Florida Gators’ new head coach may not be a welcomed hire initially, but fans should love his similar path to Urban Meyer
It doesn’t matter that the Florida Gators used the same process to hire Billy Napier, as Jon Sumrall is much closer to Urban Meyer.
The Florida Gators didn’t get the guy they wanted to be their next head coach in Lane Kiffin, but they got a great candidate by hiring Jon Sumrall from the University of Tulane.
When you look at the hiring of Sumrall, there are many Gators fans who don’t like it. The biggest reason is that it feels too similar to that of Billy Napier, who the Gators just fired after a 22-23 record across four seasons. Sumrall coached at two Group of Five schools and compiled a 42-11 record across four seasons. Fans of the Kentucky Wildcats, where Sumrall played and coached, wanted him back.
It might feel like Napier in terms of process, but it’s more similar to that of another popular coach in Gators history.
Jon Sumrall is much closer to Urban Meyer than Billy Napier
The process of hiring a head coach is not easy. There are so many elements to the entire process that can complicate things and change the course of a coach’s tenure. Napier was praised in real time as a great hire who is a program builder, and to be fair to him, he did just that. The program’s infrastructure has been elevated under Napier’s tenure and is perfectly set up for success over the next 5-10 years.
With Sumrall taking over, it’s become increasingly obvious to me that he’s a lot closer to that of Urban Meyer than Napier. When you look at it, it’s easy to see why.
Like Sumrall, Meyer was a defensive player in college, a defensive back at the University of Cincinnati from 1983 to 1986. He parlayed that into a graduate assistant job before working his way up the ranks, becoming the Notre Dame wide receivers coach in 1996.
Meyer’s first head coaching job was at Bowling Green University in 2001. He was there for two years, earning a 17-6 record before being hired by Group of Five powerhouse Utah ahead of the 2003 season. He brought his spread option offense out west and dominated.
In Salt Lake City, Meyer went 22-2, including a 12-0 season in which they won the Mountain West Conference and became the first non-Power Five team to make and win a BCS game, defeating the Pitt Panthers 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl.
He then went on to coach the Gators, where he had immediate success. A 9-3 first season turned into three 13-1 seasons in the next four years with two national championships, two SEC championships, and one more SEC Championship Game appearance. During his six-year tenure in Gainesville, Meyer went 65-15, including 36-12 in SEC conference play.
When he was hired, it felt like Meyer was the top candidate that year, not too dissimilar from what was thought of Napier. This go-around, Sumrall isn’t viewed as the top candidate because Kiffin is taking all the headlines, but his career path lines up really well with Meyer’s.
He worked his way up from being a graduate assistant at Kentucky, working elsewhere for 12 years, and going back to Lexington, where he was the defensive coordinator in 2021. Then, he won two Sun Belt championships at Troy, going 23-4, and followed it up with a 19-7 record at Tulane, which oddly enough includes a Gasparilla Bowl loss to the Gators last December.
The process the Gators used to hire Napier was the right one, and it could lead to them getting Sumrall using the same one. Even if it doesn’t always work, a good process will mean good results over time, and the Gators are hopeful that Sumrall could be the next Meyer, which will rejuvenate the fanbase to no end. Plus, it should make a difference that Meyer has been helping the Gators recruit Sumrall, as Gators Online reported that the two have been in contact over the past week.
Don’t worry about the optics, because it’s all about what happens on Saturdays, and Sumrall knows how to win.
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