Slade Nagle[A 1]	Military Bowl	Virginia Tech	L 20–41
2024	Jon Sumrall	Gasparilla Bowl	Florida

The team has had 39 head coaches and 1 interim head coach since Tulane began playing football in 1893. 13 coaches have led the program to postseason bowl games: R. R. Brown, Bernie Bierman, Ted Cox, Red Dawson, Jim Pittman, Bennie Ellender, Larry Smith, Vince Gibson, Mack Brown, Tommy Bowden, Chris Scelfo, Curtis Johnson, and Willie Fritz. While Tommy Bowden led the 1998 team to a perfect 11–0 regular season and the 1998 Liberty Bowl, Chris Scelfo coached the team during that game.^[15] Seven coaches have led the team to conference championships: Clark Shaughnessy (1 SIAA and 1 SoCon), Bernie Bierman (3 SoCon), Ted Cox (1 SEC), Red Dawson (1 SEC), Henry E. Frnka (1 SEC), Tommy Bowden (1 C-USA), and Willie Fritz (1 American).

Clark Shaughnessy and Chris Scelfo were at one time tied for all-time leaders in games coached at Tulane with 94 each until Willie Fritz surpassed them in 2023. Clark Shaughnessy is the all-time leader in years coached (11) and total wins (59). Presently, former head coach Willie Fritz, has the second-most program wins (43) of all time.

The Green Wave have played their home games in Yulman Stadium on its Uptown campus since 2014. Prior to that season, Tulane played home games in the Caesars Superdome for nearly 40 seasons, and in its previous on-campus venue, the third Tulane Stadium, before that. The Green Wave have also played at the second Tulane Stadium, first Tulane Stadium, Athletic Park and Crescent City Base Ball Park.^[16]

Because Tulane's campus is landlocked within Uptown New Orleans, Yulman is tightly fit within its athletic footprint and directly abutting the surrounding neighborhood. The stadium has a capacity of 30,000 spectators and was constructed with the ability to expand.^[17][18]

Tulane leads the series with Auburn 17–15–6 through the 2019 season.^[19]

Tulane's biggest and oldest rival is LSU. It began in 1893 with a 34–0 Green Wave victory over the Tigers. The teams stopped meeting every year in the Battle for the Rag in 2009. The rivalry became less competitive after 1948, until Tulane broke a 25-game non-winning streak in 1973 with a 14–0 victory in front of a Tulane Stadium record crowd of 86,598 in the final installment of the long-time rivalry played on Tulane's campus. Between 1979 and 1982, Tulane won three out of four games against the Tigers; the 1982 win was the last win to date. The two schools stopped playing annually after the 1994 game; however, they have met six times (1996, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009) since. As a condition of the broken series agreement made in 2006, a potential future game will be played in a future season in New Orleans.^[20] LSU leads the series 69–23–7 through the 2019 season.^[21]

Ole Miss leads the series 43–28 through the 2023 season.^[22]

Known as the Battle for the Bell, Tulane's rivalry with Southern Miss was played yearly from 1979 until 2006 and alternates sites between New Orleans and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. As a result of Conference USA splitting into East and West divisions in 2005, the game was played two out of every four years.^[23] The rivalry was put on hold as a result of Tulane's move to The American Athletic Conference in 2014, but in 2017 the schools announced new games slated for 2022, 2023, 2026, and 2027.^[24] Southern Miss leads the series 24–9 through the 2022 season.^[21]

The Tulane University Marching Band (TUMB) was founded in 1920 as a military band. It dissolved shortly after the team's move to the Superdome in the 1970s and did not formally return until 2006.^[25] The TUMB performs at home games each fall and in Mardi Gras parades each spring.

Riptide the Pelican debuted in 1998 with the re-branding of Tulane athletics. Prior to that, the school used an angry wave nicknamed "Gumby" by fans, and before that a John Chase creation named "Greenie."^[25]

Tulane has had 19 players named to first-team All-America teams. Of those 19, five were consensus selections, with one being a unanimous selection.^[26]

Records current as of January 2, 2023 ^[27]

Opponent Games W L T Percentage Streak First Army 23 13 9 1 .587 Won 4 1957 Charlotte 0 0 0 0 – None None East Carolina 20 8 12 0 .400 Won 2 1991 Florida Atlantic 2 1 1 0 .500 Won 1 2013 Memphis 40 15 24 1 .388 Won 2 1954 Navy 25 12 12 1 .500 Lost 2 1949 North Texas 2 2 0 0 1.000 Won 2 2013 Rice 37 16 20 1 .446 Won 1 1916 South Florida 4 3 1 0 .750 Won 3 2017 Temple 6 2 4 0 .333 Won 1 1935 Tulsa 20 7 13 0 .350 Won 2 1968 UAB 12 6 6 0 .500 Won 1 1999 UTSA 2 1 1 0 .500 Won 1 2013 Totals 193 86 103 4 .456

Announced schedules as of January 12, 2023.^[28][29]

2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032
Northwestern	at Duke	Louisiana-Lafayette	at Iowa State	Iowa State	at Mississippi State		Mississippi State
at South Alabama	South Alabama	at Southern Miss
Duke	at Kansas State	at Wake Forest
at Ole Miss	Southern Miss

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