Sumrall Thriving Amid Chaos, Caps Unforgettable Week Splitting Time Between Gators and Green Wave

Sumrall, Jon (2025 American Conference Championship)

New Gators head coach Jon Sumrall leads his Tulane team onto the field for Friday night's American Conference Championship Game. (Photo: Courtesy of Tulane Athletics)

Sumrall Thriving Amid Chaos, Caps Unforgettable Week Splitting Time Between Gators and Green Wave

Saturday, December 6, 2025 | Football, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

NEW ORLEANS — The adrenaline surge from winning a conference championship and securing a spot in the College Football Playoff had Jon Sumrall revved up early Saturday morning.

Sumrall's Tulane team punched North Texas in the face Friday night in a 34-21 victory for the program's first American Conference championship since 2022. Meanwhile, after a lengthy celebration on the field that included thousands of Green Wave fans pouring out of the stands from every corner of Yulman Stadium, and a locker room celebration followed by a 25-minute press conference, Sumrall bolted from the press room toward his office.

The 43-year-old new Gators coach bounced through the concourse, greeted his 12-year-old son Sam as the boy tossed a football with a friend, and charged up the stairs that led into the building that serves as the football team's nerve center. By then, it was about 15 minutes past midnight Central Time, and Sumrall welcomed a visitor to his spacious office while daughter Sadie watched analysts on TV discuss potential playoff scenarios.

Sadie asked about the latest projections.

"We don't need anybody to beat anybody,'' her dad replied. "We're in. She loves it."

There's no doubt where she gets that from.

NCAA Football: American Championship-North Texas at Tulane — **Jon Sumrall** looks on from the sideline Friday night at Yulman Stadium. (Photos: **Stephen Lew**/Imagn Images)

In a week unlike any other in a 20-year coaching career, Sumrall has basked in his double duty since accepting the Florida job on Sunday, and spending Monday on the UF campus for his introductory press conference and touring his future workplace.

His brother Joe called this week from Atlanta to tell Jon that he seemed to be having too much fun for a guy with two jobs.

"Maybe I'm a football maniac, but I'm actually thriving right now," Sumrall said. "I'm freaking loving what I'm doing right now. I'm excited that I get to finish this as I get ready to start what's next."

While Florida fans continue to learn more about Sumrall, if you talk to those at Tulane who have followed him closely the past two seasons, you hear the same scouting reporter over and over.

They say Sumrall is the real deal — what you see is what you get. He has a passion for the game and a mindset that enabled him to close the deal on 32 scholarship players over the Early Signing Period — 18 Gators and 14 at Tulane.

As the Green Wave prepared to race onto the field Friday night, 69-year-old New Orleans native Kevin Alfortisa waited to see Sumrall storm past for the last time at Yulman Stadium as Tulane's coach.

Alfortisa grew up rooting for the Green Wave and has friends whose sons have played for the program. He knew it was unlikely Tulane could hold onto Sumrall long. He improved to 43-11 in four seasons as a head coach with Friday's win, and 20-7 in his two seasons leading the Green Wave.

"You can ask any guy, Jon Sumrall has a certain presence, a certain constitution," Alfortisa said. "He has a gritty, respectful personality. He's just a classed winner. I think Florida is lucky. He'll give his guys a butt ripping, but a minute later, he is hugging them and slapping them on the back. Win or lose, he was just a class act and, in my opinion, just an impeccable coach. It was refreshing."

Ben Glisson has observed Sumrall through a lens different from that of a fan. He lives in Nashville and, thanks to his father's rooting interests, grew up a Florida fan. He is a videographer for "The Group of Five Guys" podcast and production crew, which makes mini-documentaries about the people and traditions of the Group of Five programs.

He worked closely with Sumrall earlier this season for a show and considers Tulane one of his favorite stops.

"The energy here is unmatched,'' Glisson said. "The organization here is great. He's a down-to-earth dude. He loves his players, and he is all football. That dude is all football. He bleeds it, he lives it. I love the guy."

Whether it's fans, media, players, or his mom, they say Sumrall is built for an opportunity like the one Florida athletic director extended him, as Auburn and Ole Miss showed deep interest in Sumrall as their next coach.

