Shortly after Will Hall was introduced as the new head coach at Tulane, On SI Tulane had a chance to sit down to do an exclusive, one-on-one interview before Spring camp ever opened.As we approach the start of the Fall version of Hall Ball, we are looking back at that interview to give us a chance to see where we stood before any of us saw Hall's processes. We'll be re-releasing the videos as the countdown to Fall Practice for Tulane football continues.Today, Hall talks about his defense and how he decided on the coaches on his staff. Though the transcript is below, this portion of the interview can be found on our YouTube channel.How do you look for a defensive coordinator (DC)? Are you looking for someone who knows a lot more than you do or a little bit more than you do or is this guy you going to lean on?
I've had a track record of success hiring DCs. The DC at SMU was my DC. The DC at South Florida was my DC. The DC at Houston was my D-coordinator in my past. So, the thing I really look for is can they get the guys to play like their hair's on fire? It's important to schematically be correct on defense, but that to me that is secondary to those guys playing so freaking hard and for each other that it's like their life depends on it. And that was the overwhelming reason why I hired Tayler Polk and promoted him. His players absolutely love him. He pours everything into it. He doesn't have bad days. He may have bad moments, but no bad days. He's full of energy and juice. He's also extremely intelligent. He's an overachiever as a player and a coach, and I think he's going to be a future star. I interviewed a ton of people, a ton of people that probably have bigger resumes only because they've been doing it longer. But, what Tayler's accomplished in a short amount of time speaks volume. and then what Tayler's players think about him and how hard they play for him was the overwhelming deciding factor.
