Tulane Head Coach Jon Sumrall Addresses Job Speculation at Media Days

With success comes speculation about future jobs in today’s age of college football.

The Tulane Green Wave football team is highly aware of that reality in recent seasons, having to replace former head coach Willie Fritz with Jon Sumrall.

That relief lasted until mid-December of last year, when Sumrall became linked to potential opportunities at North Carolina, Oklahoma and Kentucky, .

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Sumrall outlined his mindset and approach to that speculation at American Conference Media Days on Friday, which should be expected to continue if the Green Wave see success again this season.

“I actually had a very transparent conversation with our team similar to that question about opportunities that present in life this past week,” Sumrall said, according to Daniel Hager of On3. “I like to do it before we get to the season and then understand where your mindset needs to be. I’m a believer in ‘be where your feet are.’ Like, I’m not looking anywhere else than right where I’m at.”

Sumrall spoke about the potential effect of his future on the state of the team toward the end of last season after their American Conference Championship loss to the Army Black Knights.

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Rather than let any of that linger, he addressed it outright before the start of fall camp this time around. And while it’s clear that nothing is set in stone, he believes he’s in a great situation at Tulane.

“I’ve found often in life that you may be in a situation and look across the fence and see someone else’s grass and think it looks a little greener, but you could go over there and find out the grass is fake,” Sumrall said. “It doesn’t always make you happier. I LOVE, LOVE where I’m at. I love it. I got four young kids in awesome schools. My wife loves New Orleans. If you can’t love New Orleans, you’ve got a problem. It’s one of the coolest cities in the world.”

Sumrall is entering his 21st year of coaching college football.

In his first year, he made about $15k with a camp stipend, explaining that money doesn’t necessarily bring more happiness.

“I think you find joy in doing the job really, really well with people you love and care about and help them grow and develop to be their best,” Sumrall continued. “And so our jobs as coaches is about serving and developing our players. I love who I get to do it with, and I’m passionate. I’ve made it very clear that I don’t know if I’m gonna die coaching at Tulane. I don’t know that. But I’d be cool if that was the case.”

It's fair enough to add that disclaimer, as he was linked to jobs last cycle and should be expected to be a top candidate at the end of this season.

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However, there are several cases of coaches—and players at that—leaving destinations only to find that they may have been better off staying put.

Sumrall is a younger head coach at just 43 years old and is a rising star in the industry, but he knows that the next opportunity isn’t necessarily the right or best one and is content being the head of the Green Wave right now.

For more Tulane news, head over to Tulane Green Wave On SI.