Urban Meyer warns college football world of rising head coach

The college football coaching carousel wrapped up one of its busiest cycles on record at the end of the 2025 season. Spanning from September to December, no fewer than 15 different Power Four programs decided to go in a new direction with their head football coaches.

The SEC in particular saw a chaotic cycle with six different coaching changes, five of which were firings. The other job opening was created by a head coach leaving for one to fill one of the five vacancies caused by a firing when Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU.

Among the jobs that opened up due to a firing in the SEC was Florida. The Gators announced their decision to hire former Tulane coach Jon Sumrall as Billy Napier's successor on Nov. 30, 2025.

New Gator head football coach Jon Sumrall | Alan Youngblood / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The former Kentucky linebacker worked as a graduate assistant for the Wildcats for two seasons before embarking on a fifteen-year journey as a defensive assistant. He made stops at San Diego, Tulane, Troy, Ole Miss and Kentucky before taking his first head coaching job in the 2022 offseason at Troy.

Sumrall wasted no time turning the Trojans into a force in the Sun Belt, posting a 23-4 record and two Sun Belt Championship victories in just two seasons on the job. The 12-win season Sumrall guided Troy to was the first time it reached that mark since 1996.

Tulane hired Sumrall to replace the Houston-bound Willie Fritz in the 2024 offseason. In two seasons with the Green Wave, Sumrall posted a 20-8 overall record and guided it to a pair of AAC Championships, the latter of which it won in 2025. Tulane was awarded a trip to the College Football Playoff for its 2025 season under Sumrall.

Sumrall's ability to instantly turn Group of Five programs into conference championship contenders is something that has caught the eye of many in the college football landscape.

Three-time national champion head coach Urban Meyer voiced his approval of the hire by Florida on a recent edition of The Triple Option with fellow FOX Sports college football panelists Rob Stone and Mark Ingram II.

"You watch out for Florida man. I'm buying that stock right now," Meyer said. "I'm buying it. That Swamp is gonna be like a jet engine, like it used to be."

Meyer understands what it takes to win at Florida, having won a pair of national championships with the Gators in 2006 and 2008. However, Meyer and Steve Spurrier are the only coaches to have held the Florida head coaching position for more than four seasons, dating back to 1990.

Will Muschamp (2014), Dan Mullen (2021) and Billy Napier (2025) were all fired from their post on the back end of their fourth season with the Gators. Ron Zook (2004) and Jim McElwain (2017) were let go in the second half of their third season on the job.