By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Lane Kiffin accepted the head coach position at LSU. He was the top choice for the Florida Gators so they had to pivot.

They hired Tulane coach Jon Sumrall. Sumrall is 43 and he has compiled a 42-11 record as a head football coach with two conference championships and four league title game appearances in as many seasons.

This season he has led the Green Wave to a 10-2 record.

“The University of Florida is one of the premier programs in college football, and it’s an incredible honor to serve as the head football coach,” Sumrall said in a press release. “I believe in building a team rooted in toughness, accountability and a relentless competitive spirit. Florida has everything necessary to compete at the highest level — the resources, the support, the tradition and the passion of Gator Nation. My family and I are excited to get to work.”

“One of my first priorities will be to assemble an incredible staff, including an offensive coordinator who understands that, at Florida, having an explosive offense isn’t optional — it’s mandatory!” Sumrall added.

UF is also finalizing a deal to make David Caldwell the program’s general manager.

Caldwell served in the same role with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013-20. The team only won 30% of its games under his leadership.

He was hired as a personnel executive by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021. His roles were senior personnel director and advisor to the general manager. The Eagles won Super Bowl LIX last season.

“Jon Sumrall is a proven winner and an exceptional leader who has built successful programs at every stop,” athletic director Scott Stricklin said.

“He brings tremendous energy, strong recruiting relationships across our footprint, and a philosophy rooted in toughness, discipline and player development. He will cultivate a daily culture of competitiveness, accountability and winning that drives success on the field and throughout our program. Jon fully understands the expectations at the University of Florida, including our expectations to produce championship teams that feature a dynamic offense. … Jon’s track record of rapid turnarounds speaks directly to his leadership and the culture he establishes.”

Sumrall was raised in Huntsville, Alabama and graduated high school in 2001. He played college football at Kentucky as a linebacker. He led the Wildcats in tackles in 2004 as a junior. Prior to his senior season he was diagnosed with a spinal condition that ended his playing career.

He was a graduate assistant at Kentucky from 2005-06. He spent five years at San Diego (2007-11) before joining Tulane as co-defensive coordinator under Curtis Johnson (2012-14).

He then went to Troy (2015-17) prior to beginning his Power Four coaching career leading linebackers at Ole Miss (2018) and his alma mater (2019-21), adding a co-defensive coordinator title in his final season with the Wildcats.

At Troy, he was 23-4 in his two seasons there.

On paper this seems like a good hire. There are some parallels to Billy Napier.

Napier coached at Louisiana before being hired by the Gators. They are a Sun Belt Conference team though.

Sumrall is coming from Tulane, which is in New Orleans. They are in the American Athletic Conference so the competition is a little tougher. I do like the fact that Sumrall played and coached in the SEC so he knows the conference very well.