Tulane AAC Member Tulane (2014): What you need to know

[Brad]

Let’s get to know the new conference mates and each other.  Bulls fans and other fans in the “American” are invited to post on each of the teams to include information on the university, its athletic programs (especially football this time of year), what to do in town for a road game, etc.  Or, in some cases, reminisce about previous match-ups or times spent together in a previous conference. 

 

The intent is to build fun and informative threads that help us get coached up on new conference mates.  Please reserve the impulse to mud sling for other threads as the season nears.

 

Everyone is invited to contribute.  If you know a fan of one of the other AAC schools, please invite them.

 

Thanks,

 

Brad, aka Bulliever

[Brad]

The Tulane official site has a very interesting page on History of Tulane Football.  Read the first several years, it's actually entertaining.  Makes you re-think our history and realize its brevity.  Here is the beginning of Tulane football and a link to the rest:

 

 

Tulane Football History

1893: Tulane played its first varsity football game on Nov. 18, 1893, dropping a 12-0 decision to the Southern Athletic Club. Things were a bit less formal in those days, as witnessed by the fact that Tulane Coach T.L. Bayne also played in the game-for the opponent! In his spare time, T.L. Bayne hustled over to Baton Rouge to help coach LSU. This made for an interesting afternoon of Nov. 25, 1893, when Tulane and LSU played for the first time. Hugh Bayne, brother of the coach and a Tulane law student, scored the first touchdown ever for Tulane to open a 34-0 rout. T.L. Bayne did not play that day, but he was on the field as umpire (LSU's coach was the referee). Tulane lost to Ole Miss 12-4 the next weekend to end its first season with a 1-2 record.

 

1894: Fred Sweet replaced T.L. Bayne as head coach and it was a struggle all the way. Just before school opened, Sweet learned that captain C.R. Romeyne had left town with his parents and would not be a member of the 1894 squad. The team struggled to an 0-4 finish, scoring 0, 6, 6 and 2 points in those four games while losing to Texas, Alabama, Sewanee and Ole Miss.

 

1895: T.L. Bayne returned as head coach and Tulane posted its first winning season with a 3-2 record. After losing to LSU in the season opener, Tulane rallied to shut out teams from the Southern Athletic Club and Alabama. A road loss to Texas followed before the season ended with a 28-4 walloping of Ole Miss, representing the most points by Tulane since its 34-0 win over LSU in 1893. 1896

: Harry Baum replaced T.L. Bayne as coach and matched the 1895 record of 3-2, although one of those losses was a forfeit to LSU. Tulane was ahead 2-0 when an argument broke out over whether Tulane could use a player who was "about" to become a Tulane student. When LSU refused to allow the player to see action, Tulane captain Louis Genella took his team off the field and the game was declared a forfeit. Win No. 3 was a 10-0 shutout of Ole Miss to ensure a winning season.

 

1897: For the only time since the inception of the sport in 1893, Tulane did not field a football team.

 

1898: John Lombard, captain of Tulane's first team in 1893, became the program's fifth coach in five seasons. The team played two games and finished 1-1, beating Ole Miss and then losing to LSU. Charles Eshelman served as captain, and in 1979 he became the first 19th century athlete to be named to Tulane's Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

1899: H.H. Collier became Tulane's sixth coach in six seasons and he must not have enjoyed it very much as the team finished 0-6-1 and did not score a point. A scoreless tie with the Southern Athletic Club was the squad's best showing. Charles Eshelman became the first Tulanian to serve as football captain for two years in a row.

 

1900: What a turnaround! Tulane went from winless and scoreless in 1899 to unbeaten and unscored upon in 1900. H.T. Summersgill was Tulane's seventh coach in seven seasons and he led his team to a 5-0 record. The Southern Athletic Club, Alabama, Millsaps, LSU and Ole Miss all failed to cross the Tulane goal as they lost by a combined 105-0.

 

http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/history.html

[Quo Vadis]

Every Bulls fan should make the 650 mile trip to New Orleans to watch Tulane vs USF, as the Big Easy is probably the best good time party town in the USA. Yulman stadium sounds like it will be a nice, intimate place to watch, a big improvement over the cavernous and nearly-always-empty Super Dome.

[Cow Pie]

The new Tulane Stadium was partially financed by USF via the blood money we fork over to the Buc's to play in the tax payers  their stadium.

[Quo Vadis]

The new Tulane Stadium was partially financed by USF via the blood money we fork over to the Buc's to play in the tax payers  their stadium.

Well, I bet Tulane has to pay rent to the Saints to play in the Superdome? Over the years, the state of Louisiana has cut all kinds of sweetheart deals with owner Tom Benson to keep him happy and obviate the threat of moving to San Antonio, etc. He basically owns the Dome's revenue streams plus gets a subsidy from the state if certain profitability targets aren't met. Essentially it's a state gauranteed floor on his revenue.

 

In any event, I think Tulane's situation is instructive for USF, as both are universities playing in cities dominated by an NFL franchise and playing in their stadium. On one hand, USF's situation isn't as bad because we draw 25,000 - 60,000 depending on who is playing, whereas Tulane's football attendance in the Dome has typically been less than 10,000 in recent years, a horrible experience for fans.

 

Nevertheless, in the long run, I believe we should move in Tulane's direction and build our own football stadium. Having an on-campus stadium creates a far more spirited environment for the team and school.