Jon Sumrall's Top Moments from SEC Media Day

Jon Sumrall did little to hide his fiery personality during Wednesday's SEC Media Day.

Jon Sumrall did little to hide his fiery personality during Wednesday's SEC Media Day. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

TAMPA, Fla.-- Jon Sumrall made two things clear in his first SEC Media Day as the Florida Gators' head coach: he is authentically himself, and he is not afraid to show it.

From threatening to throw a podium, to talking about how Ole Miss "beat the s**t" out of Tulane twice last season and more, Sumrall did little to hide the fiery personality that attracted Florida to hire him in the first place.

With that being said, here are some of Sumrall's best moments from his first SEC Media Day with the Gators.

"Beat the s**t out of us"

Sumrall will keep things blunt, win or lose. Two of those losses came at the hands of Ole Miss last season, including a 41-10 loss in the playoff. Sumrall was asked about new Rebels head coach Pete Golding after facing Ole Miss when Golding was the defensive coordinator and when he was the head coach.

"I think he's going to do a phenomenal job. Really do. Happy for his opportunity there," Sumrall said. "Watching him, those teams to me, look, you know, we played them the first time at Tulane and they beat the s**t out of us. We played them the second time, different head coach, still beat the s**t out of us.

"So didn't matter who the head coach was. They were still pretty good."

Mississippi Rebels head coach Pete Golding and Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall embrace prior to the game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Yes, SEC head coaches use cuss words. Yes, Sumrall has cussed in a press conference before. Nonetheless, it is always funny to see other's reactions to Sumrall's bluntness when they first listen to him speak.

Shot at the ACC?

If Sumrall got to name an ACC champion, it would be Tulane. Why?

"Last year's ACC champion was who?
Duke. We beat them at Tulane," he said in a scrum with local media, during which he was asked why he thinks American Conference head coaches are attractive to SEC schools.

Florida HC Jon Sumrall was asked about AAC coaches making the move to the SEC.

He was also asked about the 9-game conference schedule. #Gators

“I’m not going to whine and complain about being a SEC head football coach.” pic.twitter.com/p8btNn9fmG

— Andrew Abadie (@AndrewAbadie) July 22, 2026

Sumrall is one of three new SEC head coaches to come from an American Conference team, joining Auburn's Alex Golesh (USF) and Arkansas' Ryan Silverfield (Memphis). Another SEC head coach who came from an AAC team is Tennessee's Josh Heupel (UCF). Answering the question, Sumrall took multiple shots at the ACC.

"I do think you look at what (the AAC) has done against Power Four competition, and you go, okay, in my opinion, there is a clear delineation of, there's the Power 2," he said. "I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I think there's clearly the Power2. 
Not knocking any league. And then there's a couple behind that. And the American's right there.

"... So I think you're in a training ground; Memphis was always beaten Power 4 teams, you know what I mean? It was like, they beat them every year.
It doesn't matter if Silverfield's the coach or whoever, they just, Memphis is always -- so that league is just so challenging. The length, the skill, it is a really good league, and I think it's a good breeding ground for quality players and coaches."

He took another shot at the ACC and at some Big 10 teams later in the scrum.

"I will say this too: every time at Tulane, and when we ran up against a team from this league, it didn’t feel very good. But when we ran up against ACC teams. When we beat Northwestern last year, I wasn’t real worried," he said. "Going into the game I looked across the other sideline and thought I think we can win today. There are some differences but let’s not act like all Power 4 teams are alike and all G-6 teams are alike."

"4-8 is not okay"

Despite taking over a program with four losing seasons in five years, Sumrall has made it clear that not winning right away is an abject failure. With lofty goals, Sumrall kept things blunt when talking about Florida's disasterous 2025 campaign.

"It takes what it takes to be great," he said. "There are no shortcuts. I don't care if you've been winning or you hadn't been winning.

"But every situation you walk into I think you have to evaluate, okay, what needs to be recalibrated and what's been going good. There have been some really good things going on at the University of Florida before my arrival. There have. We haven't won enough games. We need to win more games. Like 4-8 last year is not okay at the University of Florida. We got to fix that."

New Gators head coach Jon Sumrall and former Florida head coach Billy Napier greet after the game at Raymond James Stadium. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

"You're lucky I'm not going to throw this podium right now"

Note to self for future Sumrall press conferences: turn off all alarms and keep your phone on silent.

In his most notable moment from Wednesday, Sumrall did not hesitate to take a shot at a reporter whose phone went off during his press conference on the main stage. While answering a question about being able to stay with Tulane through the College Football Playoff and the comparisons to Lane Kiffin, Sumrall pivoted.

"You would be kicked out of our team meeting, I swear," he said. "Like you're lucky I'm not going throw this podium right now. That drives me crazy. I would say who is that, but I'm not going to embarrass anybody."

"You'd be kicked out of our team meeting ... You're lucky I'm not gonna throw this freakin' podium." 😅

A phone went off during Jon Sumrall's press conference 😬 pic.twitter.com/0Xsy7sball

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) July 22, 2026

Sumrall's response, later clarified as a joke, garnered significant attention, with Florida fans praising his authenticity and fiery energy and rivals, including former UGA head basketball coach Tom Crean, criticizing him for his response to an honest accident. (It should be noted that the large group of reporters in the room laughed at the incident, and Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken later reported that the reporter whose phone went off was not in the room at the moment).

Nonetheless, the moment provided an opportunity for Sumrall to show his energy to those that did not get to see it during spring camp.

Sign up for our free Florida Gators newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news!