Tulane Green Wave
Encyclopedia
| Tulane Green Wave | |
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| Athletics founded | 1893 |
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| Conference | Conference USA Conference USA Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports... |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletics director | Rick Dickson Rick Dickson Rick Dickson is the current athletic director of Tulane University. Since taking over in 2000, Tulane teams have won nine Conference USA Championships. They have advanced to NCAA postseason play 15 times... |
| University | Tulane University Tulane University Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States... |
| Location | New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population... , LA Louisiana Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties... USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
| Stadiums | Mercedes-Benz Superdome Greer Field at Turchin Stadium Goldring Tennis Stadium |
| Arena | Avron B. Fogelman Arena Avron B. Fogelman Arena Avron B. Fogelman Arena is a 3,600-seat multi-purpose arena on Tulane University's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana, built in 1933. Fogelman is the on-campus home of the Tulane Green Wave men's and women's basketball teams and the women's volleyball team... |
| Mascot | Pelican Pelican A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae.... named "Riptide" |
| Colors | Olive Green and Sky Blue |
| Homepage | www.tulanegreenwave.com |
Green Wave, the nickname of the sports teams of Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, was adopted during the 1920 season, after a song titled The Rolling Green Wave was published in Tulane's student newspaper
Tulane Hullabaloo
The Tulane Hullabaloo is the weekly student-run newspaper of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is published every Friday of the academic year, except holidays, and has received multiple Pacemaker Awards, the highest award in college journalism.- History :The Tulane Weekly began in...
in 1920. From 1893 to 1919, the athletic teams of Tulane were known as the Olive and Blue for the official school colors. In 1919, the Tulane Weekly, one of Tulane's many student newspapers at the time, began referring to the football team as the "Greenbacks". Prior to that, the teams were known officially as "The Olive and Blue" and unofficially referred to as "The Greenies" or "The Greenbacks."
Tulane is a member of Conference USA
Conference USA
Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...
in athletics. The university was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC), in which it competed until 1966. Tulane, along with other academically-oriented, private schools had considered to form the "Southern Ivy League
Southern Ivy
"Southern Ivy" is an informal term, and not an official body, that has been used in the U.S. to compare Southern universities to the schools of the Ivy League in some way, usually in academic quality or in social prestige...
" (Magnolia Conference) in the 1950s.
The university's Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
Renewal Plan called for the suspension of some of its 16 NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I sports. Tulane returned in 2011 to a full 16 programs — football, basketball, baseball, women's volleyball, women's sand volleyball, track and cross country, tennis, women's golf, women's bowling, and women's swimming and diving.
Football
The Tulane football team, established in 1893, competes in NCAA Division I FBS college football in the West division of Conference USA. They are coached by Bob ToledoBob Toledo
Bob Toledo is a former American football coach and player. Toledo served as the head coach at University of California, Riverside , the University of the Pacific , the University of California, Los Angeles , and Tulane University...
and play home games in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and occasionally Tad Gormley Stadium
Tad Gormley Stadium
Tad Gormley Stadium is a multi-purpose outdoor stadium, located in City Park, in New Orleans, Louisiana, named for Frank "Tad" Gormley. It has been used for football, track & field, and soccer. It played host to the US Olympic Track & Field Trials for the 1992 Summer Olympics...
.
Basketball
Men'sTulane's men's basketball program fell victim to one of the biggest scandals of the 1980s in college sports when four players, including star forward "Hot Rod" Williams were accused of taking money and cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
to alter the final point spreads
Point shaving
In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to prevent a team from covering a published point spread. Unlike other forms of match fixing, sports betting invariably motivates point shaving. A point shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one...
of games they played in. Clyde Eads and Jon Johnson were granted immunity and testified against Williams, the alleged ringleader. Although he was indicted, the judge eventually declared a mistrial and no sentence was handed down. Williams spent the next nine years with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team...
.
Within days of Williams being indicted, the entire basketball coaching staff and the athletic director resigned. Shortly afterward, school president Eamon Kelly
Eamon Kelly
Eamon Michael Kelly was the president of Tulane University from 1981 to 1998. He was born in New York City and earned a bachelor's degree from Fordham University and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University....
abolished the basketball program. He didn't intend to ever allow its return, but relented in 1988 after several students convinced him that they were being punished for something that occurred when they weren't at Tulane. New head coach Perry Clark who rebuilt the program to unprecedented success, including a 1991-92 season that started 13-0 and ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
. The 1992-93 and 1994-95 teams matched that team's success, but Tulane hasn't approached those heights since then. Clark failed to coach the team to the tournament again before he resigned in 2000 to coach the Miami Hurricanes. The Green Wave failed to make any postseason tournament under Clark's successor, Shawn Finney or under former Maryland assistant Dave Dickerson
Dave Dickerson
-Head coaching record:-References:...
