As Jon Sumrall has committed his future to the Florida football team as its new head coach, there were not always rainbows and sunshine in the process of leading up to being offered the job. While Sumrall looks to deliver for the Florida football program, the head coach would give insight into the doubt he had before getting the job, as it related to Billy Napier.

Speaking to On3 Sports, Sumrall would be asked about the reservations he had about the Gators' job, expressing how he was worried that the university wouldn't go after a coach who had “somewhat of a similar track record” to Napier.

“Full transparency, I thought, ‘Is Florida going to hire another G5 coach from Louisiana?' Probably not, so I went through the first conversation, and I got a lot of respect for Billy, but Billy and I are not the same guy. And I thought, but just because we maybe had somewhat of a similar track record to some degree that they may shy away from me,” Napier said.

Jon Sumrall on realizing Florida football was a great fit 

Florida head coach Jon Sumrall speaks during a press conference after the first day of Florida Spring football practice at Heavener Football Center in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]
© Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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It would take conversations with the team and even personal signs of support of Sumrall from former Florida football greats Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer, and Steve Spurrier to show the head coach that the fit was great.

“And so I did the first conversation. Conversation went great,” Sumrall said. “I just kind of wrote it off. I'm going about my business, and I really did not even think much about this being an option. And then, as it kind of became clear that maybe this was something that could be real, the more I kind of vetted it. The more homework I did on it, the more I pulled back the curtain, if you will, to see what was behind the curtain, and kind of got a glimpse of my fit here, or my family's fit here. We felt better and better and better about being at the University of Florida as that transpired.”

At any rate, there's no doubt that Sumrall has the dedication to turn around the Gators, as shown in his comments, especially after the underwhelming tenure under Napier.