Tulane Green Wave

Tulane Green Wave
University Tulane University
Conference The American
NCAA Division I
Athletic director Troy Dannen[1]
Location New Orleans, Louisiana
Varsity teams 17
Football stadium Yulman Stadium
Basketball arena Devlin Fieldhouse
Baseball stadium Turchin Stadium
Other arenas Reily Natatorium
Mascot Riptide
Nickname Green Wave
Fight song The Olive and the Blue
Cheer The Hullabaloo
Colors Olive Green and Sky Blue[2]
         
Website www.tulanegreenwave.com

Green Wave, the nickname of the sports teams of Tulane University, was adopted during the 1920 season, after a song titled "The Rolling Green Wave" was published in the Tulane Hullabaloo in 1920. From 1893 to 1919 the athletic teams of Tulane were officially 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 and the predecessor of the Tulane Hullabaloo, began referring to the football team as the "Greenbacks," an unofficial nickname that also led to another: the "Greenies."[3]

Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The university was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), in which it competed until 1966. Tulane, along with other academically-oriented, private schools had considered forming the Southern Ivy League (aka Magnolia Conference) in the 1950s. It joined the newly formed Conference USA in 1995. In 2012 the university announced it would move to the Big East Conference (later renamed the American Athletic Conference) in all sports in July 2014.[4] There are 17 Green Wave intercollegiate programs.[5]

NCAA intercollegiate sports

Tulane sponsors teams in seven men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports:[6]

Men's Intercollegiate Sports

Women's Intercollegiate Sports

Football

The Tulane football team, established in 1893, compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Green Wave football teams have won 9 conference championships, including 3 in the SEC and 1 in C-USA, and have appeared in 12 postseason bowl games. They are coached by Willie Fritz and play home games in Yulman Stadium.

Baseball

The Tulane baseball team, also established in 1893, is managed by head coach David Pierce. The program has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 19 times and in the College World Series twice. They play home games on campus at Turchin Stadium.

Basketball

Both the men's and women's basketball teams play home games in Devlin Fieldhouse, named after a donation that enabled extensive renovations in 2012–13. It is the 9th-oldest active basketball venue in the nation.[8] The men's basketball team, established in 1905, is coached by Ed Conroy, who was hired as head coach in 2010.[9] The women's team has been coached since 1995 by Lisa Stockton, who has led the program to 15 postseason tournaments, including 10 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Effects of Hurricane Katrina

As a result of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Tulane's varsity sports teams, with the exception of cross country and track and field, moved to four universities in Texas and Louisiana for the remainder of that academic semester, while continuing to represent Tulane in competition:[10]

For its fortitude in the face of Katrina, the 2005 Tulane football team received Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award and the Football Writers Association of America Annual Courage Award.[11] The university's Renewal Plan called for the suspension of some of its sports, and it did not return to a full 16 teams until the 2011-12 school year.[5]

Athletics reform

After coming off a winning season and a Hawaii Bowl victory in 2003, it was leaked that Former President Scott Cowen and the Board of Trustees was planning to vote on either doing away with a commitment to Division 1 football, or propose scaling down to Division 3 due to their concern for the long term financial viability of sustaining a Division 1 athletic program in the changing BCS landscape. When the news leaked, the outrage by fans, alumni, and boosters forced the Board of Trustees to pivot and claim it actually intended to undertake a comprehensive "review" of athletics.[12] The outcome of the review was a commitment to maintaining a Division I athletic program, and also included points to address academic performance, graduation rates, financial viability, and support for athletics within the overall University mission.[13] (In 2003 Tulane's graduation rate for student-athletes stood at 79%, ranking 14th among all Division I programs.)

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 (BCS) in football, 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, and agreed to amend revenue distribution and open the series to more opportunities for non-BCS teams. As a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, Cowen was active in decision-making regarding the future of college football.[14]

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. It is a component of the Tulane Fund, Tulane University's annual giving program.