. Ed Conroy currently coaches the men's basketball team.
Tulane is the only school remaining from the original Metro Conference
Metro Conference
The Metropolitan Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because all of its charter members were in urban metropolitan areas in, or at least on the fringes of, the Southern United States...
to have remained in the original conference through the 1975 founding, the 1991 breakup that saw several schools form the Great Midwest Conference
Great Midwest Conference
The Great Midwest Conference was an NCAA Division I athletics conference which existed from 1991 to 1995.It was formed in 1990 with six members--Cincinnati and Memphis State from the Metro Conference; UAB from the Sun Belt Conference; Marquette and Saint Louis from the Midwestern Collegiate...
, the 1995 reunification that created today's Conference USA, and the 2004 realignment of conferences.
Women's
Tulane's women's basketball program has found continuous success under the coaching of Lisa Stockton
Lisa Stockton
Lisa Stockton is the current women's basketball head coach at Tulane University. She was named the Green Wave's 6th head basketball coach in 1994...
, who began at Tulane in 1995. That year, Stockton led the team to its first NCAA Tournament
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
appearance and was named Metro Conference Coach of the Year. That first appearance then grew into 9 consecutive NCAA Tournament berths. The team has been regular-season C-USA champions 4 times, most recently in the 2009–2010 season, when they held a 23–6 record (14–2 in C-USA). In addition, they have won the C-USA tournament 5 times: once in 1997, 3 seasons in a row from 1999–2001, and again in 2010. Lisa Stockton is the winningest coach in C-USA history and has twice been named C-USA Coach of the Year (2006–07 and 2009–10).
2006–2007 seniors Jami Montagnino (ranked 5th in NCAA Division I teams in free-throw percentage) and D'Aundra Henry proved essential to the team's success, both hitting 1,000 points for their careers in that season. The team that season was upset by Rice
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, 64–52, in the C-USA semifinals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and did not receive an at-large bid to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. With a final record of 25–6, they became the first team with 25 or more wins and six or fewer losses not to make it into the 64-team bracket (along with a 26-3 Montana team). Following a 62-53 win over UAB in the 2010 C-USA Tournament Final, the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003.
Athletics reform
In 2003 the University undertook a comprehensive review of its athletics department commitments in light of the long term goals and mission of the school. The outcome of the review was a renewed commitment to fielding a strong Division I athletic program, but also a resolution to make Tulane a model program in terms of academic performance, graduation rates, financial viability, and support for the overall university mission. (In 2003 Tulane's graduation rate for student-athletes stood at 79%, ranking 14th among all Division I programs.)To that end, President Scott Cowen began a dialog with other university presidents calling for a change to the existing system that rewards established powers at the expense of less successful programs. His criticisms, in particular of the Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
(BCS) in football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
, led to the creation of the Presidential Coalition for Athletics Reform and opened the door for hearings on college athletics revenues in the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 2003. On February 29, 2004 the BCS met in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
and agreed to amend revenue distribution and open the series to more opportunities for non-BCS teams.
Effect of Hurricane Katrina
As a result of Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
in August 2005, all of Tulane's varsity sports teams, with the exception of cross-country and track and field, moved to four other universities in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
for the remainder of that year, while continuing to represent Tulane in competition:
- Louisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
: football - Southern Methodist UniversitySouthern Methodist UniversitySouthern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
: men's and women's golf - Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
: men's basketball, women's swimming and diving, women's volleyball, women's soccer, men's tennis, and women's tennis - Texas Tech UniversityTexas Tech UniversityTexas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
: baseball and women's basketball
For its fortitude in the face of Katrina, the 2005 Tulane football team received the 2005 Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award and the Football Writers Association of America
Football Writers Association of America
The Football Writers Association of America is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the NCAA...
Annual Courage Award.
Tulane Athletics Fund
Tulane Athletics Fund, the official fundraising arm of Tulane Green Wave, supports Green Wave student-athletes in their academic, athletic, and community pursuits by providing unrestricted annual funds to the Athletics department.In 2007, the fund set a record for membership as 2,210 donors contributed. Tulane Athletics Fund is a component of the Tulane Fund, Tulane University's annual giving program.
Official fight song: "The Olive and the Blue" (aka "Roll On, Tulane")
Here's a song for the Olive and the BlueHere's a cheer for the team that's tried and true,
Here's a pledge of loyalty to thee,
Oh, Tulane Varsity,
Here's to the Greenbacks that never will say die
And here's to the hearts that are true,
To the men of Tulane, who are fighting for her name
For the Olive and the Blue.
(CHORUS)
Roll, Green Wave, roll them down the field!
Hold, Green Wave, that line must never yield!
When those Greenbacks charge through the line,
They're bound for Victory,
Hail Green Wave, for you we give a cheer.
Hail Green Wave, for you we have no fear,
So ev'ry man on ev'ry play,
And then we'll win the game today,
Hurrah for Old Tulane.
