The Jon Sumrall Era at Tulane has come to a close and will now move its way to Gainesville and begin officially with the Florida Gators this week.
Following Tulane's loss to Ole Miss in the playoffs, Sumrall met with reporters for a post-game press conference.
Jon Sumrall Era to begin at Florida
Jon Sumrall
Appreciate y'all being here. Obviously, tough night for us, not our best. Hate it for our guys. Not the way we wanted to finish. Grateful that I got to finish with them. Would like to have done it differently and for us to have a better performance, but it wasn't up to the standard we had to play to make it competitive tonight. And hated, heartbroken for them. Didn't give our guys enough of an opportunity to be successful. So with that, we'll open it up.
Reporter
Ole Miss has a really good offense anyway, but the first five plays were really, really bad. Did you feel like guys, the moment, or what did you feel like happened?
Sumrall
Yeah, the first play was an access throw to a wide receiver. Just don't make a tackle, big gain. I mean, first try was three plays, 75 yards. And we looked a little slow on the perimeter, kind of similar to the first time we played this bunch. And so they're very talented. Hats off to them. They made plays. We didn't make plays. And you know, some of that was because of them. Some of that was that we didn't do a very good job.
But yes, the first two drives, it's like you blink and you look up and you're like, it's 14-nothing. Then we settled in and played pretty good football at times, defensively. I thought we got a little more aggressive. The third drive, we had a tackle for loss on the first and 10 to start the drive.
And that put him behind the chains and gave us an opportunity to maybe create some momentum defensively for us to give up those first two drives as we did, and going at halftime 17 to three. I'm like, all right, we responded. But we just didn't-- we couldn't keep doing it the whole game.
Reporter
And then offensively, you had over 400 yards, but nothing to show for it. Once you got across midfield, it seemed like nothing went right.
Sumrall
Well, yeah. I mean, you think about-- we threw an interception down there on the drive early in the game. If we don't have that pick, we match maybe the touchdown and go 7-7, hold serve. I think at halftime, they had 250-ish, 260 yards.
We had 206, I believe. And the yardage wasn't that big of a discrepancy, but the situational stuff wasn't good for us. The second half tonight at the fourth downs, we went under center twice on third and fourth down, trying to get it with a yard to go, and didn't get it. And the second time we went under the gun, because we're like, if we can't sneak it, maybe we should try to get on the perimeter, and we couldn't get it that way. And so we just could not capitalize on opportunities to maybe get some momentum going, to where we could have a fighting chance.
Reporter
It was a pretty similar scoring result of the first one. What were some of the main points of emphasis you had watching the film of that first Ole Miss matchup? And how do you feel like you attacked those points of emphasis today?
Sumrall
Yeah, I felt like in game one, we got really exposed on the perimeter on both sides. Tonight, I felt kind of the same. I don't know that we were able to offset what happened in game one. And so that's disappointing. Some of it was early in the game. I don't think we were playing maybe as aggressively as we needed to, to just go make plays.
We were playing a little bit passively. I felt like-- and we looked a little slow. And some of that could be because they're fast. So it could be a little bit of both. But the biggest thing I saw that was an issue for us was that game one was still the issue in game two.
And then we can't turn the ball over as we did. You know, you can't beat a team like this, turn the football over the way we did. And so you had the interception, we had a fumble, like just things that you can't do and win a game like this. Good luck, Neil. They don't want to hear your question.
Reporter
It was a very emotional scene out there with a couple of those guys who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this team. What did you kind of tell them in the locker room after this one?
Sumrall
Yeah, I told them it's never OK to lose. So anybody that tells you it's OK to lose, get away from them for the rest of your life. I don't care if we're talking about in football, more than 40 years from now. Anybody that tells you, hey, it's OK, you lost. No, it's not. It's not OK, we lost. I'm not OK with the loss. There will be. I also told them that doesn't change how I feel about them.
I love this group. Love each guy on that team. This team will walk together forever as champions because we won a conference championship. And so while the outcome tonight sucks, I'm not happy with it. And there's nothing about it I feel good about. I still feel good about this football team because we hoisted a conference championship trophy two weeks ago. And I told them that in 30 or 40 years, they'll bring them back for a celebration. I'll probably need a cane to walk around and celebrate with them, but I'm going to celebrate.
