Tulane senior Julie Leichtner found herself joining more than 100 other students, university employees and local football fans at a pep rally Wednesday to cheer on the Green Wave as they prepare to host Southern Methodist University in the American Athletic Conference championship Saturday.
That Tulane would be in the conference championship -- for the second year in a row, no less -- would have been unimaginable when Leichtner was a freshman. The team was 6-6 that year, and had a losing record in the conference. For much of the campus, what was happening in Yulman Stadium on autumn Saturdays was an afterthought.
But over the past two seasons, the Green Wave has gone 23-3. Last year, they toppled mighty USC in the Cotton Bowl. Over Leichtner’s college career, football has suddenly become a thing.
“It has brought people together and increased spirit on campus 100 percent,” said Leichtner, a psychology major from New York. “Tulane is a football school now.”
Having a winning team has elevated the school’s profile and enhanced its brand. It has led to an increase in alumni giving. It has boosted revenues of area businesses. And it has changed the campus culture for the better, according to students and near neighbors, who periodically find themselves at odds over parking and housing.
Success breeds success
The last time Tulane could be called a true football school was in the 1930s and 1940s, when it was a member of the Southeastern Conference and had a winning season almost every year. In the decades that followed, its performance was erratic. After the team moved to the Superdome in 1975, the program changed, and the team's performance wavered, with just a handful of exceptional seasons.
But since Yulman Stadium was built in 2014, bringing football back to campus, there has been a renewed interest in Green Wave football. The interest has intensified since head coach Willie Fritz was hired in 2015 and began building a winning team. When Tulane showed up in the AP coaches poll in 2022 and secured a playoff berth in the conference championship, long-suffering fans went crazy.
Ticket sales for football games have more than doubled over the past two years, and once-sleepy football games are now nationally televised contests on ABC and ESPN. It’s the kind of exposure and branding that money can’t buy, according to Jana Woodson, deputy athletic director for external relations.
University officials say they can feel the ripple effects. Unsurprisingly, interest from potential football recruits has intensified. But so has interest from student athletes in other sports, according to Woodson, who says success breed success across disciplines and departments.
Alumni engagement is also markedly up, both in participation and financial support. At the homecoming game in October, nearly 1,600 alumni turned out for the alumni tailgate — more than at any time in recent history.
“We had to split our alumni tailgate party from our parent tailgate so we could fit everybody,” said Lori Hurvitz, associate vice president for alumni relations.
The enhanced interest has spilled over to away games, where the association is now hosting tailgates. It has also tested the waters with special events in cities with a large alumni presence.
“There is a tremendous amount of excitement, both locally and around the country,” Hurvitz said.
Alumni giving to university athletics is up 38% over the past two years, according to the university, which has translated into support for an upgraded academic center for Tulane’s 350 student athletes. Enhanced alumni support has also helped fund a major upgrade of Tulane’s training facility in the Wilson Center, new turf in Yulman and Turchin stadiums, and a new pool, with more upgrades planned, the university said.
The diehards
Alumni spending does not just benefit the university. The ATO Alumni Association hosts a lavish tailgate on the quad before every home game. The group hires local caterers and buys food and drink from local restaurants, at an average cost of $3,000-$4,000 per weekend, said association president Bill Hughs, a 1980 graduate.
Ted’s Frostop on South Claiborne Avenue is among the local restaurants that have benefitted from spending by the ATOs and others. The iconic diner has hosted tailgate parties for organizations and seen an uptick in foot traffic on gamedays, owner Peter Moss said.
Campus Connections on Broadway, which sells licensed Tulane apparel, has also been buoyed by the Green Wave's gridiron success. Sales of Tulane paraphernalia was up nearly fourfold in 2022 over 2021. So far this year, it’s up another 80%.
“It’s students, kids from the neighborhood, alumni, everybody,” said David Cariello, a 2003 Tulane grad, who has owned and operated the store since 2008. “We also have a robust website and have been selling stuff all over the country.”
This year’s hottest seller? Striped overalls in Tulane’s signature olive green and sky blue.
'Just fun'
The success on campus has also bled over to the broader community. Jean Stickney and her husband Robert Stickney, a Tulane alumnus, live near campus and love the vibe of the tailgate scene.
They attended Wednesday’s pep rally with their daughter Rachel Stickney, a Tulane employee, and their other daughter’s two children.
“It’s just fun,” Jean Stickney said. “On game days, it’s great to see people out walking in the neighborhood. It’s festive.”
Stickney said that goodwill has helped smooth the tensions that periodically flare between neighbors who live next to the university and are impacted by it.
“I understand people have conflicts over things like parking or housing from time to time,” she said. “This helps bring people together.”