Jon Sumrall Draws a Clear Line With Billy Napier as He Details $44.7M Decision

Florida coach Jon Sumrall presided over his first Gators spring practice on Tuesday after succeeding Billy Napier in December. Sumrall was hired after Napier was sacked midway through his fourth season in Gainesville, which ended with a woeful 4-8 record.

The Gators’ job was one of the most coveted blue-blood jobs available during the dizzying coaching carousel that plagued college football last season.

Jon Sumrall Distances Himself From Billy Napier

During Wednesday’s segment of the “Hard Count” podcast with host JD Pickell, Sumrall revealed his initial feelings at being linked with the Florida job after Napier, who was also hired from a G5 school, failed miserably in Gainesville.

“Full transparency, I thought, is Florida gonna hire another G5 coach from Louisiana? Probably not,” Sumrall said. “So I went through the first conversation, and I got a lot of respect for Billy (Napier), but Billy and I are not the same guy. And I thought, because we maybe had somewhat of a similar track record, that they may shy away from me.

“And so I did the first conversation, the conversation went great, and I just kind of wrote it off. I’m like, ‘Whatever, we’ll see, I’m going about my business.’ And I really did not even think much about this being an option.”

Napier was hired by the Gators after three years as the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns head coach, but his Florida tenure ended with a 12-16 SEC and 22-23 overall record, becoming the only full-time Florida coach since 1949 with a losing record.

On the other hand, Sumrall had just clinched a College Football Playoff berth with Tulane after a glory-filled two seasons, and despite signing a six-year, $44.7 million contract with Florida, he stayed to coach the Green Wave in the showpiece event.

Sumrall Details Winning Urban Meyer’s Approval

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin aggressively pursued Lane Kiffin to become the new Gators coach before he opted to take the LSU Tigers job instead. When the Gators pivoted to Sumrall, former coach Urban Meyer, who won two national championships in Gainesville, built up a relationship with the ex-Tulane Green Wave coach.

During Wednesday’s segment of the “Hard Count” podcast, Sumrall detailed how he got Meyer’s approval as the right man for the demanding Florida job.

“We talked about offseason conditioning, weight room, mat drills – a lot of that stuff – at length,” Sumrall said. “I think we have a shared philosophy, to some degree, on maybe how you build a team. He ended up telling me later, he’s like, ‘Man, I’ve watched game tape on y’all. I’ve studied a lot about how you do things.’

“He told me since taking the job, he’s like, ‘I went back and watched, like, 10 or 12 of your media availabilities to see what you were about.’ And as [he] watched them, he’s like, ‘I really came to grasp like you fit this place.’ So that, for me, was really cool to hear Urban Meyer say.”

In four seasons as a head coach, Sumrall has built up a reputation as one of the best young coaches in the country, compiling a 43-12 record at the helm of the Troy Trojans and the Green Wave.