On Sunday, reports surfaced that Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall agreed to become Billy Napier’s replacement at Florida.
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Sumrall had been linked to Auburn in recent weeks. However, Sumrall’s name started to gain traction with the Gators when it appeared Lane Kiffin was out of the running for the Florida gig. Instead, Kiffin ultimately decided between LSU and Ole Miss and chose to move to Baton Rouge.
As rumors appeared about Sumrall and Florida on Saturday, many fans voiced outrage at athletic director Scott Stricklin for bungling the national coaching search. Gators fans didn’t think Sumrall’s resume read much better than Napier’s when he left Louisiana for Gainesville.
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It appears there is some truth to Stricklin not handling the situation with Kiffin well when Florida was in the best position to land the head coach.
Per John Talty of CBS Sports, the initial talk between Kiffin and Stricklin went poorly.
“There was only one problem: the first conversation between Kiffin and Florida AD Scott Stricklin did not go well, according to multiple sources with knowledge of how Kiffin perceived the call,” Talty wrote. “At the time, Florida was the biggest job available and had the leverage to dictate some of its terms.”
Stricklin wanted to hire a general manager with experience in the NFL who would not report directly to Kiffin. Kiffin liked the general manager position was set up at Ole Miss.Â
Per Talty, some people close to the situation doubt Stricklin seriously wanted to hire Kiffin. Kiffin got a good read of the situation early on.
“Still, Kiffin was well aware that he wasn’t Stricklin’s cup of tea, and the feeling was mutual,” Talty wrote.
Florida is taking a big risk on Sumrall to turn around the program. He has no Power 4 head coaching experience.
However, he does have No. 24 Tulane in a position to make the College Football Playoff with a win over North Texas in the American Conference Championship on Saturday.
It’ll be interesting if there is more noise from the fan base for Florida to fire Stricklin amid discontent on how the coaching search went. Florida had a serious chance to land Kiffin, but Stricklin appears to be the one who made sure that didn’t happen.
For more on the NCAA, head to Newsweek Sports.