Jon Sumrall Had Options. He Chose Florida: 'I'm a Winner... Believe In Me'

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Jon Sumrall may not have been the Florida Gators' first choice for head coach. At first, Florida may not have even been his top choice.

Nonetheless, he made one thing clear during Monday's introductory press conference: he chose Florida above all.

"We had options. We had choices. My wife and I, we sat down and we chose Florida," he said. "We made that decision. Florida had to choose us, but we chose it back."

Jon Sumrall was introduced as the next head coach of the Florida Gators on Monday. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Sumrall, 43, was seen as a darkhorse candidate for the Florida job as the Gators went on a very public chase towards Lane Kiffin. Schools such as Auburn, Ole Miss and Kentucky, his alma mater, seemed to be the biggest contenders should they have openings.

As the Kiffin chase soured with LSU emerging as the favorite, Florida, which had vetted other candidates through search firm TurnkeyZRG, Sumrall quickly emerged as the primary target. His winning experience as a head coach helped.

His attitude towards the search separated him.

"We were also looking for something that you can't fake. We wanted someone who wanted to be a Florida Gator, someone that being here in the orange and blue was really important too," athletic director Scott Stricklin said. "Someone who embraces the pressure and the expectations because they want to build a program to win championships.

"From our very first conversation, Jon Sumrall stood out."

Florida Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin and head coach Jon Sumrall pose with a Florida Gators jersey during the press conference. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

It was understandable, though, why Sumrall was not the top choice, nor why he was a popular pick among the fanbase when it was announced. The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the last Group of Five head coach still runs rampant.

And the similarities do no favors.

Sumrall has a 42-11 record across a pair of two-year stints at Troy (2022-23) and Tulane (2024-25). Billy Napier had a 40-12 record across a single four-year stint at Louisiana. Sumrall won two Sun Belt Conference titles with the Trojans. Before him, Napier won two Sun Belt Conference titles with the Ragin' Cajuns.

Both are men from the South, have experience as assistant coaches in the SEC and even met each other in the 2024 Gasparilla Bowl, a 33-8 win for Napier and the Gators over Sumrall and the Green Wave.

Because of the Napier PTSD and despite Stricklin not saying he would do so, there was a belief that Florida would target an offensive-minded head coach at a Power Four school, not a young up-and-comer like Sumrall, who is also a defensive-minded coach.

Jon Sumrall replaces Billy Napier as the head coach of the Florida Gators. | Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Rather than shy away from the worry, Sumrall understands it. He did not mention Napier by name, but he did urge the fanbase to understand he is not like the previous head coach. He is his own person. He is Jon Sumrall.

"No two people are the same," he said. "… Judge me for who I am. I'm a winner. We're going to win. Just give me a shot. Believe in me."

While he has yet to win over the fan base, Sumrall knows in an era of NIL, he needs the fanbase on his side to last longer than his predecessor and reach the heights of the two in attendence for his arrival.

"Here's the deal. I need everybody pulling the rope the same direction because if anybody is pulling the same direction, it doesn't make the job easier, it makes it harder," he said. "If we're all Gators and we all want to win, let's do this together."

Sumrall also was not afraid to acknowledge the elephant in the room who actually was not in the room: Kiffin.

528 miles away in Baton Rouge, Kiffin, who fit the bill of an offensive-minded and established Power Four head coach, was being introduced as the next head coach of LSU after choosing the Tigers over Florida and staying at Ole Miss.

The decision induced chaos among the college football world, drama among the three fan bases and debate over how the situation was handled between Florida backing out, Ole Miss not allowing him to coach in the College Football Playoff and Kiffin reportedly demanding assistants come with him to LSU or risk being out of a job.

While Lane Kiffin was considered a top choice, Florida ultimately tabbed Jon Sumrall as the next head coach. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Sumrall kept it light-hearted, joking about the situation in the second stanza of his opening statement.

"Lane Kiffin and I have been going through the same thing. We've talked a lot. We were both in agreement that I was the right man for this job, "Sumrall joked. "He co-signed on that."

Overall, Sumrall is not Kiffin. He's not Napier. He's not Urban Meyer or Steve Spurrier, who were both in attendance for his press conference. He's Jon Sumrall.

He's a winner. He won at his last two stops, but he knows what helped him win at Troy and at Tulane won't necessarily help him win at Florida. He's a defensive coach, but he knows offense will be the key for the Gators to return to national relevance.

Whether he accomplishes that remains to be seen. He faces an uphill battle, but he believes he's wired for it.

"To be able to be the head football coach here, man, it is special to me because this place loves football," Sumrall said. "It eats, sleeps, breathes, drinks football. So do I. We're yoked the right way together."

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