All-Out Roast Battle Breaks Out During Former Gators HC Steve Spurrier's Award Ceremony

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- What happens when you combine the personalities of Mario Cristobal, Kirby Smart, Dan Mullen and Jon Sumrall at an event hosted by former Florida Gators head coach Steve Spurrier? An all-out roast battle at an awards ceremony.

The Football Writer's Association of America (FWAA) on Monday held its annual Steve Spurrier Awards, during which Cristobal, Smart, Mullen and Fulmer each traded jabs with each other on topics that included NIL, poaching players in the portal, Carson Beck, rivalries and even how many coaches Florida has fired over the last 12 years.

While trading jabs regarding Beck, who led Miami to a College Football Playoff National Championship after spending the bulk of his career at Georgia, Smart and Cristobal each took aim at Florida and the city of Gainesville.

Cristobal, 2-0 against Florida as Miami's head coach, made sure to remind the crowd of the last time Miami played in Gainesville.

"Man, I'm in enemy territory. I feel like some of y'all are on Kirby's side," said Cristobal, who was there supporting Miami receiver Malachi Toney, who won Offensive Player of the Year. "You guys are super professional. I never felt so welcome in enemy territory. Except last year at the Swamp, 41-17."

Smart, meanwhile, took aim at the number of head coaches Florida has fired since he took over Georgia's football program in 2016, using Spurrier's daughter, a realtor in Gainesville, as part of the joke.

"I don't know why you're over here laughing, too, Coach Sumrall," said Smart, who was there supporting Georgia defensive back Ellis Robinson IV, who won Defensive Player of the Year. "I gotta ask (Spurrier) a question. Your daughter is a realtor, did I hear that right? Is she the best realtor in Gainesville? One of the best. OK. Well, you're the fourth coach I've played since being at Georgia, so she's getting a lot of money selling houses. She's going through it."

Smart also took a shot at the city of Gainesville, using the Gators' recent basketball title in the joke.

"Look, I have tremendous respect for this town," he said. "I had no idea how great of a basketball town this really was."

Sumrall, to his credit, laughed off the jokes in a show of camaraderie.

It should not be overlooked that both Kirby and Cristobal took time to dunk on Florida while sitting in Gainesville #UGA #TheU @DawgNation pic.twitter.com/h5YyUjhVle
— Cody Chaffins (@CodyChaffins) February 24, 2026

Speaking of fired head coaches, Mullen and former UF head coach Doug Dickey each had their own quips during the event.

Mullen, the First-Year Coach of the Year after leading UNLV to a 10-4 record last year, reflected on his four years leading the Gators, which ended after being fired late into his fourth season in 2021 despite leading Florida to three straight New Years Six bowls.

He also had some advice for Sumrall as he enters his first season leading the Gators.

"I always knew that I'd win a coach of the year award here in Gainesville," Mullen said. "Happened a couple of years later than I thought it might, but I always knew I'd win one... With the state of things here now, Coach Sumrall, I think eight wins probably get you the award next year."

Dickey, who led the program from 1970-78, gave Spurrier his first collegiate coaching job after his NFL career, tabbing the former Gators quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner as the quarterbacks and the receivers coach. However, the marriage ended after one season as Dickey was fired after a 4-7 record.

Spurrier ended up becoming an assistant at Georgia Tech (1979) and Duke (1980-82) before becoming the head coach of the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits (1983-85), which led him back to Duke as the head coach (1987-89). In 1990, he returned to Florida, leading the Gators to six SEC titles and the program's first national title.

"(Spurrier) helped us put the passing game together. Now, it wasn't real good because we got fired. And, of course, he went to Georgia Tech and got fired again," Dickey said. "The first-year award, I'm not so sure about that for him.

"The smartest people in the world are at Duke. So, the Duke people said, 'Here's a guy who'd been fired twice. We're going to hire him.'"

Also for the record Phillip Fulmer, Dan Mullen and even Doug Dickey had some zingers at the Spurrier Awards as well. pic.twitter.com/7ADkxkJRMg
— Cody Chaffins (@CodyChaffins) February 24, 2026

Spurrier's time at Duke, where he won an ACC title in 1989, also became ammo against Cristobal.

"And I said, well, you probably ought to spend some time with Steve Spurrier because he won more conference championships at Duke than you have in Miami," Smart said. "So Coach Spurrier and him got to visit some."

Overall, the Spurrier Awards proved that in an ever-changing era of the sport, friendly trash talk will never go away.