With the college football regular season wrapping up on Saturday, teams across the sport are already looking ahead to next year, and Sunday brought a flurry of head coaching hires.
Following the news of Lane Kiffin heading to LSU, one of the most notable moves came from the Florida Gators, who turned to their backup plan and hired Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall to lead the program for the foreseeable future.
Sumrall leaves Tulane with the Green Wave preparing for the AAC Championship and ranked No. 24 nationally, with a potential College Football Playoff bid still within reach.
He agreed to a six-year deal worth roughly $7.5 million annually and will step in to follow in Billy Napier’s footsteps, tasked with rebuilding a Florida program that has struggled over the past several seasons.
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However, Sumrall’s social media came under fire from unhappy Florida fans who were clearly displeased with the hire. The criticism ramped up after he retweeted a post about Tulane’s upcoming conference championship around the same time he was officially announced as Florida’s head coach.
“Don’t mess up what you have at Tulane to come here to Gainesville. We don’t want you and you won’t be accepted. Why go somewhere where 90,000 plus hates you already?” A fan said.
Someone else added, “You won’t be welcome In Gainesville.”
Another person wrote, “Stay there! I speak on behalf of gator nation when I say we do not want you at all! You stay there!”
“Please don’t come to Florida. You are a good coach but you aren’t what we need or want. Anywhere but Florida,” one more fan commented.
Jon Sumrall compiled an impressive 42-11 record over four seasons as Tulane’s head coach, but now he’s taking a much bigger step into the SEC with Florida—a program where expectations are high and success is measured by consistently putting a winning product on the field.
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