Florida Gators coach Jon Sumrall says he wouldn’t have left Tulane if he wasn’t allowed to coach Playoff team
New Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall has truly had great success since arriving in Gainesville late last year.
Between widely praised recruiting, a consensus top 10 recruiting class and countless media appearances, the 43-year-old seems like can do no wrong.
Granted, games need to be played before everyone can make a full decision, but the vast majority of Gator Nation seems to be enamored with its newest head coach.
Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall watches the game against the Northwestern Wildcats during halftime at Yulman Stadium. (Stephen Lew/Imagn Images)
Part of what makes him so appealing to the Florida faithful is his ability to always say the right thing in the eyes of Gator fans.
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Ben Hill’s promise to jump from the top of Griffin Stadium echoed the sentiments of Florida fans from Key West to Pensacola, and on Tuesday in the Panhandle, Sumrall once again dropped a one-liner that will be music to the ears of Gator fans paying attention.
When asked what he would have done if Florida had not allowed him to finish at Tulane and coach in the College Football Playoff after taking the job, Sumrall revealed he might have stayed in New Orleans for good.
To the uninitiated, this sounds like an honest answer from a coach who loves his players and wants to finish what he started, and while that’s exactly what Sumrall meant in his response, any Florida fan who attended the Lane Kiffin giveaway last fall can’t help but think this was a thinly veiled shot at another SEC coach in the building.
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LSU football head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at the South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Dec. 1, 2025. (Matthew Hinton/Imagn Images)
It’s no secret that Kiffin and Sumrall are candidates for the job in Florida; The former was even leading the race until he changed his mind and brought him to Baton Rouge.
It’s also no secret that Kiffin left Oxford in the middle of a Playoff run that saw the Ole Miss Rebels one goal line away from playing for the national championship.
Kiffin has since expressed regret for the way he handled his exit, but luckily for Sumrall, he’ll never have to play the “what if” game the new LSU coach had to play.
More ironically, Ole Miss and Tulane met in the first round of last year’s CFP; this meant that Sumrall and Kiffin could compete against each other on the field while being linked to the Gators’ head coaching job.
Tulane football coach Jon Sumrall and Mississippi football coach Pete Golding talk before halftime of the first round of the NCAA College Football Playoff in Oxford, Miss., on Dec. 20, 2025. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
Was Sumrall trying to attack Kiffin with her answer? Probably not.
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But that probably left Florida fans taking a subtle jab at knowing they were facing a psychotic opponent who would take things to the bitter end rather than a coach who would jump at the next shiny opportunity that appeared in front of his face.
As I said before, time will tell if the Gators made the right choice.
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Talk is cheap, and if Sumrall flames out while Kiffin wins a couple of national championships at LSU, Florida fans will barely remember the rosy honeymoon period they had with their last head coach.
But for now, Sumrall certainly represented an underwhelming “talking season” and another W for the Gators’ newest head coach in Destin on Tuesday.
