List of Tulane Green Wave head football coaches

The Tulane Green Wave college football team represents Tulane University in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Green Wave compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 42 head coaches since it began play during the 1893 season. Since December 2023, Jon Sumrall has served as head coach at Tulane.[1]

Twelve coaches have led Tulane in postseason bowl games: R. R. Brown, Bernie Bierman, Ted Cox, Red Dawson, Jim Pittman, Bennie Ellender, Larry Smith, Vince Gibson, Mack Brown, Chris Scelfo, Curtis Johnson, and Willie Fritz. Five of those coaches also won conference championships: Cox, Dawson, and Henry Frnka each captured one as a member of the Southeastern Conference; Tommy Bowden captured one as a member of Conference USA; and Fritz one as a member of the AAC.

Clark Shaughnessy is the leader in seasons coached, with 11 years as head coach and games won with 59. Willie Fritz is the leader in games coached, at 101 games overall. H. T. Summersgill has the highest winning percentage at 0.909. Fred Sweet and Mark Hutson have the lowest winning percentage of those who have coached more than one game, with 0.000. Of the 42 different head coaches who have led the Green Wave, Shaughnessy, Bierman, Claude Simons Jr., and Brown have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

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List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name Term GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL CCs NCs
1 T. L. Bayne 1893
1895
8 4 4 0 0.500 1 2 0 0.333 0 0
2 Fred Sweet 1894 4 0 4 0 .000 0
3 Harry Baum 1896 5 3 2 0 0.600 1 2 0 0.333 0 0
4 John Lombard 1898 2 1 1 0 0.500 1 1 0 0.500 0 0
5 Harris T. Collier 1899 7 0 6 1 0.071 0 5 0 .000 0 0
6 H. T. Summersgill 1900–1901 11 10 1 0 0.909 6 0 0 1.000 0 0
7 Virginius Dabney 1902 7 1 4 2 0.286 0 4 2 0.167 0 0
8 Charles Eshleman 1903 5 2 2 1 0.500 0 1 1 0.250 0 0
9 Thomas A. Barry 1904 7 5 2 0 0.714 3 2 0 0.600 0 0
10 John F. Tobin 1905 1 0 1 0 .000 0 1 0 .000 0 0
11 John Russ 1906 5 0 4 1 0.100 0 3 0 .000 0 0
12 Joe Curtis 1907–1908 13 10 3 0 0.769 3 1 0 0.750 0 0
13 R. R. Brown 1909 9 4 3 2 0.556 2 0 2 0.750 0 1 0 0
14 Appleton A. Mason 1910–1912 24 10 13 1 0.438 4 10 0 0.286 0 0 0 0
15 A. C. Hoffman 1913 8 3 5 0 0.375 0 4 0 .000 0 0 0 0
16 Edwin Sweetland 1914 7 3 3 1 0.500 0 3 1 0.125 0 0 0 0
17 Clark Shaughnessy 1915–1920
1922–1926
94 59 28 7 0.665 26 19 3 0.573 0 0 0 0
18 Myron Fuller 1921 10 4 6 0 0.400 2 2 0 0.500 0 0 0 0
19 Bernie Bierman 1927–1931 49 36 10 3 0.765 24 8 2 0.735 0 1 0 0
20 Ted Cox 1932–1935 40 28 10 2 0.725 20 7 2 0.724 1 0 1 0
21 Red Dawson 1936–1941 59 36 19 4 0.644 16 13 3 0.547 0 1 1 0
22 Claude Simons Jr. 1942–1945 31 13 17 1 0.435 4 10 1 0.300 0 0 0 0
23 Henry Frnka 1946–1951 58 31 23 4 0.569 18 15 3 0.542 0 0 1 0
24 Raymond Wolf 1952–1953 20 6 13 1 0.325 3 11 0 0.214 0 0 0 0
25 Andy Pilney 1954–1961 80 25 49 6 0.350 11 36 4 0.255 0 0 0 0
26 Tommy O'Boyle 1962–1965 40 6 33 1 0.163 2 23 1 0.096 0 0 0 0
27 Jim Pittman 1966–1970 52 21 30 1 0.413 1 0 0
28 Bennie Ellender 1971–1975 56 27 29 0 0.482 0 1 0
29 Larry Smith 1976–1979 45 18 27 0 0.400 0 1 0
30 Vince Gibson 1980–1982 34 17 17 0 0.500 0 1 0
31 Wally English 1983–1984 22 5 17 0 0.227 0 0 0
32 Mack Brown 1985–1987 34 11 23 0 0.324 0 1 0
33 Greg Davis 1988–1991 45 14 31 0 0.311 0 0 0
34 Buddy Teevens 1992–1996 56 11 45 0 0.196 1 4 0.200 0 0 0 0
35 Tommy Bowden 1997–1998 22 18 4 0.818 11 1 0.917 0 0 1 0
36 Chris Scelfo 1998–2006 94 37 57 0.394 18 42 0.300 2 0 0 0
37 Bob Toledo 2007–2011 61 15 46 0.246 8 32 0.200 0 0 0 0
38 Mark Hutson 2011 6 0 6 .000 0 5 .000 0 0 0 0
39 Curtis Johnson 2012–2015 49 15 34 0.306 10 22 0.313 0 1 0 0
40 Willie Fritz 2016–2023 101 54 47 0.535 31 33 0.484 3 1 1 0
41 Slade Nagle 2023 1 0 1 .000 0 1 0 0
42 Jon Sumrall 2024–present 9 7 2 7 0 0 0 0 0

Notes

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  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2023 regular season.

References

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  1. ^ "Willie Fritz to be new coach at Tulane". ESPN.com. December 11, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2009.