I said, I also told them that for the rest of my life, if I could ever do anything for them, I'm a phone call away. And so if that means for a reference for a job, or if that means when they get married, or they have kids, I wanna hear from them. Like, I love these guys. They're all like sons to me. And so, you know, the way I coach and the way we interact with our team, we do life together. Like these guys, I know their stories, you know, and I wanna know the rest of their lives. I wanna be a part of like what they're doing and follow 'em.
And so that told my love to 'em and that, you know, regardless of what was next for each and every one of them, whatever they needed for me, I would be there to support 'em anyway I could. And some of them, that means they're exhausting eligibility, and they're gonna never play again. Some of them mean exhausting eligibility requirements, and they may be trying to play football professionally later on. Some of them are freshmen. And I said, guys, I can't wait to watch what y'all do next. Like some of you true freshmen at Redshire this year, I can't wait to see the impact they make on the football team.
Reporter
First, my condolences on the loss of your dad. How tough has the last 48 hours been for you?
Sumrall
It's been hard. I'm not going to deny it. I called my mom Friday morning at about, I don't know, 6 AM or whatever time to go to-- when I was driving into the office. And she picked up and she said, John, I was going to call you in about an hour, but dad passed last night and through the night. And I'm like, all right, mom, what can I do? Like, what do you need? She said, she had the emergency people there to help.
And I told her, " Mom”, she had gotten my dad to the last couple of games. They came to the conference championship game. They came to the Charlotte game. They came to the FAU game. My dad had been facing some struggles for a while. And my mom's tough as nails. And I told mom, "Mom, you don't have to come to the game. But I'd love to have you there. If you wanna be there, you make the call.”
And she said, “I'm not missing the game.”
So mom's here tonight. My dad had had some health battles since March.
And man, it's been hard. But I love my dad. I'm a lot of who I am because of how he raised me. And I can smile knowing that I'm going to live a life that's going to honor my dad. And he watches today. He's probably got some questions about how he played. Just like I do, I just don't have to hear him tonight. So I'm sure I'll hear from my mom, though. But man, it's been hard. And I've been very grateful that my family was here tonight. My brother was here. My mom was here. My wife was here. Makes it a little bit better.
Reporter
My condolences also, Jon. I know a real segue from that. I'm curious, there's a lot of emphasis on who wasn't here tonight. Did Ole Miss look differently, offensively, to you? Did they do anything differently? Did it look like the same team you saw in September?
Sumrall
It looked very much the same to me. I didn't notice anything different. The only thing I've noticed maybe different is that, on third downs, when you heard somebody whistle, you knew that was Lane, and he might change a play.
But other than that, I thought the offense looked structurally very similar to the players. And they got really good football players. The backs a good football player. They got great receivers, the quarterbacks, obviously, big time. So I didn't feel a whole lot of difference in regards to how they played the game offensively. Felt very similar.
Reporer
Were you trying to maybe put an extra hat in the box just to take Lacey away a little bit and force Chambliss to beat you?
Sumrall
Well, you know, game one, we got torched by Trinidad (Chambliss). We held Lacey to a better check. What really aggravated us in game one is that he threw it great, but he also ran it great too.
And so my biggest concern coming to the game was like, "Hey, don't let the quarterback just go crazy like he did in game one.”
And so the challenge is that these guys present is that the run-back can beat you the quarterback can beat you the receivers can beat you, the tight end can beat you, like they got a lot of different ways to beat you,
And as a defensive play-caller, our defensive staff, somebody has to win the hard downs. Somebody has to win, and we just didn't win enough of those tonight, but they felt the same to me, offensively, like watching them. I didn't feel a whole lot of difference
Reporter
You coached your first game as a head coach on that. Yeah here. This was Pete's (Goldin) first. Yeah, I know you guys are close. How do you think he'll do as a head coach, as you guys are about to be contemporaries in the SEC?
Sumrall
Yeah, Pete will do a great job. I got a lot of respect for Pete. We've sort of zigzagged career-wise. I was at Southeastern Louisiana. I was at Tulane. He went to UTSA. I was at Troy. I came here to Ole Miss. He went to Alabama. Then I went to Kentucky. And then he came here. About the same time, I became a head coach.
And so Pete and I have been friends for a long time. We've FaceTimed probably, I don't know, four or five times in the last couple of weeks. I'm very happy for him. I think he's going to take great pride in being the head coach at Ole Miss. It's always nice to see another defensive guy get an opportunity.
