I talked to Kelly Comarda last week but he wanted me to wait until Tulane officially announced his position before posting. Here is what he said about returning to Tulane less than a year after leaving for Houston, this time for a paid position with the university rather than as the volunteer co-founder of the Fear The Wave collective. Here is the full transcript:
What is your job title and how would you describe your work?
"My official title is director or roster management. I guess my role is to coordinate with coach Sumrall and Cole Heard on all roster decisions, especially with an emphasis on NIL and transfer portal.
What is your role going to be when schools can start managing the NIL stuff directly in July:
"My job is going to be more managing the revenue sharing payments and the revenue sharing pool for what Tulane's going to do."
What is your relationship going to be with the Fear The Wave collective you co-founded?
"I will be coordinating with the collective and working hand in hand kind of like a liason between the football team and the collective."
When did Tulane first contact you about this role?
"When coach Sumrall announced that he was coming back, part of what he needed was somebody to fill a role like this. After he announced he was coming back, he gave me a call and offered me a chance to come in. My first day here was Friday, Dec. 13, so I let coach Fritz know around the 10th or 11th."
How tough a decision was it to leave Houston after being there less than a year?
"It was obviously a tough decision because I appreciated what coach Fritz did for me and the opportunity he gave me, but I'm a Tulane guy, a fifth generation Tulane graduate. I also had a relationship with coach Sumrall and got to know him for a few months in the transition, and family factors and having a job inside of the university was a big deal for me, so while it was tough to leave behind the opportunity that coach Fritz gave me, this was the one that could do it."
How is your role different and similar at Tulane than what you were doing at Houston?
"It's very similar. I was working with the collective in Houston. That's the big difference. Here I'm inside on the actual football staff."
How excited are you about where this program is right now?
"Extremely excited. We're in a position to build a program that can sustain success in a way that only a handful of G5 programs can right now in terms of having the resources and the commitment to compete for a playoff spot every year."
I believe there are 25 players coming in from the transfer portal, and 247 Sports rates it the best group for any 5 program. How much of a sea change has Tulane undergone in trying to be successful compared to about 10 years ago?
"The reason why we're able to do it is because we started the collective early and we built it early and we were able to build off of the success that coach Fritz started and coach Sumrall took over. We've kept the enthusiasm going and I think people value the opportunity to play winning football. It's hard to go out there, even if you're playing a lot, to play on a team that's winning 2 or 3 games a year. Sometimes you'd rather play a smaller role on a team that's winning, or if you're not playing a big enough role at a Power 4, playing on a winning G5 team has a lot of appeal."
What do you like best about Sumrall?
"He brings a lot of energy every day. He invites collaboration and allows his staff top to bottom to give their input. He's a listener, but he's decisive when he makes decisions. When he makes decisions, everybody respects the process and respects what he has to say. He commands the respect of everybody in the building while also giving you an opportunity to voice your opinions and contribute. He's extremely smart."
If you are a fifth-generation Tulane graduate, when did it all start?
"It was my great-great grandmother that graduated from Tulane. I don't know the year, but it had to be possible before the turn of the century or right around the turn of the century."
How much difference does it make doing this for the school you care about the most?
"It makes a big difference. The familiarity with the fan base and the program is huge, but also it's tough to learn new traditions and learn about former players. There's definitely a lead-in to that, where as here I can remember plays and games that 10 people watched on an internet stream."
When you started the Fear the Wave collective, could you have envisioned what this has transformed into nationwide in college sports?
"I don't think anybody knew exactly where it was going, but I had a pretty good idea that this was coming down the pipe about a year ago, actually probably 18 months ago, so that's when I started having conversations with the former administration about making plans in case this did come to fruition that these are some of the changes we're going to have to think about making, and they were receptive to it. I think everybody in the industry just didn't want to make a false step, so once they saw where it was definitely going, they made a decisive step to fall in line and get something in place."
From the top down, how much does it make with the Tulane administration supporting athletics:
"I think the administration, especially David Harris and (chief operating officer and deputy athletic director) Justin Schemmel are very competitive and they want to see us succeed, and they've done a lot of things that people don't see on a day-to-day basis to make sure that we remain competitive and that we put ourselves in the best position to win the conference and make the playoff. They are a lot more competitive than they may seem in a public setting. Behind closed doors they definitely want to win."
Tulane had a long dark period without much success. What does the current success mean to you?
"It means everything to me. I sat through a lot of bad seasons and a lot of bad games and got to know a lot of people just because there weren't too many people in the stands, so knowing that we have a chance to put ourselves on the map as a premier college football program means a lot. It could correct a lot of the mistakes of the past because we're operating right now without probably two to three generations of fans that didn't experience the success, whereas all the kids now that are coming to games and getting excited about Tulane are going to come back with their kids. They don't come back overnight. It's going to take a while, but we're well on our way to doing that."
