Why Former Florida OL Phil Trautwein Returned to the Gators as a Coach

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Phil Trautwein has tattoos on each of his arms. His right arm is saved for family-related tattoos, headlined by a cross in honor of his sister. His left is saved for championship ink from his time as an offensive lineman with the Florida Gators.

He’s got two of them so far: one on his shoulder and upper-bicep with a Gator wrapping around with the BCS crystal ball trophy (2006) and another on his inner-bicep with another crystal ball trophy (2008).

They originally were not meant to be national title tattoos, though.

“Jim Tartt, who was my left guard at the time, we had said, ‘Hey, if we win the SEC, we’ll get a tattoo,’ and then we won the SEC,” Trautwein explained. “And we didn’t want to get one. So we we’re like, ‘Alright, if we win a national championship.’ And we ended up making the bet. He has one, I have one.”

Trautwein, now back with the program as the offensive line coach, has no plans to stop adding to his collection.

“If anyone wants to make a bet with me, let’s do it,” he said.

Ready to help the next generation of Gators 📈@CoachTrautFB | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/jhqkf67Pkg
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Trautwein enters his first season as the Gators offensive line coach, a position he always seemed destined to have. Playing for Florida from 2004-08, Trautwein was a two-time national champion, two-time SEC champion, two-time All-SEC selection and two-time team captain. Trautwein eventually turned his playing career into one of the best coaching jobs in college football as Penn State’s offensive line coach (2020-25) and as Boston College’s offensive line coach (2018-19).

Coming back to Gainesville, though, was always the goal.

“This place is special to me,” he said. “I learned a lot. I grew a lot as a person, as a player. I have an unbelievable love for the University of Florida.”

Yet, as Florida cycled through head coaches and offensive line coaches, Trautwein never got the call. In fact, it took some change in his own way to make the long-awaited return.

After Penn State fired longtime head coach James Franklin, Trautwein knew it was unlikely he would return. So, for the first time in his coaching career, he signed with an agent. While Clint Dowdle was tabbed with helping Trautwein find his next stop, he was also working to help another client make his next move: Jon Sumrall.

Having interest from multiple programs, Sumrall was eventually hired as Florida’s next head football coach, after which he made a promise to hire a staff based on resumes and not if they had coached with him before. Dowdle helped him with that, introducing Trautwein to Sumrall.

Phil Trautwein won two national titles and two SEC titles with the Florida Gators. | John David Mercer-Imagn Images

After a visit to Gainesville, where he met with Sumrall and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, Trautwein became Sumrall’s first outside non-coordinator hire of the coaching staff.

“Coach Trautwein is as good of an offensive line coach as there is in the country,” Sumrall said. “Add the fact that he’s a two-time national champion, All-SEC honoree and team captain here at Florida, having him join our staff was a no-brainer.”

As much as it was a no-brainer for Sumrall to hire Trautwein, it was also a no-brainer for Trautwein to join Sumrall’s staff. A consistent winner as a head coach while also being known for his fiery energy, Sumrall has garnered personality comparisons to former UF head coach Urban Meyer.

Trautwein specifically points to Sumrall’s attention to detail, using an example of Sumrall texting everyone to make sure the Gator logo on the weights in the weight room was right side up.

“It's awesome to see, because those little things might end up being slipped through the cracks - and that's how you lose football game,” Trautwein said. “... They're both winners, and they also care about their players. They're going to push and drive you're going to make sure that each guy gets everything they got every single day."

As Sumrall is tasked with rebuilding the culture and standard at Florida, a program with four losing seasons in five years, Trautwein is tasked with rebuilding an offensive line room marred by inconsistent play since he left the program after the 2008 season. He is also tasked with rebuilding recruiting at the position, which has had zero five-stars in the last 11 high school recruiting classes and limited blue-chip prospects.

He admitted that he does not necessarily target a recruit because of a star rating. Mindset is the key, and his history of developing offensive linemen at Penn State is also an easy sell.

“I truly believe, I don’t think in every single recruit we’re going to be the highest bidder, so sometimes kids have to take a chance on me and know that I’m going to develop them and get them to the next level, which is the money they really want,” he said. “There’s some sell always in that but just making sure they have the right mindset, and it comes down to who they are, are they tough, are they willing to work, and are they willing to work on their weaknesses and turn them into strengths.”

Phil Trautwein emerged as one of the nation's best offensive line coaches while at Penn State. | Matthew OHaren-Imagn Images

His history has also quickly turned him into a leader on Sumrall’s staff. Trautwein, along with outside linebackers coach Bam Hardmon, is one of two former Gators who are currently assistant coaches. Those around Trautwein see how much the opportunity means to him.

“It's easy to follow his lead,” outside receivers coach Marcus Davis told Florida Gators on SI. “You could tell when he speaks, it comes from a place of passion. You could tell that you love his place. When you got guys like that on the staff, I just follow his lead because he knows what it takes to win here.”

Since Trautwein’s departure, Florida has just three major bowl wins, no SEC titles, three SEC championship game appearances and six losing seasons. Since Meyer left after the 2010 season, the Gators have had four head coaches fired with none surviving past their fourth seasons.

Trautwein sees those shortcomings in his absence. And now that he is back, like he did as a player nearly 20 years ago, he is hoping to turn the program back into a national contender.

“I want to win national championships. For me, it's everything,” Trautwein said. “Seeing what we did, what we can be. I want to get us back to winning national championships. That’s why I’m here.”