Where ESPN Ranked, Graded Florida's Hiring of Jon Sumrall

ESPN had high praise for the Florida Gators' hiring of Jon Sumrall.

Florida Gators athletic director Scott Stricklin tabbed Jon Sumrall to be the next head football coach. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

After missing out on the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes, the Florida Gators' hiring of Tulane's Jon Sumrall as the next head football coach was met with some reservation by the fanbase. After a strong introductory press conference, a successful close to the early signing period and a few notable staff hirings, the perception around the hiring is shifting.

ESPN's Bill Connelly ranked Florida's hiring of Sumrall as the fourth-best hire in the country behind LSU's Lane Kiffin, Virginia Tech's James Franklin and Oklahoma State's Eric Morris. Sumrall and Florida also received an A grade with Franklin and Morris due to it making "all the sense in the world," while Kiffin and LSU earned the lone A+.

Connelly's praise for Sumrall comes down to his ability to consistently build winning rosters, and "even when he doesn't, he finds a way to win."

"The dirty little secret about Tulane this season is, the Green Wave weren't actually great at anything," Connelly wrote. "Sumrall had to rebuild a healthy portion of his depth chart after last season's nine-win campaign, and he ended up starting a quarterback (Jake Retzlaff) who arrived in July. But through sheer will and adaptability, his team won 11 games and an American Conference title. That's three conference titles for Sumrall in four years as a head coach."

Across four seasons as a head coach, Sumrall won two Sun Belt Conference titles at Troy and recently led Tulane to an American Conference title and appearance in the College Football Playoff. He is 43-12 as a collegiate head coach.

While Sumrall has consistently won in his short career as a head coach, his lack of experience as a Power 4 head coach, combined with an eerily similar record to Billy Napier's in his four seasons at Louisiana, led many fans of the program to question the decision to hire Sumrall, especially when Kiffin was reported to be the top candidate for much of the coaching search.

In his introductory press conference, Sumrall addressed those concerns.

"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."

Sumrall enters a tremendous battle as Florida's head coach, looking to turn around a program with one winning season since the 8-4 finish in 2020 with a fanbase desperate for immediate success. Looking to carry his success from Troy and Tulane over, Sumrall embraces the "win now" mentality surrounding the program and its fanbase.

"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."