GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The University of Florida hired Tulane's Jon Sumrall Sunday as the Gators football coach to conclude a six-week search and beat out other SEC suitors for a man the school hopes can return championship success to a program coming off four losing seasons in five years.
Sumrall replaces Billy Napier to become the Gators' fifth head coach going back to 2014, the past four seasons under Napier featuring just 23 wins in 50 games, including Saturday's 40-21 romp under interim coach Billy Gonzales over rival Florida State to end a four-game losing streak.
The hiring came after top target Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU, leading UF athletic director Scott Stricklin to turn to Sumrall, who agreed to a six-year deal worth $44.7 million, according to a source.
"Jon Sumrall is a proven winner and an exceptional leader who has built successful programs at every stop," Stricklin said in a statement. "He brings tremendous energy, strong recruiting relationships across our footprint, and a philosophy rooted in toughness, discipline and player development.
"Jon fully understands the expectations at the University of Florida, including our expectations to produce championship teams that feature a dynamic offense."
Because of scheduling, Sumrall was coincidentally the first of about a dozen candidates -- including Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham, Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz and Washington's Jedd Fisch -- with whom the Gators spoke after Napier's Oct. 19 ouster. One of the sport’s rising stars, Sumrall is 42-11 after two-year stints at Troy and Tulane, culminating with a 27-0 win Saturday against Charlotte to move the No. 24 Green Wave to 10-2 entering Friday’s American Athletic Conference title game against North Texas in New Orleans.
A win could earn Tulane the Group of Five bid into the 12-team CFP and prevent him from joining the Gators until elimination and after Wednesday’s Early National Signing Day.
Raised in Huntsville, Ala., Sumrall, 43, was also linked to openings at Auburn, Ole Miss (to replace Kiffin) and potentially Arkansas. Sumrall coached linebackers at Ole Miss in 2018 before spending three seasons at Kentucky, where he played linebacker from 2002-04.
Sumrall's SEC ties and winning ways at two schools are selling points. Yet Kiffin checked more boxes given his success in the nation's top football conference.
Ole Miss (11-1) solidified a berth to the CFP with Friday's 38-19 win at Mississippi State behind an offense averaging 37.3 points, or 11th nationally. The Rebels ranked among the top three offenses in the SEC during each of Kiffin's six seasons in Oxford.
Sumrall's Green Wave rank 61st nationally in scoring (28.7 points per game) and 51st in average points allowed (22.8 ppg). But the defensive-minded Sumrall’s two teams at Troy allowed an average of 17.1 points each season, ranking eighth in 2022 and 10th in 2023. Tulane yielded 20.6 points in 2024, or 23rd nationally.
Meanwhile, Tulane averaged 35.1 points in 2023 (16th).
Sumrall, though, will hire offensive and defensive coordinators at UF.
"Florida has everything necessary to compete at the highest level -- the resources, the support, the tradition and the passion of Gator Nation," he said in a statement. "One of my first priorities will be to assemble an incredible staff, including an offensive coordinator who understands that, at Florida, having an explosive offense isn't optional -- it's mandatory!"
Stricklin also will have a general manager with NFL experience to help negotiate contracts and identify talent.
Jake Rosenberg, the vice president of football administration with the Philadelphia Eagles under UF alum Howie Roseman, headed the GM search for UF. Current Eagles personnel executive Dave Caldwell -- the one-time GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars -- was among several candidates for the position and will handle the new role at UF.
The Gators' vision for the football program comes on the heels of Napier's insistence of calling plays for an offense annually among the SEC's least productive. He also brought his staff from Louisiana, including 32-year-old defensive coordinator Patrick Toney. He left after one failed season to become safeties coach for the Arizona Cardinals.
Napier then hired 29-year-old Austin Armstrong, whose defense allowed an average 38.2 points during a season-ending five-game skid and and led Napier to hire veteran Ron Roberts.
Stricklin aims to learn from the missteps of Napier's tenure. Yet after he pivoted from Kiffin, Stricklin's expected hire of Sumrall drew the ire of Gator fans leading up to the FSU game.
A Web site called firescottstricklin.com has emerged, claiming UF's AD "is unserious about winning." Fans also organized a rally outside the Swamp to protest Stricklin's leadership.
Stricklin, 55 and in his ninth year at UF, has the support of those who matter within the university, including the school's Board of Trustees. In June, he signed to a three-year extension through 2030 with a $250,000 raise.
Stricklin is banking on Sumrall to turn around a football program without an SEC title since 2008, the same year the Gators captured their third national title.
Sumrall's teams have played for the conference title in each of his four seasons, including the past two at Tulane, where he is 19-7.
During two seasons at Troy, he was 23-4 and won back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Championships in 2022 and 2023. But Napier's Louisiana teams won the previous two titles while he was 40-12 at the school, making Sumrall's hire a hard sell to a fan base with its heart set on Kiffin or another Power 4 coach.
Napier's Gators beat Sumrall's shorthanded squad 33-8 during the 2024 Gasparilla Bowl when the Green Wave were forced to use quarterback Ty Thompson after star Darian Mensah transferred to Duke following the regular season.
Napier went 22-23 at UF.
UF's longtime AD, on the spot while making his third football hire, turned his attention to Kiffin amid his best season with an Ole Miss program he had elevated into the upper echelon of the nation's top football conference.
Florida had been in a battle for Kiffin with Ole Miss and longtime SEC rival LSU after the Tigers fired Brian Kelly Oct. 26. On the Thursday following UF's Nov. 1 loss to Georgia, Stricklin first met with Kiffin.
During the ensuing day, terms of an agreement were agreed upon, including some lucrative incentives for success, a source told the Orlando Sentinel. Kiffin, though, did not continue to communicate as his team prepared for a Nov. 15 visit from the Gators.
UF pushed for some clarity from Kiffin by Nov. 21 but did not receive any.
Meanwhile, members of Kiffin’s family visited Gainesville Nov. 16 and Baton Rouge Nov. 17 as the pursuit of his services intensified.
Layla Kiffin, the coach’s ex-wife and daughter of former UF star quarterback John Reaves; and Lane’s brother Chris were allegedly underwhelmed by the Gainesville area athletic programs. The lure of Florida’s superior tradition, facilities and recruiting footprint did not sway Lane.
Knox Kiffin, the son of Lane and Layla, is a star sophomore quarterback in Oxford, Miss. His high school choice is among the key factors in Lane Kiffin’s decision. Chris Kiffin has four children, with two of them high school athletes.
Early on, Lane Kiffin deflected speculation at every turn. He then supercharged the suspense when he announced Nov. 22 he would reveal his future plans after the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State.
On Sunday, LSU landed the biggest prize of a competitive, chaotic coaching carousel.
Sumrall's hiring ends six weeks of handwringing in Gator Nation, endless media conjecture, erroneous reports about contract offers and signed memorandums of understanding with Kiffin along with angst back in Oxford where he had elevated the Rebels from an SEC also-ran.
Big-money Gator boosters and UF legend Steve Spurrier—an ambassador for the athletic program—became involved in the push to land the 50-year-old offensive mastermind.
Kiffin is expected to become one of the sport’s highest-paid coaches at $13 million annually. Meanwhile, Sumrall earns around $3 million annually allowing UF to sign a coach at a lower price after paying Napier a buyout of nearly $21 million to bring the total of money paid to previously fired coaches to nearly $60 million since 2014.
None other than former coach Urban Meyer applauded the hire.
"I've studied Coach Sumrall and have gotten to spend some time with him," Meyer said in a statement. "His teams are tough, physical and he creates a competitive environment. I look forward to getting to know him even more and the special things he will do at Florida."