Over the last couple of weeks, Florida football has been one of the final three schools in play for Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin as its next head coach. However, after the Gators were ruled out of the race on Friday morning, things moved quickly in Gainesville.
Now, Florida is set to hire Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall to replace Billy Napier as the next head coach for the Gators, according to On3 Sports.
Sumrall has been one of the hot names during this coaching cycle for the excellent job that he has done with the Green Wave over the last few seasons and at Troy before that. Sumrall coached the Trojans to a 23-4 record in two seasons in 2022 and 2023, winning a pair of Sun Belt Championships there. He has since led Tulane to a 19-7 record over the last two seasons, including a 10-2 campaign in 2025 and a berth in the American Conference Championship Game.
Sumrall and the Gators are finalizing a six-year contract worth around $7.5 million annually, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel. The deal also includes “significant incentives” for making the College Football Playoff, something Florida has not done since the format's inception back in 2014.
Florida was in talks with Kiffin for weeks, but it now appears as if the Ole Miss head coach is heading to LSU in a breakup that is only getting messier in Oxford. In the meantime, Florida has turned its attention to Sumrall and landed its guy.
It remains unclear whether Sumrall will remain with Tulane for the American title game against North Texas on Friday night, and a potential College Football Playoff game if the Green Wave are able to win the conference.
Florida fired Billy Napier after starting the 2025 season 3-4 despite a very talented roster. The Gators then lost their next four games before beating Florida State during Rivalry Week to finish the year 4-8. Whenever Sumrall does make it to Gainesville to get started, he will be focused on turning that around quickly.
