![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/897bae00-d1e7-11f0-bff7-838270b9c007.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nNEW ORLEANS, La. \u2014 Jon Sumrall bursts into his office, out of breath and hustling toward his refrigerator.<\/p>\n
This is a daily routine of his: a two-mile walk with wife Ginny \u2014 the one thing, he half-jokingly says, that preserves his marriage \u2014 followed by homemade smoothies for both of them.<\/p>\n
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Out of the fridge comes an assortment of items: vegan protein powder, creatine, frozen bananas and strawberries, milk, peanut butter, a jar of honey and wilted spinach.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre these OK to use?\u201d he asks a shrugging Ginny, as he sprinkles the leafy greens into a whirling blender.<\/p>\n
Sumrall, a 43-year-old Texas-born country boy raised in Alabama with his deepest football roots in Kentucky, is soon heading permanently to Florida. For now, he\u2019s juggling two head coaching jobs, the one here in Louisiana, as he prepares the 20th-ranked Green Wave (10-2) to play in the American championship on Friday, and the one 600 miles away in Gainesville.<\/p>\n
How he\u2019s managing to do both is simple to explain.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNot a lot of sleep,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Four hours of sleep a night, to be exact. It hasn\u2019t slowed him down.<\/p>\n
Just because he has two jobs doesn\u2019t mean Sumrall stops his routines, like that two-mile walk, or his 5 a.m. morning runs and weight-lifting. In between, he finds himself trying to deliver Tulane a conference title and College Football Playoff trip while preserving the Green Wave\u2019s signing class and retaining current players on the roster, all while signing new players at Florida and hiring a coaching staff in Gainesville.<\/p>\n
In a snapshot of this juggling act, on Monday, Sumrall led practice that morning in New Orleans, flew to Gainesville for his introductory news conference (he watched Tulane practice film on the flight) and then flew back Monday evening to be there for another practice Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
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If it sounds like a lot, it\u2019s because it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI drink SPARK [energy drink] in the morning and coffee in the afternoon,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not the only one doing this. In fact, as it turns out, his own opponent on Friday night, North Texas, has a coach, Eric Morris, who already accepted the Oklahoma State job. The winning coach Friday will continue this dual coaching role for, at the very least, another two weeks.<\/p>\n
Tulane or North Texas is poised to be either the 11th or 12th seed in the playoff \u2014 likely a road trip to Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas Tech or perhaps Georgia, depending on results of league title games this weekend.<\/p>\n
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Sumrall has a plan, win or lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring our walk, that\u2019s what we talked about,\u201d he says. \u201cWin, win or win. If the other alternative happens, here\u2019s what we probably will do. I\u2019ve spent more time on the win options. That\u2019s what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
But why keep a coach around who\u2019s leaving?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe it\u2019s the right thing to do for our student-athletes and it gives us the best opportunity to win those games,\u201d athletic director David Harris says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jon Sumrall is introduced by athletic director Scott Stricklin as the new head coach of the University of Florida football team during a press conference on campus on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
(Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
In his agreement in accepting the Florida job, Sumrall was clear with Florida AD Scott Stricklin: I\u2019m coaching my team the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
North Texas agreed to the same despite Morris heading to Oklahoma State. The same goes for James Madison, where Bob Chesney \u2014 UCLA\u2019s new coach \u2014 will continue coaching the Dukes. That includes Friday night\u2019s Sun Belt championship game against Troy and, potentially, in the playoffs. If Duke upsets Virginia in the ACC championship game, JMU has a shot to advance to the playoff as the fifth highest-ranked conference champion.<\/p>\n
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So, yes, two playoff-bound teams may be coached by men who have accepted power league jobs. Another, Ole Miss, will be led by a coach in his first month, Pete Golding, after the departure of Lane Kiffin to LSU.<\/p>\n
In fact, earlier this week as Sumrall discussed his big move, the televisions in his office played clips of Kiffin\u2019s introductory news conference at LSU. Sumrall smiles and points to the screen when asked about this year\u2019s coaching carousel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always timing. Not to name names,\u201d he says with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
Kiffin\u2019s decision to leave Ole Miss \u2014 and the Rebels promoting Golding \u2014 stopped many other dominoes falling. Last Sunday, the American conference coaching moves to the SEC fell nicely in place: Alex Golesh (USF to Auburn); Sumrall (Tulane to Florida); Ryan Silverfield (Memphis to Arkansas).<\/p>\n
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But just 10 days ago, that\u2019s not how many expected those hires to go.<\/p>\n
