Jon Sumrall will be the next head football coach at Florida, according to multiple reports.
The 43-year-old Sumrall is 42-11 in four seasons as a college head coach, including 10-2 this season at Tulane. He coached Troy to back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships in 2022 and 2023.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that Sumrall will earn around $7.5 million per year on a six-year contract. He takes over a Florida team that finished 4-9 this season, with Billy Gonzales serving as interim coach after Billy Napier was fired Oct. 19.
Sumrall appeared ticketed for Auburn at one point, but became the focus of Florida’s search after Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin turned down the Gators for LSU. A former Kentucky linebacker who went to high school in Huntsville, Sumrall has previous SEC coaching experience as an assistant at both his alma mater and at Ole Miss.
Sumrall’s hiring at Florida was one of a series of dominoes that fell in the SEC late Saturday or Sunday, with Kiffin (apparently) going to LSU, South Florida’s Alex Golesh to Auburn and Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield to Arkansas. Ole Miss is now the only SEC school with a head-coaching opening after Kiffin’s presumptive departure.
Tulane will host North Texas in the American Conference championship game on Friday. It was not immediately clear if Sumrall would coach the Green Wave in that game.