But I think Pete will do a really good job. And this place has gotten it going. And I think Lane did a good job. I think Pete will do a good job. I think Keith Carter, Walker Jones, all the people who have created the success here, it's obvious that they're all pulling the rope in the same direction administratively here, and that's why there's been success created, because they're all marching to the same beat. And I think Pete will continue to keep that thing going.
Reporter
There's been a lot of criticism about James Madison and Tulane having their place in the playoffs. As you move on, and you're going to go, obviously, to a Power Four program, I mean, do you think in the future of this college football playoff, do these schools still deserve a spot at the table in the playoff?
Sumrall
I mean, look, I think we were our conference champion, and the rules are what they were. And I think they should be accessed for at least one G5 team moving forward. I do. I think you should have given the American champion an opportunity before the ACC champion this year because we beat the ACC champion.
So, like Duke won the ACC championship, we beat them. So I do understand the gripe about how we played tonight. We didn't help, maybe the critics of that. But I do think there should at least be one G5 representative. But I'm not in charge of the playoff. I need to coach whatever team I'm coaching better than I did tonight. So I got to worry about.
Reporter
You also talked about when you leave a place, how important it is for you to leave it the right way. As you move on, what do you think about the future of Tulane football and how you leave it for Will (the next coach)?
Sumrall
Well, look, I'm a Tulane Green Wave fan. I always will be. This place, Tulane, gave me my first FBS full-time assistant coaching job. I was the defensive coordinator at the University of San Diego. I think I became the defensive coordinator when I was like 28. I was 28, 29 years old. I was the defensive coordinator there. And then I got an opportunity to come to Tulane. It was a big time break in my career for my upward trajectory, my mobility upward.
And so I was here for three years. And it's been a privilege to be back as a head coach. And my oldest two kids were born in New Orleans. New Orleans has got a lot of, I'm not from there, but I might as well be at this point, it's home in a lot of ways. I'm excited for Will. I think the program's in great hands. The nice thing for me is that there are certain guys on my staff that I know are going to be kept here. There's a couple guys that will go with me after this game to Florida, but I may also be able to work through the staffing with Will to make sure there's more of the same that may be, there's going to be a lot more continuity than probably people realize and a decent number of guys retained that have been with me that are going to stay with Will.
I think David Harris and Mike Fitz, the administration at Tulane, are committed to having long-term success in football. It's really cool to see that 2021 Tulane went two and ten, and then what's happened the last four years, the momentum that's been created, I want to see it continue. It's why my wife and I made the gift we made, and anything I can ever do to help Tulane football, I will. I joined again, and it goes on.
Reporter
Coach, first and most importantly, I want to offer my condolences. I'm sorry for your loss. Now that your time as the Tulane Head Coach has officially ended, what do you hope and what do you believe you'll be most remembered by around Tulane within the program, and also by the fans?
Sumrall
I think, by the fans, probably RMFW, people will remember that. I just think, look, I'm a passionate, fiery guy. You know, I think that fits New Orleans, and it fits Tulane. And so I think the fans will probably remember that. You know, I don't know how they'll remember what we've done. It's been an honor and a privilege, and winning a conference championship this year was special and something that I'll remember forever.
You know, honestly, I think winning a conference championship with all the roster attrition we had last year. Like we returned Derrick Graham, Chaudhary Hearst, Cam Hamilton, Sam Howard, and Bailey Dispainy.
That was all our return starters back, five of them. Okay, and so for those few guys to be back and to find a way to get to where we've gotten, I'm just very proud of how the team came together. But I can't really speak to what people remember yet,
But I got a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth from tonight. That's what I remember for a little while. Yep.
Reporter
So you had exactly one snap in the red zone in this game, and that play took you out of the red zone on reverse. Is that another example of one of the situational plays that needed to work for you? Well, yeah, it should have worked.
Sumrall
We had leverage and didn't get it. Didn't-- yeah. That's the frustrating part is we moved the football yardage, but we weren't able to extend it into the red zone the way we needed to. We had some big explosive plays. I mean, she has pressed down a couple of big catches, but we just stalled out too often after having drives, and you have to situationally play better than we played to win against an opponent like Ole Miss. Thank you all. Appreciate you.