Florida lands Jon Sumrall, a proven winner with SEC experience. Can he revive the Gators' elite status and lead them to CFP glory?
Florida was briefly in the sweepstakes to land Lane Kiffin when the head coach was looking for greener pastures amid a run to the College Football Playoff with Ole Miss.
Kiffin and the Gators didn't appear to be a fit, and he ultimately chose to leave the Rebels to coach for LSU.
The Gators tried to give Billy Napier the benefit of the doubt before the 2025 season, but a 3-4 start to the campaign forced the program to move on during the regular season.
Florida picked a coach who has CFP experience. Jon Sumrall accepted the job with the Gators while he was busy preparing Tulane to play Ole Miss in the first round.
While the Rebels dismantled the Green Wave with an SEC roster, there is hope Sumrall can do more at Florida with better resources than Tulane.
Steven Lassan of Athlon gave Florida a grade of "A" for hiring Sumrall.
"Sumrall certainly understands life in the SEC from his background as a player at Kentucky and later stints as an assistant with the Wildcats and Ole Miss," Lassan wrote. In four years as a head coach in stops at Troy (2022-23) and Tulane (2023-24), Sumrall won at least nine games in every season and compiled a 43-12 record overall.
"After taking the Green Wave to an appearance in the College Football Playoff last year, Sumrall’s next task is to help Florida get back on track on the national level after four losing seasons over the last five years."
Sumrall has a lot of work to do to get Florida back to being an elite program in the SEC. Fortunately for the Gators, the team is returning many of its young players from last season.
It'll be up to Sumrall to develop them into a CFP contender.
Sumrall is trying to take a playbook from former Florida head coach Urban Meyer by taking away team logos from players’ workout gear until they earn the privilege.
Clearly, Sumrall understands the culture at Florida needed to change in the offseason. Maybe the third time will be the charm (as the leader of a program) for the coach to win a national title.