This is about an American college athletics program. }}For other uses, see Green Wave. 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 Tulane's student newspaper in 1920. 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 in athletics. The university was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference, in which it competed until 1966. Tulane, along with other academically-oriented, private schools had considered to form the "Southern Ivy League" (Magnolia Conference) in the 1950s. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the university fielded NCAA Division I teams in 16 sports. As part of the university's Renewal Plan some sports were suspended. Tulane currently has eight Division I-A programs — football, men and women's basketball, baseball, women's volleyball, women's track and cross country, women's tennis, and women's golf — however, they plan to field 16 sports by 2011. [1]

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NCAA intercollegiate sports

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 Toledo and play home games in the Louisiana Superdome and occasionally Tad Gormley Stadium.

Baseball

Basketball

Men's
Tulane'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 to alter the final point spreads 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. Following the scandal, Tulane's administration decided to disband the men's basketball program. It was resurrected four years later under new head coach Perry Clark who rapidly 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. The 1992-93 and 1994-95 teams matched that team's success but never surpassed it, and 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, and currently prepares for its second season under former Maryland assistant Dave Dickerson.

Tulane is the only school remaining from the original Metro Conference to have remained in the original conference through the 1975 founding, the 1991 breakup that saw several schools form the Great Midwest Conference, 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 recent success under the coaching of Lisa Stockton, who began at Tulane in 1995. That year, Stockton led the team to its first NCAA Tournament 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 three times, most recently in the 2006–2007 season, when they held a 24–5 record (13–3 in C-USA). In addition, they have won the C-USA tournament 4 times, once in 1997 and then three years in a row (from 1999–2001). Lisa Stockton is the winningest coach in C-USA history and was recently named 2006-2007 C-USA Coach of the Year. ^[2] 2006–2007 seniors Jami Montagnino (ranked 5th in NCAA Division I teams in free-throw percentage ^[3]) and D'Aundra Henry proved essential to the team's success, both hitting 1,000 points for their careers in that season.

The 2006-2007 team was upset by Rice, 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). ^[4]

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. ^[5] (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 (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.

Effect of Hurricane Katrina

As a result of Hurricane Katrina 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 and Louisiana for the remainder of that year, while continuing to represent Tulane in competition:

• Louisiana Tech University: football
• Southern Methodist University: men's and women's golf
• Texas A&M University: men's basketball, women's swimming and diving, women's volleyball, women's soccer, men's tennis, and women's tennis
• Texas Tech University: 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 Annual Courage Award.

Tulane Athletics Fund (TAF)

Fan traditions

At the end of the national anthem, fans make a slight alteration to the words, replacing "home of the brave" with "home of the Wave."

Official fight song: "The Olive and the Blue" (aka "Roll On, Tulane") Here's a song for the Olive and the Blue Here'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. 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!

Unofficial 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.

Green "Wave"

At the Tulane-TCU football game on August 30, 2003, student Sean McCloskey and some of his classmates started the Green "Wave" tradition at Tulane. McCloskey supplied green gloves for the student body to wear at the game, and the students then waved goodbye with their green hands every time the opposing offense left the field. This tradition was picked up by the Tulane University Athletics Department in 2005. It is used in a similar manner to the Tomahawk Chop or Gator Chomp.

Logo and mascot

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. 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. 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 League, including Patrick Ramsey (Denver Broncos), J.P. Losman (Buffalo Bills), Anthony Cannon (Detroit Lions), Mewelde Moore (Pittsburgh Steelers), and Matt Forté (Chicago Bears). Several baseball alumni play in the Major Leagues, including Andy Cannizaro (Cleveland Indians) and Micah Owings (Cincinnati Reds).

References

1. Tulane Plans to Return Athletics to Full Strength
2. Tulane Coah Earns C-USA Honor
3. Tulane National Ranking Summary
4. Green Wave Women's Basketball...
5. At Tulane, Sports Revival After Katrina’s Wind and Water