Instead, Stricklin put on a full-court press that convinced Sumrall and his wife, Ginny, that Florida was the place they should be, despite Ginny being an Auburn grad.

Following Friday night's game, Sandy Sumrall strolled to the postgame press conference, ecstatic, to hear what her son had to say about his most significant victory yet. Both his parents and Ginny's parents were in Gainesville on Monday for Sumrall's introduction.

Sandy Sumrall said everyone saw this week what she's seen for more than four decades.

"This is like a dream come true for Jon,'' she said. "From the time he was itty-bitty, he has gone hard at everything he's done. He said if it's worth doing, it's worth going all-out. That's what he's always lived.

"He's going to be a winner."

In Friday's game, Tulane fell behind 7-0 in the first quarter, but the Green Wave responded with 31 consecutive points to win their fifth straight game and improve to 11-2. As players, coaches and administrators smoked cigars afterward, many Gators fans undoubtedly watched the contest to better understand Sumrall's coaching style.

He raced up and down the sideline, showed his fiery disposition over a penalty he thought the refs missed on North Texas in the first half, and flashed a huge smile after an interception in the third quarter by safety Jack Tchienchou that ended a scoring threat.

Sumrall was clearly in his element on a cold and rainy night that capped an unforgettable week.

"It's been chaos," Sumrall said. "I have probably slept about four hours a night. The craziest part of all this week was that you're getting ready for a game already on a short week. You're losing a day of preparation."

But he did it his way.

"I'm unapologetically myself,'' he said. "I do what I do. I'm not changing for anybody. No job is going to change who I am. I'm going to be real. I'm going to be authentic, and I'm going to love our players. This is about players. It always has been and always will be. People will ask, 'Are you a player's coach?' I hope so. I love coaching our guys. I'm glad I get to finish the job. I'm really grateful that Scott and Florida, and Tulane and the administration here, are OK with this."

With former LSU coach Ed Orgeron on the sideline and New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno and actor Anthony Mackie in attendance, Sumrall had his team ready, despite constant questions about possible distractions.

His players have his back, and he has theirs.

"We've got something special brewing,'' said Tchienchou, who followed Sumrall from Troy (Ala.) University to Tulane two years ago. He was named the Most Outstanding Defensive Player on Friday with an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. "I didn't play much [at Troy]. I was just a special-teams guy. When he brought me over here, he told me he had a vision for me. I just worked my ass off to get the opportunity."

Quarterback Jake Retzlaff, a transfer from BYU who didn't join the team until late last summer, credited Sumrall for the best season of his career. Sumrall recruited Retzlaff while at Troy, but lost out to BYU.

On Friday night, when a reporter asked Sumrall about the difficulties of managing two jobs at once, Retzlaff intervened to share his thoughts on how Sumrall has handled the unusual situation.

"There's nobody else in the country I want to lead this team right now,'' Retzlaff said. "This guy has been unbelievable. The joke's on me that it took him two times to get me. What he's done for this team, the way he gives it every day, we're blessed to have him to lead us. He has given the program to us, so we're indebted to him to go finish the job. It's not taken lightly on our side. He deserves to go coach wherever he wants to go coach. We're never going to have a team like this again. We're never going to have a coach like this again."

"Jake's going to make me cry,'' Sumrall quipped.

Sumrall is trying to soak in every moment. He plans to fly to Gainesville and spend Sunday and Monday at UF before returning to Tulane to begin preparation for the CFP. He didn't expect the transition to be easy, but then again, easy is not his style.

He talked to Stricklin from the team hotel on Friday and shared what he hoped would be his immediate plans.

"It's been such an amazing week,'' Sumrall said. "Selfishly, I'm very grateful I get to work two jobs a little longer. I've said it a lot, just as important if not more important than how you start in a place, it's very important how you finish."

America Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti presented the championship trophy to Sumrall after the game.

He drew cheers when he said what many Green Wave fans were thinking.

"I know we're all going to miss him, but he's not done yet."

Sumrall is determined to leave Tulane and come to Florida in the best way possible. So far, the plan has reaped a solid recruiting class and a signature victory.

After saying goodbye to his visitor, Sumrall headed for a quick shower before going home. And he was considering something out of the ordinary.

"I'm going to try to sleep in,'' he said.

That sounded like a good plan after his last seven days.