As long as Tulane continues to be one of the best teams in the American Conference, it may also be a victim of the coaching carousel.
Two years after Willie Fritz went to Houston, Jon Sumrall might be on the way out to an SEC job – which one isn’t exactly clear right now, but he’s reportedly in the mix at Florida.
If Tulane does need another head coach after this season, here are a few the Green Wave could consider:
Oregon Offensive Coordinator Will Stein
It’s tough to argue against what Stein has accomplished with the Ducks.
Going into the final week of the regular season, Oregon was eighth in the country in scoring offense with 39.3 points per game scored and 11th in total offense with 471.8 yards per game gained. He’s currently regarded as one of the best coordinators in college football.
Stein got his coaching start at his alma mater, Louisville, where he was a quarterback. He worked with quarterbacks his first year in 2023 before focusing on wide receivers in an offensive quality control role in 2014. After that, he was a quality control coach with an emphasis on wide receivers at Texas from 2015-17 and then worked with QBs in 2017 before coaching at Lake Travis High School the following two seasons.
He then went to UTSA where he was a pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach for two seasons and then was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2022. The Roadrunners were ninth in the nation in total offense (486.1 YPG), 12th in scoring offense (38.7 PPG), and 12th in passing offense (308.6 YPG).
Stein might be in the mix for other head coaching opportunities. But if he ends up at Tulane, that should be considered a great hire.
Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock
Denbrock is another top-notch coordinator who could be in the mix for head coaching opportunities.
He’s certainly led the Fighting Irish to success. After they made a run to the national championship in 2024, they were sixth in the country in scoring offense (41.2 PPG) and 22nd in total offense (452.5 YPG) going into the final week of the 2025 season.
Denbrock has worked with offensive linemen, tight ends, and wide receivers over the years at Notre Dame, but he’s also coached at a variety of other schools as well. He was LSU’s OC and tight ends coach before this from 2022-23 and was an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Cincinnati from 2017-21.
Denbrock hasn’t been a head coach at the collegiate level, but he has been an associate head coach, including at Notre Dame from 2015-16 and at Indiana State in 2009.
Vanderbilt Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck
Beck hasn’t been a Power Four coordinator very long, but he’s been extremely successful and has head coaching experience, albeit at the Division II level.
Beck’s offense ranked ninth in the country in scoring offense (38.9 points per game) going into the final week of the regular season. He’s also helped Diego Pavia become a Heisman Trophy candidate. The quarterback was third in the country with 325.9 yards of total offense per game going into Week 14.
Beck, who arrived at Vanderbilt last year, was the OC at New Mexico State from 2022-23 and was an offensive analyst at TCU in 2021. He was the head coach at Pittsburgh State, his alma mater, from 2010-19 and led the team to a national championship in 2011 and got to the postseason on three other occasions. He was an assistant there from 1988-2009.
I could see Beck’s name come up for head coaching jobs like this.
Kennesaw State Head Coach Jerry Mack
Jerry Mack finally got a head coaching opportunity at the FBS level this season, and he’s guided the Owls through a fantastic 2025 season.
Kennesaw State is 9-3 overall and 7-1 in Conference USA play this year, its second in the FBS. The Owls will face Jacksonville State in the CUSA title game next week.
Last year, Mack was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ running backs coach. Previously, Mack was Tennessee’s running backs coach from 2021-23. In 2023, the Volunteers were 10th in the country with 204.8 rushing yards per game.
Mack has also been an associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach at Rice, a head coach at North Carolina Central, a wide receivers coach at South Alabama and Memphis, an OC and quarterbacks coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Central Arkansas, and a wide receivers/tight ends coach at Jackson State.
Houston Offensive Coordinator Slade Nagle
Nagle might be considered in part because of his familiarity with the program.
Nagle was Tulane’s offensive coordinator during the Fritz era and holds the same position at Houston. He was also Tulane’s interim head coach during the Green Wave’s bowl game in 2023.
After Fritz left for Houston, Nagle was a special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at LSU. He’s in his first year at Houston and has helped the Cougars earn a 9-3 record in their third year in the Big 12.
Nagle was Tulane’s OC and quarterbacks coach in 2023 but was with the program for seven years before that as a tight ends coach. Previously, he was at the FCS level as McNeese State’s running backs coach and special teams coordinator from 2012-15 and coached running backs at Central Arkansas in 2011. Before that, he was Texas State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (2010). He also was an assistant at LSU (2009) and at Northwestern State (2006-09).
Missouri State Head Coach Ryan Beard
Beard has been recognized as one of the up-and-coming head coaches in the FBS.
And that’s for good reason. In their first season in the FBS, the Bears are 7-5 at the conclusion of the regular season and will be playing in a bowl game.
Beard was the youngest person to become Missouri State’s head coach when he was promoted at 34 years old in December 2022.
Previously, Beard was Missouri State’s defensive coordinator for three seasons. During that span, he coached a defense that earned 18 all-conference nods and four All-American accolades while three players from that time had opportunities to play professionally. Missouri State was among the best in the country in several statistical categories on defense when Beard was the DC.
Before going to Missouri State, Beard was a special teams and safeties coach at Central Michigan in 2019. He was a quality control coach at Louisville, where he was from 2017-18, before becoming the team’s linebackers coach and co-special teams coordinator. He was also a defensive quality control coach there from 2014-15.
He coached defensive backs in 2016 at Western Kentucky, where he was a two-time All-Sun Belt defensive back himself, and was a graduate assistant at WKU in 2012-13.