In fact, most believed that Golesh was bound for Arkansas, Sumrall to Auburn and Florida had its sights on Missouri\u2019s Eli Drinkwitz or Washington\u2019s Jedd Fisch if it didn\u2019t snag Kiffin.<\/p>\n
What happened? Florida drew the interest of Sumrall, then deep in negotiations with Auburn.<\/p>\n
Asked about his choice, Sumrall said, \u201cA lot of it for me was, \u2018Do they believe in my vision?\u2019 You want to do the job at a place that wants you to do the job your way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sumrall\u2019s way is tough, hard-nosed, fearless. He\u2019s a former Kentucky linebacker and longtime defensive assistant and coordinator mostly in the South.<\/p>\n
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Sumrall took the Tulane job two years ago for a reason, he says. He wanted his next job to be one of the jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted a dream job,\u201d he says. \u201cThose are Florida, LSU, Texas, whatever, to me. The journey has been crazy. Knowing that I was going to go to Florida \u2026 I didn\u2019t think about that ’til Sunday morning. Woke up Sunday morning and I was going to tell my team that day. My wife looked at me, \u2018You\u2019re going to be the head coach at the University of Florida.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018I know, it\u2019s crazy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
At Florida, Sumrall will be the fifth coach in the last 13 years. The Gators have fired the last four \u2014 each of them having not lasted beyond Year 4.<\/p>\n
Does this frighten him?<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m not scared. There\u2019s not a lot that scares me. Maybe rattlesnakes,\u201d Sumrall says. \u201cI\u2019m unapologetically myself. I\u2019m going to be who I am. That job won\u2019t change me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sumrall\u2019s toughness comes from a tough mentor, Rich Brooks, his coach at Kentucky and the man who hired him as a graduate assistant. His organization skills? Those come from Neal Brown, the former West Virginia coach hired recently at North Texas who he worked with on the Kentucky staff.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve prepared him, along with Mark Stoops, another Kentucky mentor, for this big gig.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked my whole career to get this point,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s like a celebration but it\u2019s the start of something special \u2014 it\u2019s not the end. It\u2019s a cool opportunity. I look forward to all of it \u2014 even the hard parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s been quite a climb.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s in his fourth season as a head coach \u2014 first two at Troy and last two at Tulane \u2014 and he\u2019s lost a total of 11 games and won 42. In fact, he\u2019s playing in his fourth straight conference championship game. His Troy teams won the Sun Belt in both 2022 and 2023, and his first Tulane team last year lost in the American championship game.<\/p>\n
The winning has turned profitable for him and his family of six (he and Ginny have boy-girl twins and two more girls). He\u2019ll more than double his contract at Florida at more than $7 million annual salary.<\/p>\n
But that pales in comparison to the job itself. For instance, on Tuesday, Sumrall\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n
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It was Tim Tebow.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018You know why you\u2019re at [the Florida] job? Your culture. You built your culture on toughness. When we were good under Urban, we were tough,\u2019\u201d Sumrall says. \u201c\u2018We\u2019ve watched you. You build it on toughness.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Tough? Like juggling two head coaching jobs while attempting to lead one team to a conference championship and playoff while assembling a staff and recruiting for another?<\/p>\n
If the Green Wave win Friday, Sumrall does plan to return to Gainesville for three days next week (Sunday-Tuesday) and then fly back to New Orleans for mid-week practice here in preparation for the first round of the playoffs Dec. 19-20.<\/p>\n
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However, the entire Sumrall family isn\u2019t moving to Florida until after Mardi Gras.<\/p>\n
Why? Because the Sumralls rent a condo with other families on the parade route. The Florida coach will be back in Louisiana, at least for a few days for the annual festivities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming back for Mardi Gras,\u201d he says laughing. \u201cThat\u2019s selfish. That\u2019s for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW ORLEANS, La. \u2014 Jon Sumrall bursts into his office, out of breath and hustling toward his refrigerator.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8173,3848,10634,10241,21852,35186,28,30,29,2496,3111,38766,8013,26760,10712,60,5734,8939,5844,12287,19534,9918,14591,5537,11819,26375,38741,22622,9574,19879],"class_list":["post-72539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-alabama","tag-arkansas","tag-coach","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-duke","tag-eric-morris","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-gainesville","tag-gators","tag-green-wave","tag-head-coach","tag-james-madison","tag-jon-sumrall","tag-kentucky","tag-louisiana","tag-lsu","tag-memphis","tag-missouri","tag-north-texas","tag-ole-miss","tag-oregon","tag-texas","tag-tim-tebow","tag-troy","tag-tulane","tag-ucla","tag-virginia","tag-west-virginia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72539","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=72539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}