Florida hires coach of College Football Playoff contender

The Georgia Bulldogs (11-1, 7-1 in SEC) played their matchup with the Florida Gators (4-8, 2-6 in SEC) against interim head coach Billy Gonzales. In 2026, however, the Bulldogs will play against Florida's new head coach. The Gators announced they will be hiring Tulane Green Wave head coach Jon Sumrall.

Sumrall signs a six-year, $44.7 million deal, which averages about $7.45 million per year. He will be the 31st head coach in Florida's history.

Sumrall has had a brief head coaching career, but he's already stacked an impressive resume. His first coaching gig came with the Troy Trojans in 2022. In two years with Troy, he went 23-4, winning the Sun Belt Conference and leading Troy to the No. 24 AP ranking in 2022-23, the only time Troy was ever ranked at the end of a season.

The Tulane Green Wave hired him to be their head coach on Dec. 8, 2023. With the Green Wave, Sumrall is 19-7. In 2024-25, Tulane finished 9-5, finishing second in the American Athletic and losing in the Gasparilla Bowl. However, this year, Tulane is 10-2, with a chance to make the College Football Playoff if they win the American Athletic Conference championship.

He will still be able to coach at Tulane if they make playoff run, but he will more than likely not be coaching in a bowl game if Tulane loses to North Texas. The Florida Gators are looking for some form of consistency. They haven't had back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins since Dan Mullen did it in 2018 and 2019.

The Gators did hire former head coach Billy Napier from the Group of Five as well. He came from the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns out of the Sun Belt. Unfortunately, Florida never found consistency under Napier, and he led them to a 22-23 record throughout his tenure. Florida fans are hoping for a different experience with Sumrall.

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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: SEC rival Florida hires HC Jon Sumrall