Florida Gators coach Jon Sumrall says he wouldn’t have left Tulane if he wasn’t allowed to coach a playoff team.
New Florida Gators coach Jon Sumrall has hit the ground running since arriving in Gainesville late last year.
Between the hiring of her highly touted staff, a consensus top 10 recruiting class and tons of media appearances, the 43-year-old looks like she can do no wrong.
Granted, games need to be played before anyone can make a full decision, but most of Gator Nation seems smitten with their new football coach.
Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall watches the game against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Yulman Stadium. (Stephen Lew/Images)
Part of what makes him so endearing to the Florida faithful is his ability to always seem to say the right thing in the eyes of Gator fans.
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His vows to leap from the top of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium echoed the sentiments of every Florida fan from Key West to Pensacola, and on Tuesday in the Panhandle, Sumrall once again dropped one line that was sure to be music to the ears of paying Gator fans.
When asked what he would have done if Florida had not allowed him to finish at Tulane and coach in the College Football Playoff after accepting the job, Sumrall revealed that he might have stayed in New Orleans forever.
To the uninitiated, that sounds like a sincere response from a coach who loves his players and wants to finish the job he started, and while that may have been all Sumrall meant by his response, any Florida fan wrapped up in the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes last fall couldn’t help but think that was a thinly veiled shot at another SEC coach in the building.
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LSU football coach Lane Kiffin speaks at the South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., on Dec. 1, 2025. (Photos by Matthew Hinton/Imagn)
It’s no secret that Kiffin and Sumrall were both running for the job in Florida, who once led the race until his change of heart led him to Baton Rouge.
It’s also no secret that Kiffin left Oxford in the midst of a playoff run that saw the Ole Miss Rebels fall one goal short of a national championship game.
Kiffin expressed regret for the way he handled his exit, but luckily Sumrall won’t have to play the “what-if” game that a new LSU coach has to play again.
Even more ironic is that Ole Miss and Tulane actually met in the first round of last year’s CFP, meaning Sumrall and Kiffin could compete against each other on the field when both were linked with the Gators’ head coaching gig.
Tulane football coach Jon Sumrall and Mississippi football coach Pete Golding meet before the first half of the first round of the NCAA College Football Playoff in Oxford, Miss., on Dec. 20, 2025. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
Did Sumrall mean to take a shot at Kiffin with his answer? Probably not.
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But maybe it makes Florida fans give a subtle fist pump knowing they end up with a mental competitor who will stick things out until the end, rather than a coach who will jump at the next shiny opportunity that flashes in front of his face.
Like I said before, time will tell if the Gators ended up making the right choice.
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Talk is cheap, and if Sumrall fires up while Kiffin wins a couple of national titles at LSU, Florida fans won’t remember the honeymoon period with their latest great coach.
But, for now, Sumrall’s “talking season” is absolutely pressing, and Tuesday in Destin represents another W for the Gators’ new coach.
