Sumrall answered three questions on the podium, and I talked to him for 16 minutes in the breakout room afterward before getting Patrick Jenkins and Vincent Murphy 1 on 1. Here's Sumrall:
PODIUM
"I'm honored to be the head football coach at Tulane and extremely grateful to serve in the role I have, to be in one of the coolest cities in the world at one of the best academic institutions in the United States and playing big-time college football, competing at the highest level, motivates me and inspires me daily. We have a fantastic group of young men on our team. Our locker room is incredible. The culture of our team right now is very impressive (he introduced Patrick Jenkins and Vincent Murphy, giving no info you did not already know) ... To bring two linemen fires me up and also to bring a recurring player and a player that got there in January really showed that this landscape of college football we're all in right now is constantly changing, and you have to every year make a lot of guys from different parts of the country--some are high school recruits, junior college transfers and transfer portal guys--all become one, and those two guys are really a great reflection of our team becoming one."
On his knack for hiring really good assistants and what goes into it:
"The first factor that goes into hiring an assistant coach is is it a good person. I don't want to be around people that are hard to deal with every day, so I look for quality people, men of character who care deeply about serving and developing our players. First and foremost, that's got nothing to do with Xs and Os. I'm a firm believer that better people make better players, better people make better coaches, better people make better media members. I think the better person you are, the better you are at your job. You have to hire great people who care about relationships and helping others develop, and yeah, the football component matters. Guys understanding how the culture of our team to look like what I want, the rhythms of our building should look like and feel like. We don't have bad days in New Orleans in uptown in our building. We have a bounce in our step. Our worst day is still really good, so making the guys we bring on board have that mindset and can always have positive energy and a great attitude, but then on top of it is guys understanding how we want to play the game. We want to play the game with physicality. That doesn't necessarily dictate an offense or defensive scheme, but we have a group power mindset. We do things with a chip on our shoulder, and we have a tough mentality, so those coaches that we bring in have to fit really those components to be with me."
On being picked third in AAC:
"“You get a chance to prove them right or prove them wrong. Whether you’re picked first or last doesn’t really matter. It’s great for the banter between fan bases and the coverage of our conference, but where we are picked preseason has zero to do with where we’re going to finish. You can be picked at the top of the bottom and finish where you want. You get what you earn. This game is no different than life. If you want to be higher than third, you better go earn it. If you don't go earn it, you'll be lower than third. This is a challenging conference and a challenging league and we've got our work cut out for us, but every day we get the opportunity to prove them right or prove them wrong, We do have a goal of we want to be at the top.”
On how Ty Thompson has gotten more comfortable since he's been on campus while not asking him to say who the frontrunner is at quarterback:
"It's a fantastic question that you didn't ask who is going to be the starter, and you really hit the nail on the head with how he adjusted and kind of has come into his own. Really it is probably a two-man race between Kai and Ty. I like our quarterback room. Darian Mensah's a redshirt freshman whom I really like, and then Kellen Tasby's a local product from here in the Dallas area, a true freshman I really like, and both those guys have bright futures, but to talk about Ty's really growth, he is extremely gifted athletically. He is big, strong and fast. He can run. He hit 22 miles per hour on the GPS last week on our devices. He was the fastest guy on the team that day in workouts, so he's got the physical traits and gifts you want. He looks like he could play tight end. He is an aggressive guy physically, but the best thing for Ty, he came to us in January and the best thing has really been seeing him become comfortable in his own skin around the team. Any time you go into a new environment, that transition at times can be a little daunting just trying to figure out your lane or where you fit in or who the new people around you are. This summer has been exceptional for Ty in regards to him being more comfortable around his teammates, him understanding the process and procedures of the program and him understanding the city of New Orleans. It's a unique place culturally, so him being comfortable with the environment. He's made big strides. I'm excited to watch those guys go to work in the month of August and figure out which one takes the reins of the job. There is a situation where we can play two. Who knows? I'm not going to lock ourselves into anything yet, but I really like the direction that Ty's taking, and Kai has had a good summer as well. I think we can win games with both of those guys, and I'm glad we've got both of them on our team."
