It didn’t take Tulane long to bring the madness to March. After stumbling into the American Athletic Conference tournament, the Green Wave didn’t only land some haymakers before making their exit in Orlando, but did so amidst reports that their head coach would be relieved of his duties after the season.
Imagine being Ed Conroy who, in the middle of a quarterfinal contest trailing a very talented Houston Cougars team, found out that his job was up in the air. It doesn’t do too much for one’s confidence, to say the least.
However, it may have done something else. Conroy’s team managed to overcome an eight-point deficit to defeat Houston and advance to the semifinals. Although their magic-carpet ride came to an end there, the Green Wave gave their head coach a sendoff he won’t soon forget.
It was Thursday night against the Central Florida Knights where it all began. Conroy’s 10th-seeded team came out firing on defense. In a low-scoring affair, Tulane held UCF to a mere 21 points in the first half.
The Knights wouldn’t fold, though, as they rallied in front of what was essentially a home crowd in Florida. In the second half they outscored the Wave 42-36. Despite their best efforts, however, Tulane was able to hold them off for the opening-round win.
So, the No. 10 seed ousted the No. 7 on opening night, nothing too shocking there. A little upset was surely as far as this team who finished last in the AAC could go. Being given the task of knocking off No. 2 Houston, Tulane would have its will tested in more ways than one on Friday evening.
The Cougars quickly proved to be a different monster than UCF. After dropping 36 points on the Wave before halftime, Conroy’s team found itself in a real gut-check situation. It only got worse when Conroy himself heard the reports mid-game that it essentially didn’t matter what he did for the rest of the tournament, he was gone.
In the face of adversity that swirled around them, though, Tulane found a way to pull off perhaps the tournament’s biggest upset. In the second half, the Green Wave put up 44 points and sunk a three with two seconds remaining to seal the 72-69 victory.
Two runs came to an end on Saturday; the Wave’s Cinderella one in Orlando and Conroy’s as their head coach. For Green Wave fans, it had to be bittersweet. In the midst of what was an incredible show of grit by Tulane, their coach acted similarly.
Conroy maintained that this was not about him or his job, continuing to focus on the kids he coached. Whether it weighed on his mind or not, he didn’t allow it to stand in the way of the task at hand. His attitude, in turn, spurred on his team to a berth in the conference semifinals. It was the perfect way to send off their coach of six years.
While no trigger on Conroy’s job has been pulled yet, he can hang his hat on what is most likely his final season with Tulane knowing he never gave up on a team who in turn never gave up on him. Perhaps their tournament run wasn’t just a sendoff for seniors like Louis Dabney, but a thank you to their coach who never faltered in the face of oncoming termination and instead remained adamant that his players were the most important thing.
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