Florida Reportedly Turned to Former Head Coach for Help as Search Moves to Jon Sumrall

Florida has reportedly moved on from Lane Kiffin with the Gators' search now circling around Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall.

Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall appears to be Florida's next top candidate after moving on from Lane Kiffin. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

As reports indicate that the Florida Gators are set to move on from Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, one name has emerged as the apparent new top target.

Tulane's Jon Sumrall, a popular candidate in past and the present coaching cycles, has been named as a top candidate for Florida despite a previous report that he was removing himself from the Gators' coaching pool after a leaked meeting was cancelled, according to FootballScoop's John Brice.

Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU also remain in contention for Sumrall, depending on Kiffin's upcoming decision. Kiffin is expected to announce his future plans on Saturday, while Sumrall's is reportedly coming on Sunday.

Both coaches have their teams in contention for the College Football Playoff.

Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall has the Green Wave on the cusp of an appearance in the College Football Playoff. | Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

According to Brice, Florida has dialed in on Sumrall since Wednesday with multiple reports of inconsistent communicaiton from Kiffin's side forcing the Gators to move on. As a result, Florida turned to a former head coach to help in its search.

"Florida's so dialed in on Sumrall that sources told FootballScoop this week that the Gators had tabbed former two-time Florida national championship-winning coach Urban Meyer to speak with Sumrall about the opening, among other Florida dignitaries," Brice reported.

Meyer was recently honored by the university for his upcoming induction to the College Football Hall of Fame and recently tabbed him as the next member of the program's prestigious Ring of Honor. He previousl said he had no interest in returning to the sidelines despite the Florida job opening.

The Gators are also expected to give Sumrall full autonomy with the program, should he choose Florida, and a difference from Auburn, which is considering keeping interim head coach D.J. Durkin in some capacity, Brice reported.

Athletic director Scott Stricklin, in his press conference a day after firing head coach Billy Napier, explained it's not his duty as the athletic director to hire assistant coaches or coordinators. Napier was largely criticized for his refusal to give up offensive play-calling duties.

"At the end of the day, my philosophy is, you hire head coaches -- as athletic directors, you hire head coaches -- you give them authority to make decisions on how they want to run their program, and you hold them accountable to that," he said on Oct. 20. "That's probably part of the reason we're here today."

Sumrall currently has Tulane as the No. 24 team in the country with a 9-2 record and a win away from an appearance in the American Conference championship game. Sumrall previously led Troy to a pair of Sun Belt Conference titles in 2022 and 2023 and begin his tenure at Tulane with an American Conference runner-up finish in 2024.

A former linebacker at Kentucky, Sumrall also has experience coaching in the SEC as the linebackers coach at Ole Miss (2018), linebackers coach at Kentucky (2019-20) and co-defensive coordinator at Kentucky (2021).