Why Auburn, Florida and Arkansas are split on their Group of Five hires

The SEC is going to have plenty of new faces in 2026. The coaching carousel reached maximum velocity Sunday when several top coaching vacancies were filled in the span of a few hours. 

While Lane Kiffin’s decision to finally pull the trigger on his move from Ole Miss to LSU stole all the headlines, the Tigers weren’t the only SEC school that got busy. Auburn, Arkansas and Florida all filled their vacancies with top candidates from the Group of Five level. 

All three came from the American Conference. Auburn poached Alex Golesh from USF. Florida turned to Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, who is getting his team ready to compete for a conference title this week. Arkansas got Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield. 

All three are, obviously, making a big leap, but Group of Five coaches have had plenty of success in the SEC in recent years. Josh Heupel took Tennessee to the College Football Playoff in 2024. Eli Drinkwitz just signed an extension at Missouri. 

So how will the new additions fare? Here’s a look at each’s path to success and some potential pitfalls that they need to avoid. 

Alex Golesh, Auburn 

Auburn fans seemed like the only bunch actually pleased with their Group of Five hire. The Tigers actually missed out on Sumrall and still found their way to Golesh, a former SEC offensive coordinator that had a 23-15 record in his three years at USF, including a 9-3 showing this season. That’s USF’s best record since 2017. Most of the fanbase sentiment on the AuburnUndercover message board was positive. 

A lot of the buzz surrounding Golesh has to do with that offensive background. Auburn’s been hard to watch on that side of the ball since Gus Malzahn left campus. Golesh will bring the excitement back thanks to his past working in high-tempo spread offenses with Josh Heupel. 

Path to success: Auburn has to get the quarterback position right. The Tigers have finished in the top half of the conference in passing just once since 2017. Former coach Hugh Freeze swung — and missed — at a carousel of transfer quarterbacks. Payton Thorne was the best he got and he was rarely above average. That should change under Golesh. 

He’s had elite quarterback play in every step of his career as a play-caller. He was instrumental in the development of Dillon Gabriel at UCF. He had Hendon Hooker playing like a Heisman Trophy contender in 2022 before a late-season ACL tear submarined Tennessee’s season. USF signal caller Byrum Brown has been one of the Group of Five’s best offensive playmakers for a while now. Golesh should cook with the resources available at Auburn, whether that means convincing freshman quarterback Deuce Knight to stay, bringing Brown with him as an immediate floor-raiser or looking somewhere else entirely. 

Potential pitfall: Golesh needs to nail his defensive staff. It takes a certain kind of coordinator to construct a defense that can operate alongside Golesh’s tempo system. Take Tennessee, where his former mentor Heupel coaches, for example. The Vols had one of the nation’s worst defenses this season and, though they were able to put plenty of points on the board, their upside was severely limited and their margin for error was incredibly slim since opponents didn’t struggle with scoring at all. Retaining D.J. Durkin could be a good starting point. 

Discipline is another area that Golesh needs to clean up. Again, that’s something he carried with him from his time under Heupel. The Bulls averaged 60 yards per game in penalties this season. They also struggled in big road environments against the likes of Memphis and Navy. 

Jon Sumrall, Florida 

Sumrall has long been seen as one of the rising stars in the coaching world, but Florida fans aren’t necessarily thrilled with the move. The post announcing his hiring received 64 down votes on Swamp247’s message board. Social media was also ablaze with calls to fire athletic director Scott Stricklin, who is on his third football coaching hire with the Gators. 

Some of the frustration is understandable from a fan’s perspective. Florida lost out on the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes. Sumrall also shares some similarities with recently fired Florida coach Billy Napier. Both came to Florida as defensive-minded bosses from a Group of Five school situated in Louisiana. Boiled down to that level of simplicity, Sumrall feels like a retread. 

But Sumrall has won a conference title in two out of his four years as a head coach. He’s never won fewer than nine games in a single season and he’s never had a conference record worse than 7-1. His current Tulane team is gearing up for a second straight appearance in the American Conference Championship Game with a spot in the College Football Playoff on the line. Sumrall’s a good coach and it was only a matter of time before a Power Four school scooped him up. 

Path to success: Sumrall delivers on his promise of a high-flying Florida offense. Florida fans are tired of watching ball control. The Gators’ best seasons since the turn of the century have come when they’re willing to air the ball out to their speedy talent at wide receiver. For instance, when Dan Mullen won 11 games in 2019, the Gators ranked third in the SEC with 300.8 yards passing per game. 

That hasn’t necessarily been a priority for Sumrall. Tulane has averaged 228.9 yards passing per season under Sumrall. He has to get an offensive coordinator that can make the most out of the high-level skill players Florida has access to. 

Potential pitfall: What if he really is just another Napier? The parallels are striking. Napier had a 40-12 record, including a 27-5 showing in conference play, before he was hired by Florida. Sumrall is 42-11 overall and 28-4 against conference foes. Napier was 16-3 in one-score games. Sumrall is 15-3. Napier’s Louisiana ranked 50th nationally in total offense in the two seasons before he left. Sumrall’s Tulane is 53rd in total offense over the last two seasons. 

A lot of that is likely coincidental. Sumrall has also had success in the American Conference, which is a step up from the Sun Belt. But the similarities are why Florida fans were up in arms Sunday. 

Ryan Silverfield, Arkansas

None of the hires garnered more derision than Ryan Silverfield’s move to Arkansas. HawgSports’ story about Arkansas targeting Silverfield was downvoted 213 times on the fan message board. 

To put it succinctly, as one user wrote: “Yeah i can’t get behind this….Means Ole Miss beat us again, I’m done with Football.” 

Ole Miss actually didn’t beat anyone for its new coach. The Rebels just promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding. But Arkansas did lose out on Golesh after there was significant interest between the two sides. 

Silverfield spent six full seasons as Memphis’ coach and he was tasked with maintaining the high standard established by the likes of Justin Fuente and Mike Norvell, who each won titles with the Tigers. Though Silverfield never even made it to the American Conference Championship Game, he did win 21 games from 2023-24 before regressing to 8-4 this season. 

Path to success: Silverfield elevates Arkansas’ talent level. There’s no doubt that Silverfield is a tenacious recruiter and he’s acclimated very well to the modern era of college football. He worked the transfer portal tirelessly at Memphis. He took 31 transfers during the 2024 cycle and 40 in 2025. A lot of them came from the Power Four level and many were former blue-chip recruits. His high school efforts haven’t lagged behind. Memphis added four-star quarterback AJ Hill, the third-highest rated recruit to ever sign with the Tigers, in 2025. 

His recruiting impact is already being felt at Arkansas. The Razorbacks have added three commitments to their 2026 class since Silverfield was hired. All three are from the state of Arkansas, including a pair of four stars in defensive lineman Danny Beale — Arkansas’ top prospect — and running back Terry Hodges. 

Potential pitfall: Silverfield continues to underdeliver. Memphis fans weren’t exactly sad to see Silverfield go. His 21-5 record from 2023-24 is commendable, but it was seen as a huge disappointment that the Tigers did not compete for a conference title in that span. Their precipitous drop in 2025 is also concerning. Memphis lost four of its last six games, including a disastrous result against a UAB team that fired former coach Trent Dilfer in the middle of the season. 

Silverfield went 12-20 against teams above .500, including a 3-12 record on the road against teams above .500. That’s not going to cut it in the SEC.