Tulane fight song
Green Wave Green Wave,Hats off to Thee.
We're out to
Fight Fight Fight
For our Victory.
Shout to the Skies
Our Green Wave War Cries.
The Bravest we'll Defy.
Hold that Line for
Olive and Blue.
We will Cheer for You.
So Fight, Fight, Old Tulane
Fight on to Victory.
Official cheer: "The Hullabaloo"
A One, A Two,A Helluva Hullabaloo
A Hullabaloo - Ray Ray
A Hullabaloo - Ray Ray
Hooray Hooray
Varsa Varsa Tee Ay
Tee Ay, Tee Ay
Varsa Varsa Tee Ay
Tulane!
Tulane Alma Mater
We praise thee for thy past, O Alma Mater!Thy hand hath done its work full faithfully.
The incense of thy spirit has ascended
And filled America from sea to sea!
Olive Green and Blue! We love thee!
Pledge we now our fealty true
Where the trees are ever greenest,
Where the skies are purest blue.
Hear us now, O Tulane, hear us,
As we proudly sing to thee!
Take from us our hearts’ devotion,
Thine we are and thine shall be!
Logo and mascot
In 1963 the Athletics Director and Eldon Endacott, manager of the university bookstore contacted Art EvansArt Evans
Arthur James "Art" Evans is an American actor who has made multiple film and television program appearances over the span of three decades....
, a commercial artist who already had designed the Boilermaker
Boilermaker
A boilermaker is a trained craftsman who produces steel fabrications from plates and sections. The name originated from craftsmen who would fabricate boilers, but they may work on projects as diverse as bridges to blast furnaces to the construction of mining equipment.-Boilermaking:Many...
mascot for Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, the Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the collegiate athletic teams from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This NCAA Division I athletic program has teams in football, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, soccer, cross country, tennis, swimming, wrestling, track and field, rowing, golf, and softball...
and the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
Trojan, to create a new mascot for Tulane athletics. His design for a mean-looking anthropomorphic wave-crest was officially adopted in 1964.
In 1986 a new logo consisting of a white block "T" with green and blue waves crossing its center was adopted as the primary symbol for official uniforms, though the "angry wave" continued to be used unofficially in licensed products, and a costumed Green Wave, nicknamed Gumby, served as the mascot.
In 1998 a full redesign of all athletics logos and marks was commissioned which replaced the "angry wave" and "wavy T" designs with a green and blue oblique T crested by a foamy wave. Gumby was replaced with a new pelican mascot, recalling the university seal, and the fact that a pelican was often used in the first half of the century as the emblem of Tulane's athletics teams (also, the pelican is the Louisiana state bird and is found on the Louisiana state flag
Flag of Louisiana
The flag of Louisiana consists of a heraldic charge called a "pelican in her piety," representing a mother pelican wounding her breast to feed her young from the blood. This symbol, emblematic of Christian charity, is also found on the state seal. On the flag it is depicted above a ribbon with the...
and Louisiana state seal). The name "Riptide" was selected for the performing pelican by the administration after a vote of the student body in which the students actually voted that the pelican be named "Pecker." The pelican mascot name may have been so voted as the student body had also overwhelmingly voted for Poseidon to be the mascot. Poseidon was rejected by the administration and student body government because it could be portrayed as a white male.
Notable sports alumni
Several football alumni are players in the National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, including Patrick Ramsey
Patrick Ramsey
Patrick Allen Ramsey is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins 32nd overall in the 2002 NFL Draft...
(Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
), J.P. Losman
J.P. Losman
Jonathan Paul "J. P." Losman is an American football quarterback for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills 22nd overall in the 2004 NFL Draft...
(Oakland Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
), Anthony Cannon
Anthony Cannon
Anthony Devon Cannon is a gridiron football linebacker for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft...
(Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
), Mewelde Moore
Mewelde Moore
Mewelde Jaem Cadere Moore is an American football running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He was originally drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2004 NFL Draft...
(Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
), and Matt Forté
Matt Forté
Matthew Garrett Forté is an American football running back for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Bears in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft...
(Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
). Several baseball alumni play in the Major Leagues, including Andy Cannizaro
Andy Cannizaro
Andrew Lee Cannizaro is a former Major League Baseball infielder.Cannizaro was drafted by the Yankees in the seventh round of the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft after two seasons at Tulane University....
(Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
), Tommy Manzella
Tommy Manzella
Thomas Samuel Manzella, Jr. is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball.-High school:...
(Houston Astros
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
), and Micah Owings
Micah Owings
Micah Burton Owings is a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher currently pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks....
(Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
), and Brandon Gomes
Brandon Gomes
Brandon Gomes is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. He was selected by the San Diego Padres in the 17th Round of the 2007 MLB Draft out of Tulane University...
(Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
).