Dear Tulane Community:
Call it a new annual tradition: we are preparing to host our second consecutive American Athletic Conference championship game in a packed Yulman Stadium.
It’s bound to be a thrilling matchup when the Tulane Green Wave takes on the Southern Methodist University Mustangs tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Both teams are nationally ranked and undefeated in conference play. But only Tulane can boast that our coach, Willie Fritz, was just named the AAC Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.
The 2023 AAC Championship continues the incredible momentum of our athletics programs across all seventeen of our sports. Over the past two years we’ve taken four AAC titles in football, women’s golf, baseball, and women’s cross country, won two national championships in sailing, and clinched the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl. We are also building a world-class athletic infrastructure that empowers our coaches and student-athletes through the Investing in Excellence campaign. The Green Wave has never been on such a roll.
While we celebrate our athletic wins, we are equally proud of our student-athletes’ success in the classroom — and in their subsequent careers. Nearly half of our teams recently earned perfect multi-year Academic Progress Rate scores from the NCAA, and our graduation success rate is an impressive 93%. Tulane athletics alumni can be found making a difference in every imaginable field, from business to entertainment to engineering — not to mention professional sports.
When students commit to Tulane, they are not making a four-year plan, but a 40-year investment in their life and career path. For our talented student-athletes, balancing the grueling demands of Division I sports with the academic demands of Tulane’s rigorous curriculum is no easy task. This is why we support them with an equally talented team of coaches and professional staff who mentor them throughout their Tulane journey — and beyond.
Tomorrow’s championship is doubling as a welcome party for our incoming Director of Athletics and Ben Weiner Director of Athletics Chair, David Harris. David — a former student-athlete himself — brings twenty-five years of experience in athletics administration, including eight years as athletic director at the University of Northern Iowa. Under his leadership, our teams are destined to continue reaching new heights in intercollegiate competition as our student-athletes soar academically.
Tulane’s unprecedented academic momentum is elevating our profile and impact on an international scale. Against this backdrop, the historic success of our athletics programs serves a vital role in building community among classmates and colleagues. When we cheer the Green Wave on to victory, we’re fueling the same Tulane spirit and ambition that drives research breakthroughs, life-changing innovations and discoveries that change the world. I hope to see you at Yulman tomorrow, and I look forward to hearing 30,000 voices say those magic words:
ROLL WAVE!
