Jon Sumrall recalls what he told Lane Kiffin regarding departures for LSU, Florida: ‘It’s a little different’
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Jon Sumrall has long held that he would not have left his job at Tulane for Florida if it meant he couldn’t coach the Green Wave in the College Football Playoff. He said it in May and again when asked Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
Specifically, Sumrall recalled a conversation he had with Lane Kiffin in October or November, before Kiffin or Sumrall took their respective new jobs. In recalling that conversation, Sumrall revealed that both coaches knew a departure was on the table, but Sumrall pushed back on the idea that their situations were the same.
Here’s what he said:
“Well, I’d say no two decisions are alike,” Sumrall said. “You know, like Lane and I are friends, and Lane and I talked several times through the process of October, November about what it was looking like for both of our schedules of how things were going to unfold. Lane and I talked as we were going through it. He’s like, ‘you and I are going through the same thing in November.’ I’m like, ‘no, Lane, we’re not. If you leave, you’re leaving an SEC school to go to SEC school. It’s a little different. I’m leaving Tulane.’”
“It was challenging to do it,” Sumrall continued. “I wouldn’t have done it any other way. I may have on the front end of taking this job, maybe not been at my best every second for Florida because I wanted to make sure I left Tulane the right way. If any university had told me I couldn’t coach in the playoff game, I don’t think I’d have taken the job just because I couldn’t leave the team I had coached all year. That’s one of the issues.”
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
