The Emotional Year of Tulane Men’s Basketball

A teary-eyed Ron Hunter emerged from the pre-game locker room Sunday afternoon, knowing this group of three seniors would be seeing their final Fogelman Arena crowd, but also knowing the number of graduating players should have been four.

This emotional, roller coaster of a season started off the court, when the star of his 2025-26 team died, changing everything. It wasn’t just a missing roster spot. Gregg Glenn III was who Hunter had built his entire team around. The tragic swimming accident that claimed Glenn’s life in late July, 2025, left a gaping hole in the hearts and souls of of this Tulane team.

”Truth is, I might not have gotten enough help,” Hunter said to us this week. “Our players needed the extra help: counseling, time. Heck, I needed the extra help.”

Hunter then excused himself from the interview, tearing up, the burden of having to be a statue of strength of the team for the last seven-and-a-half months weighing heavily on the Green Wave coach’s heart.

The Green Wave ended this turbulent season on a four-game losing streak by falling to Memphis, who halted their seven-game skid.

Tiger fans are calling for the head of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway.

Hell, Tulane fans have been asking for the same proverbial decapitation of Hunter, some for a while now.

This is not asking for a pass for Hunter. It is not looking for excuses for any of his shortcomings: three winnings seasons in seven; a lack of a physical presence in the lane for most of his time here; his matchup defense (don’t you dare call it a zone!) that just doesn’t seem to translate in today’s constant player movement.

Instead, here is a different angle.

Instead of a pass, this team, and its coach deserve a hand. Applause for working around their grief. Acclimation for making the monstrous adjustments of losing the star of your team. An ovation for a roster that had almost everyone move up a position, a position they had not been prepared to take during the months of off-season preparation.

Though most of us can relate to losing a loved one, very few of us can understand what this coach and this team have gone through.

To those who have called for Hunter’s dismissal this season, we say you should be ashamed. If Tulane athletics is so overbearingly important to you that you dismiss the death of a player, you really aren’t a fan. Your priorities need to be adjusted.

And, Ron, it’s a matchup zone. You know it.