Florida introduces Jon Sumrall as new head football coach

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida introduced Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as the 31st head football coach in program history Monday afternoon at a press conference in Gainesville.

Sumrall is the first coach to lead two separate programs to back-to-back trips to the conference championship game in his first four seasons as a head coach.

He finished 23-4 at Troy and won back-to-back Sun Belt titles. He is also 19-7 in two seasons at Tulane and has advanced to the American title game in both seasons in New Orleans.

Sumrall and the Green Wave will host North Texas on December 7 at 8:00 on WFTV in the American title game. The winner likely locks up a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Sumrall has SEC roots. He played linebacker at Kentucky and held assistant coaching jobs at both Kentucky and Ole Miss. He played and coached in the Swamp multiple times and embraces the prestige of this program.

“I’ve played in The Swamp. I’ve coached against Florida. Man, 2021, I’m not trying to rip up any wounds, but at Kentucky we beat Florida and I was like, oh, my gosh, we just beat Florida. Like holy cow. Like what a big deal. It’s the Florida freaking Gators, man,” said Sumrall.

“I’ve got one of the best jobs in the world. I’ll get emotional because on the plane I’m thinking about this, I’m like, golly, I’ve got to pinch myself, like this is surreal. This has been a dream of mine.”

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