A price to pay: what Auburn’s Jon Sumrall snub meant for Florida

While Florida marches to 3-0, Auburn must keep moving forward after the 44-39 defensive collapse against the Gators.

Now they face a momentum-filled Vanderbilt coming off a last-second win over NC State.

You can point to Auburn’s loss to shaky quarterback play, offensive line woes or a defense that struggled against Jadan Baugh and Duke Clark, but college football analyst Paul Finebaum pinpoints Thanksgiving weekend as the exact point when the Tigers were beaten by Florida.

“I still like Alex Golesh a lot, but I blame athletic director John Cohen for this loss,” Finebaum said on his radio show. “This game was lost Thanksgiving Weekend of 2025 when [Cohen's] massive ego got in the way of hiring Jon Sumrall.”

Florida marches on with Jon Sumrall while Auburn is left in the dust

What happened that weekend, and why would a time made for giving thanks be a time the Tigers would rather have said no thank you?

Rather than signing the hungry coach Jon Sumrall, who was at the time a few short steps away from history, leading Tulane to its first College Football Playoff appearance and who grew up just 244 miles from Auburn, athletic director John Cohen instead signed Alex Golesh.

Golesh built an extensive resume as Tennessee's offensive coordinator and then as head coach, turning South Florida's consecutive losing seasons into multiple bowl game appearances.

Therefore, once Hugh Freeze had been fired by Auburn, Cohen turned to Golesh, and now, at least for the next six years, Golesh seeks to build a winning culture not seen since Cam Newton was throwing balls in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Nov. 30, 2025, was the exact date Golesh signed to Auburn; for Sumrall and Florida, it was the same day.

Sumrall had personal ties to Auburn, including a picture of Pat Dye and Bear Bryant hunting rabbits in Moundville, or the fact that Sumrall’s wife was and still is enrolled at Auburn.

And while plenty of reports at the time indicated that Sumrall was a top target for Aubrun, Sumrall claims he was never interviewed by Auburn

“They [Auburn] didn’t want me; I didn’t want them,” Sumrall said of the hiring process.

Now Sumrall is coated in Gator scales, seeking a culture change of his own. He is up 2-0 over Golesh, and his team is 3-0 and No. 21, defending Ben Hill Griffin against No. 4 Ole Miss fresh off an emotional LSU win.

However, as Ole Miss coach Pete Golding bluntly said, and as Auburn learned on Saturday, the Gators only care about what’s on the field.

“We can read on the press clippings and go back and watch the tape again and pat ourselves on the back, but Sumrall and Florida don’t give a s--- about any of that,” Golding said.

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