What is your job title and how would you describe your work?
"My official title is director or roster management. I guess my role is to coordinate with coach Sumrall and Cole Heard on all roster decisions, especially with an emphasis on NIL and transfer portal.
What is your role going to be when schools can start managing the NIL stuff directly in July:
"My job is going to be more managing the revenue sharing payments and the revenue sharing pool for what Tulane's going to do."
What is your relationship going to be with the Fear The Wave collective you co-founded?
"I will be coordinating with the collective and working hand in hand kind of like a liason between the football team and the collective."
When did Tulane first contact you about this role?
"When coach Sumrall announced that he was coming back, part of what he needed was somebody to fill a role like this. After he announced he was coming back, he gave me a call and offered me a chance to come in. My first day here was Friday, Dec. 13, so I let coach Fritz know around the 10th or 11th."
How tough a decision was it to leave Houston after being there less than a year?
"It was obviously a tough decision because I appreciated what coach Fritz did for me and the opportunity he gave me, but I'm a Tulane guy, a fifth generation Tulane graduate. I also had a relationship with coach Sumrall and got to know him for a few months in the transition, and family factors and having a job inside of the university was a big deal for me, so while it was tough to leave behind the opportunity that coach Fritz gave me, this was the one that could do it."
How is your role different and similar at Tulane than what you were doing at Houston?
"It's very similar. I was working with the collective in Houston. That's the big difference. Here I'm inside on the actual football staff."
How excited are you about where this program is right now?
"Extremely excited. We're in a position to build a program that can sustain success in a way that only a handful of G5 programs can right now in terms of having the resources and the commitment to compete for a playoff spot every year."
I believe there are 25 players coming in from the transfer portal, and 247 Sports rates it the best group for any 5 program. How much of a sea change has Tulane undergone in trying to be successful compared to about 10 years ago?
"The reason why we're able to do it is because we started the collective early and we built it early and we were able to build off of the success that coach Fritz started and coach Sumrall took over. We've kept the enthusiasm going and I think people value the opportunity to play winning football. It's hard to go out there, even if you're playing a lot, to play on a team that's winning 2 or 3 games a year. Sometimes you'd rather play a smaller role on a team that's winning, or if you're not playing a big enough role at a Power 4, playing on a winning G5 team has a lot of appeal."
What do you like best about Sumrall?
"He brings a lot of energy every day. He invites collaboration and allows his staff top to bottom to give their input. He's a listener, but he's decisive when he makes decisions. When he makes decisions, everybody respects the process and respects what he has to say. He commands the respect of everybody in the building while also giving you an opportunity to voice your opinions and contribute. He's extremely smart."
If you are a fifth-generation Tulane graduate, when did it all start?
"It was my great-great grandmother that graduated from Tulane. I don't know the year, but it had to be possible before the turn of the century or right around the turn of the century."
How much difference does it make doing this for the school you care about the most?
"It makes a big difference. The familiarity with the fan base and the program is huge, but also it's tough to learn new traditions and learn about former players. There's definitely a lead-in to that, where as here I can remember plays and games that 10 people watched on an internet stream."
When you started the Fear the Wave collective, could you have envisioned what this has transformed into nationwide in college sports?
"I don't think anybody knew exactly where it was going, but I had a pretty good idea that this was coming down the pipe about a year ago, actually probably 18 months ago, so that's when I started having conversations with the former administration about making plans in case this did come to fruition that these are some of the changes we're going to have to think about making, and they were receptive to it. I think everybody in the industry just didn't want to make a false step, so once they saw where it was definitely going, they made a decisive step to fall in line and get something in place."
From the top down, how much does it make with the Tulane administration supporting athletics:
"I think the administration, especially David Harris and (chief operating officer and deputy athletic director) Justin Schemmel are very competitive and they want to see us succeed, and they've done a lot of things that people don't see on a day-to-day basis to make sure that we remain competitive and that we put ourselves in the best position to win the conference and make the playoff. They are a lot more competitive than they may seem in a public setting. Behind closed doors they definitely want to win."
Tulane had a long dark period without much success. What does the current success mean to you?
"It means everything to me. I sat through a lot of bad seasons and a lot of bad games and got to know a lot of people just because there weren't too many people in the stands, so knowing that we have a chance to put ourselves on the map as a premier college football program means a lot. It could correct a lot of the mistakes of the past because we're operating right now without probably two to three generations of fans that didn't experience the success, whereas all the kids now that are coming to games and getting excited about Tulane are going to come back with their kids. They don't come back overnight. It's going to take a while, but we're well on our way to doing that."