PODIUM
"I'm honored to be the head football coach at Tulane and extremely grateful to serve in the role I have, to be in one of the coolest cities in the world at one of the best academic institutions in the United States and playing big-time college football, competing at the highest level, motivates me and inspires me daily. We have a fantastic group of young men on our team. Our locker room is incredible. The culture of our team right now is very impressive (he introduced Patrick Jenkins and Vincent Murphy, giving no info you did not already know) ... To bring two linemen fires me up and also to bring a recurring player and a player that got there in January really showed that this landscape of college football we're all in right now is constantly changing, and you have to every year make a lot of guys from different parts of the country--some are high school recruits, junior college transfers and transfer portal guys--all become one, and those two guys are really a great reflection of our team becoming one."
On his knack for hiring really good assistants and what goes into it:
"The first factor that goes into hiring an assistant coach is is it a good person. I don't want to be around people that are hard to deal with every day, so I look for quality people, men of character who care deeply about serving and developing our players. First and foremost, that's got nothing to do with Xs and Os. I'm a firm believer that better people make better players, better people make better coaches, better people make better media members. I think the better person you are, the better you are at your job. You have to hire great people who care about relationships and helping others develop, and yeah, the football component matters. Guys understanding how the culture of our team to look like what I want, the rhythms of our building should look like and feel like. We don't have bad days in New Orleans in uptown in our building. We have a bounce in our step. Our worst day is still really good, so making the guys we bring on board have that mindset and can always have positive energy and a great attitude, but then on top of it is guys understanding how we want to play the game. We want to play the game with physicality. That doesn't necessarily dictate an offense or defensive scheme, but we have a group power mindset. We do things with a chip on our shoulder, and we have a tough mentality, so those coaches that we bring in have to fit really those components to be with me."
On being picked third in AAC:
"“You get a chance to prove them right or prove them wrong. Whether you’re picked first or last doesn’t really matter. It’s great for the banter between fan bases and the coverage of our conference, but where we are picked preseason has zero to do with where we’re going to finish. You can be picked at the top of the bottom and finish where you want. You get what you earn. This game is no different than life. If you want to be higher than third, you better go earn it. If you don't go earn it, you'll be lower than third. This is a challenging conference and a challenging league and we've got our work cut out for us, but every day we get the opportunity to prove them right or prove them wrong, We do have a goal of we want to be at the top.”
On how Ty Thompson has gotten more comfortable since he's been on campus while not asking him to say who the frontrunner is at quarterback:
"It's a fantastic question that you didn't ask who is going to be the starter, and you really hit the nail on the head with how he adjusted and kind of has come into his own. Really it is probably a two-man race between Kai and Ty. I like our quarterback room. Darian Mensah's a redshirt freshman whom I really like, and then Kellen Tasby's a local product from here in the Dallas area, a true freshman I really like, and both those guys have bright futures, but to talk about Ty's really growth, he is extremely gifted athletically. He is big, strong and fast. He can run. He hit 22 miles per hour on the GPS last week on our devices. He was the fastest guy on the team that day in workouts, so he's got the physical traits and gifts you want. He looks like he could play tight end. He is an aggressive guy physically, but the best thing for Ty, he came to us in January and the best thing has really been seeing him become comfortable in his own skin around the team. Any time you go into a new environment, that transition at times can be a little daunting just trying to figure out your lane or where you fit in or who the new people around you are. This summer has been exceptional for Ty in regards to him being more comfortable around his teammates, him understanding the process and procedures of the program and him understanding the city of New Orleans. It's a unique place culturally, so him being comfortable with the environment. He's made big strides. I'm excited to watch those guys go to work in the month of August and figure out which one takes the reins of the job. There is a situation where we can play two. Who knows? I'm not going to lock ourselves into anything yet, but I really like the direction that Ty's taking, and Kai has had a good summer as well. I think we can win games with both of those guys, and I'm glad we've got both of them on our team."