In 2007 the fund set a record for membership with 2,210 donors contributing.[15] In 2011 it spearheaded the "Home Field Advantage" campaign to fully fund the $73 million construction of Yulman Stadium on the Uptown campus through private donations.[16]

The TUMB performs each pregame and halftime

Logo and mascot

Tulane officials commissioned John Chase in 1945 to illustrate the covers of its football game programs. He came up with Greenie, a mischievous boy who would be considered an unofficial mascot by many fans. Chase illustrated Greenie on program covers until 1969.[17]

In 1963 the Athletics Director and Eldon Endacott, manager of the university bookstore, contacted Art Evans, a commercial artist who already had designed the Boilermaker mascot for Purdue University, the Wisconsin Badgers and the University of Southern California Trojan, to create a new mascot for Tulane athletics. His design for a mean-looking anthropomorphic wave-crest was officially adopted in 1964.

A new logo consisting of a white block "T" with green and blue waves crossing its center was adopted in 1986 as the primary symbol for official uniforms, though the "Angry Wave" cartoon continued to be used in licensed products, and a costumed wave nicknamed Gumby also served as the mascot.

A full redesign of all athletics logos and marks was commissioned in 1998, replacing 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. The pelican is also the Louisiana state bird and is found on the state flag and 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. In 2014, Tulane changed the color of the "wave" above the "T" from a seafoam green to a color closer to lime green.

Conference championships

Men's conference championships

Tournament (8): 1979 • 1982 • 1992 • 1996 • 1998 • 1999 • 2001 • 2005[18]

Women's conference championships

Tournament (5): 1997 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2010[21]
Tournament (1): 2008[26]

National championships

As of July 2, 2015, Tulane has 1 NCAA team national championship and 14 NCAA individual national championships.[27]

Men's Team

Women's Team

Men's Individual

Notable sports alumni

Football

Baseball

See also

References

  1. ↑ Athletic Director http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/genrel/troy_dannen_994630.html
  2. ↑ "Tulane Admission: Traditions". Tulane University. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Tulane Admission: Traditions". Tulane University. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ Pete Thamel (2012-11-27). "Big East adding East Carolina for football, Tulane for all sports". sportsillustrated.com. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  5. 1 2 Tammy Nunez (2010-07-09). "Tulane adds new sports sand volleyball and bowling to 2011-12 lineup". nola.com. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  6. ↑ http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/
  7. ↑ "NCAA DII, DIII membership approves Sand Volleyball as 90th championship". NCAA. January 17, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Tulane Unveils Devlin Fieldhouse, the Newly Restored Facility for Basketball, Volleyball". TulaneGreenWave.com. Retrieved December 26, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Men's Basketball History". tulanegreenwave.com. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Tulane Athletics and the Katrina Semester". tulanegreenwave.com. 2005-11-21. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  11. ↑ Aaron Martin (2006-01-18). "The Torch". Tulanian. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  12. ↑ Hochman, Benjamin. "Tulane Chief Endures Green Wave of Criticism". Times Picayune. Retrieved June 1, 2003.
  13. ↑ Thomas, Katie (2008-10-07). "At Tulane, Sports Revival After Katrina's Wind and Water". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  14. ↑ Chip Patterson (2012-06-21). "Meet the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  15. ↑ "Tulane Athletics Fund". Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  16. ↑ Nunez, Tammy (December 8, 2011). "Tulane plans to build a 30,000-plus seat on-campus football stadium". Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 9, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Greenie a gridiron giant". 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  18. ↑ "Men's Baseball Record Book" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  19. ↑ "Men's Cross Country History/Records" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  20. ↑ "Men's Tennis History/Records" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  21. ↑ "Women's Basketball History/Records" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  22. ↑ "C-USA Women's Golf Championships" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  23. ↑ "Tulane Wins C-USA Women's Golf Championship With Record Score". C-USA. 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  24. ↑ "Women's Swimming & Diving History/Records" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  25. ↑ "Women's Tennis History/Records" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  26. ↑ "Women's Volleyball History/Records" (PDF). C-USA. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  27. ↑ "NCAA All Divisions/Collegiate Total Championships" (PDF). NCAA. July 2, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  28. ↑ "NCAA Champions - Singles - Men". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Champions Crowned On Final Day Of 2015". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  30. ↑ "NCAA Champions - Doubles - Men". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  31. ↑ "NCAA Men's Golf Championship Individual Winners". About.com. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  32. ↑ "Discontinued Championships" (PDF). NCAA. Retrieved March 28, 2015.

External links

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