ESPN analyst grades Florida’s hire of Jon Sumrall
By David Wasson
Published:
Florida was one of 30 vacant head coaching jobs in the unprecedented 2025-26 college football coaching carousel – as the Gators fired Billy Napier on Oct. 19 after 3-plus seasons and replaced him with former Tulane coach Jon Sumrall.
Florida’s hire of Sumrall, and all the others in the 2025-26 coaching cycle, was graded by ESPN analyst Bill Connelly – who gave Florida an A grade for its choice of the former Tulane coach who won the American Conference title and guided the Green Wave to the College Football Playoff.
Here’s Connelly’s analysis:
The dirty little secret about Tulane this season is, the Green Wave weren’t actually great at anything. Sumrall had to rebuild a healthy portion of his depth chart after last season’s 9-win campaign, and he ended up starting a quarterback (Jake Retzlaff) who arrived in July. But through sheer will and adaptability, his team won 11 games and an American Conference title. That’s 3 conference titles for Sumrall in 4 years as a head coach. He can put together teams and units with outstanding talent, but even when he doesn’t, he finds a way to win.
Sumrall certainly has his hands full this offseason, as the Gators reportedly lost another skill-position player to the transfer portal Monday as well as face an impending decision by running back Jaden Baugh about his future with the program.
Sumrall will get a chance to further build out Florida’s roster when the transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
