Florida Head Coach Search: Tulane‘s Jon Sumrall Remains Focused on Current Team Amid Speculation
gainesville, FL - as the university of Florida searches for a new head football coach, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall has emerged as a name in the conversation. However, Sumrall emphatically stated his commitment to the Green Wave, dismissing outside speculation regarding his future. “So whatever somebody else wants to do, another program wants to do, what people want to speculate, they’re free to do that,” Sumrall told Graham Hall of 247Sports. “UTSA has my 100% focus. Our team playing the best it can has my 100% focus.”
The Florida coaching vacancy arose following the firing of Billy Napier. Sumrall, currently in his first season at Tulane after previously leading Troy from 2022-2023, has quickly established himself as a successful head coach with a 40-11 overall record adn two Sun Belt conference titles. This season, he has the Green Wave at 8-2, ranked No. 24 in the latest College Football Playoff poll, positioning them as the highest-ranked Group of Five team and potentially securing a first-round CFP matchup against No. 5 Texas Tech.
Despite the team’s success and playoff positioning, Sumrall has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with his team’s performance. “I’ll just be very candid, there’s some days I feel like we’re one of the bottom 25 teams in the country watching us play,” he said. “If we want to start feeling comfortable or casual about somebody wanting to vote us in the top 25 teams. There must be a lot of bad football going on if we’re one of the top 25 teams… We’re average. We’re an average team.”
sumrall and Tulane will conclude their regular season with games against Temple and Charlotte as they aim to solidify their playoff chances. The Florida program will continue it’s search for a new head coach, with Sumrall’s name likely to remain on the list provided that Tulane continues to win.
