Tulane hires Troy's Sumrall as head coach

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Tulane has decided to fill its coaching vacancy with Troy's Jon Sumrall, who like his predecessor has posted consecutive seasons with more than 10 wins.

Sumrall is replacing Willie Fritz, who left Tulane after eight seasons on Sunday to take over at Houston.

The 41-year-old Sumrall has gone 23-4 at Troy the past two seasons, winning back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships. Now he'll take over a program that also won 23 games and one American Athletic Conference title during the past two seasons.

Sumrall reportedly had been a candidate for the Duke job that went to Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.

Sumrall, who played linebacker at Kentucky, also was seen as a potential candidate there if Mike Stoops had gotten the Texas A&M job that wound up going to Duke's Mike Elko.

Sumrall oversaw a dramatic turnaround at Troy, which had three straight losing seasons before his hiring in December 2021.

His mission at Tulane will be to extend what has been the Green Wave's best two-year stretch in nearly a century.

Tulane went 12-2 in 2022, winning the American Athletic Conference championship and its Cotton Bowl matchup with Southern California. This season, Tulane (11-2) hosted the AAC title game for a second straight year, but lost to SMU, 26-14.

Now ranked 23rd in the AP Top 25, Tulane is preparing for a Dec. 27 matchup with Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland.

Troy defeated Appalachian State 49-23 in the Sun Belt title game and has accepted a bid to play Duke on Dec. 23 in the Birmingham Bowl.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football