Sumrall Gives Brutally Honest Take on Balancing Gators, Tulane Jobs

Jon Sumrall did not mince words about his experience coaching Tulane through the postseason while also beginning his tenure with the Florida Gators.

Putting it bluntly, Sumrall said it was a “sh** show.”

“I was doing two jobs for three weeks, which is the dumbest thing I’ve done in my life,” he said on Tuesday at the yearly SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Fla. “Like, stupid.”

"I was doing two jobs for three weeks, which is the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life... It was a shit show." - Jon Sumrall on starting his tenure at Florida while also preparing his Tulane team for the College Football Playoff pic.twitter.com/R939m9lOth
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) May 26, 2026

Referencing his viral “I’ve got 2 phones, 2 jobs and 2 hours of sleep” tweet from December, Sumrall gave some insight into his time as a two-team head coach.

A day coaching Tulane to a win over Charlotte to end the regular season, Sumrall was named Florida’s next head coach. That Monday, after a practice with the Green Wave, he flew to Gainesville with his family to be introduced as the Gators’ next head coach. He and his family flew back to New Orleans that night.

That Wednesday was Early Signing Day, during which Sumrall not only signed the bulk of Florida’s existing recruiting class but also kept Tulane’s class together despite the program not having his replacement in place. Then, on Friday, the Green Wave beat North Texas in the American Conference Championship Game.

That Sunday, he celebrated with the Green Wave after being included in the College Football Playoff, only to fly back to Gainesville shortly after to begin assembling his staff and to retain players on the roster. For 15 days between the AAC title game and the CFP loss to Ole Miss on Dec. 20, Sumrall balanced roster retention and staff hirings at Florida, game prep at Tulane and family life in New Orleans.

His family joined him in Gainesville full-time shortly after Mardi Gras.

“Full disclosure, it was a sh** show,” Sumrall said. “I didn’t sleep… It was like two lives. I don’t know if I made some good decisions in there.”

While it may have been “dumb” to go through that, going through it to begin with was a non-negotiable for Sumrall.

As Lane Kiffin battled with Ole Miss to coach through the CFP with his eyes set on leaving for LSU — a battle the Rebels won as Kiffin departed after the regular season and defensive coordinator Pete Golding took over as the permanent head coach — Sumrall made it clear to all who were interested that leaving Tulane before the season ended would mean he would decline their job offer.

Florida had no issue with waiting, and Tulane had no issue with him coaching.

“I was not going to leave a team playing for a championship to go coach another team,” he said. “That’s not in my DNA. I’m not built like that. Couldn’t do it.

“That’s not a shot at anybody. Honestly is not. If Florida or any other school that wanted to offer me their head coaching job was going to tell me the terms they needed it to be on, the answer from me was ‘I can’t take the job. I’m sorry.’”

While Sumrall went through his own sh** show, Kiffin did not get that luxury, and the two’s experiences are two of many examples used during this year’s meetings as the SEC discusses changes to the sport, including issues with the calendar as college football is on a trajectory towards expanding the College Football Playoff. Sumrall said the easiest way to avoid what he went through last season, especially with the potential for games on the schedule whenever expansion happens, is to move the season up.

“The NFL has a really cool model where they play the season, and then the season ends. Then, coaches take jobs. Then, they do roster turnover. Then, they have some practices. Then, they play the season again,” Sumrall said. “We’re like doing it all at once, and it’s like, feeling like you’ve been drinking.

“Like, gah-lee, that’s like mixing tequila, bourbon and beer all at the same time. It’s going to make you sick.”

For now, college football’s imperfect calendar and system remains, but at least Sumrall only has one job to worry about at the moment.

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