![Florida head football coach Jon Sumrall reacts during spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://statico.profootballnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/26054353/jon-sumrall-explains-why-he-03-26-26-1920x1328.jpg "Jon Sumrall Explains Why He Nearly Passed on $44.7M Florida Coaching Offer")
The 2025 college football season was anything but ordinary, with several high-profile midseason firings. Coaching hot seats were hotter than ever, and Jon Sumrall’s name inevitably found its way into national conversations about coaching potential.
The Florida Gators ended up bringing in Sumrall from Tulane after former Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin chose LSU over them.
Jon Sumrall Opens Up About Nearly Passing on Florida Head Coaching Job
Sumrall joined Josh Pate in the latest edition of the “Pate State Speaker Series” this week. Pate asked if he could have imagined himself in Florida at the time. Sumrall admitted the idea was “not very believable.”
“Right, wrong, or indifferent, I’ve been really fortunate to be in this position essentially every year as a head coach where your name’s brought up,” Sumrall said (0:35). “That means you have a good football team with a good staff and you’re winning, which is a positive.”
“I knew there would be opportunities… But I didn’t think Florida was maybe the right fit or the right timing, for whatever reason. As the process unfolded, the more that became clear to me what this thing looked like here, and what the fit looked like for me, it really became more transparent that this is where I felt led and where I felt like I fit the best.”
Sumrall received personal signs of support from program legends like Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, and Steve Spurrier, who offered words of encouragement before he took the Florida job. That feedback helped him envision a fit not just for his career but also for his family.
Sumrall reportedly signed a six-year, $44.7 million deal with the Gators, including incentives, which averages $7.45 million annually. At the time, he was in his second season at Tulane, located in New Orleans, and Florida had just fired Napier, the former Louisiana coach.
Sumrall even once expressed skepticism about Florida’s interest in a coach with his background, as he said to J. D. Pickell in On3’s “The Hard Count” earlier in March.
READ MORE: Lane Kiffin Admits Expectations Can Be ‘Really Scary’ as He Balances Gratitude With Responsibility
“As you work through what could be next and you field phone calls … Full transparency, I thought, ‘Is Florida going to hire another G5 coach from Louisiana? Probably not.’” Sumrall said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Billy, but Billy and I are not the same guy. I thought just because we had somewhat of a similar track record, to some degree, that they may shy away from me.”
Sumrall is now facing the dual challenge of living up to a storied program’s expectations while molding a roster that is not yet elite. He has added multiple new players in an effort to strengthen Florida’s talent pool, but the reality remains sobering.
PFSN’s Playoff Meter currently gives Florida just a 0.9% chance of making the College Football Playoff in 2026.
