GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014 With legends Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier sitting a few feet away and dozens of players lining the back of the room, new Florida coach Jon Sumrall took center stage Monday wearing a suit with orange and blue sneakers.<\/p>\n
He crushed the fit \u2014 in more ways than one.<\/p>\n
The Gators introduced their fifth head coach since Meyer stepped down in 2010 with much less fanfare than Lane Kiffin\u2019s arrival would have created. But the 43-year-old Sumrall might just be better suited for a program in need of short-term success and long-term stability.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge I embrace. It\u2019s an exhilarating challenge,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that I can measure myself to Coach Spurrier or Coach Meyer anytime soon. I\u2019ve got a long way to go. I look forward to leaning on them, asking their opinion and advice. I feel very privileged to have two great resources like them that are a phone call away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m the luckiest guy in the world to have a phone-a-friend in those two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Athletic director Scott Stricklin turned to Meyer, Spurrier and 1996 Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel to help land Sumrall, who signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to leave Tulane and take over a Florida program that went 22-23 in four seasons before firing Billy Napier in mid-October.<\/p>\n
Sumrall joked that he has a pretty decent Spurrier impression, but he saved that for another day. This was more about selling hope, and Sumrall did just that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Former Florida head coach Urban Meyer, left, new Florida head coach Jon Sumrall, center, and former Florida head coach Steve Spurrier, right, after a press conference at the James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Training Center Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Gainesville, Fla. Credit: AP\/Chris Watkins<\/p>\n
\u201cJust win a whole bunch,\u201d Spurrier chimed in from the third row.<\/p>\n
Sumrall laughed, stepped back from the microphone, clapped his hands and rolled his fist through the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re going to do that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
An undersized linebacker at Kentucky (2002-04) whose playing career ended with a neck injury, Sumrall returned to his alma mater for a three-year assistant stint before becoming Troy\u2019s head coach in 2022. He won consecutive Sun Belt championships in two seasons with the Trojans and then enjoyed similar success at Tulane.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Florida athletic director Scott Strickland speaks during a news conference Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Gainesville, Fla. Credit: AP\/Chris Watkins<\/p>\n
Sumrall is 19-7 in two years in New Orleans and led the Green Wave to the American championship game both seasons. So he has made four league title games in four years as a head coach. The Gators believe he could be Meyer 2.0.<\/p>\n
This much is certain: He sounded nothing like Napier 2.0.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need him to win,\u201d Spurrier said. \u201cAnd he can do it. You got to have that mindset. You can tell his mindset is different than some of these coaches we\u2019ve had here in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kiffin was Florida\u2019s top target for months, but Stricklin shifted to Sumrall after getting lukewarm feelings about the chances of landing the Ole Miss coach with a history of drama \u2014 some of which showed up in recent days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of false information, a lot of twisted information and a lot of people trying to create narratives that benefit themselves,\u201d Stricklin said. \u201cI respect the decision he made at the end of the day. \u2026 He\u2019s a fascinating guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Declining to discuss where negotiations went wrong between Florida and Kiffin, Stricklin quipped, \u201cI love where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sumrall finalized a six-year, $44.7 million contract that will pay him $7.45 million annually. The deal also includes $16.3 million for his entire staff as well as postseason incentives that include $5 million for winning the College Football Playoff.<\/p>\n
He was further down the road in negotiations with Auburn but spurned his wife\u2019s alma mater when the Gators called. He embraced enormous \u2014 maybe even unrealistic \u2014 expectations and the challenge of getting Florida back to national prominence in a state filled with rivals and outside programs trying to poach talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat passion and enthusiasm, the fire, that\u2019s part of what attracted me here because I\u2019m wired the same way,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cThe standard here is championships. That\u2019s why I came. I\u2019m built for this job. I was made for this job. Winners win. I\u2019m a winner. We\u2019re going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
He tried to allay concerns about being another Group of Five coach from Louisiana \u2014 Napier came from Louisiana-Lafayette \u2014 by asking Meyer if he ever coached G5 football. Everyone knew the answer, of course, with Meyer winning at Bowling Green and Utah before landing in Gainesville.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo two people are the same,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cJudge me for who I am. I\u2019m a winner. We\u2019re going to win. Just give me a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sumrall thanked countless people who helped him get to this point and dropped one name few expected. <\/p>\n
\u201cI may be a defensive guy, but I want to be more of a defensive guy like Bob Stoops,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cI want the scoreboard to light up.\u201d<\/p>\n
That would be the ultimate fit for Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014 With legends Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier sitting a few feet away and dozens of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4403,143,28,30,29,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-67271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-wires-bot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}