The coaching carousel this season started turning extremely early as the first set of head coaches were fired in Week 3, with UCLA parting ways with Deshaun Foster and Virginia Tech firing Brent Pry. Since then, there have been 11 more head coaches fired, including Florida's Billy Napier, even after taking down Mississippi State on homecoming weekend.
The Gators know they need a homerun candidate to take over for Napier if this program wants to see success sooner rather than later. Since the beginning, Florida's sights have been set on Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, but so have LSU's, which fired Brian Kelly shortly after Napier was gone.
There has been a battle between the big SEC programs, as well as Ole Miss, trying to do everything to keep Kiffin in the building. Florida needs another option if Kiffin chooses another route that doesn't include the Gators, and they have certainly stayed in contact with two solid options.
Florida is keeping in contact with Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz and Tulane's Jon Sumrall
LSU and Florida officials remain engaged with other coaching candidates that include Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz and Tulane's Jon Sumrall, among others, as they await Lane Kiffin's decision, per @RossDellenger 👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/OmCInhNFLn
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) November 22, 2025
Obviously, Florida's first choice is Lane Kiffin from Ole Miss, but there is a real possibility that Kiffin stays with the Rebels, or goes to LSU, so a backup plan as to be in place. There have been a lot of other names thrown around with Kiffin for the Florida opening.
Two of the top names that the Gators have reportedly stayed in contact with are Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz and Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall. Florida and Sumrall were set for a meeting earlier this week, but it was cancelled shortly after, so there are some question marks there.
The Gators can't really go wrong with Drinkwitz either, as he is a fellow SEC coach and knows what it takes to win in the conference and take over a struggling program. Drinkwitz has successfully turned around the Tigers program in Columbia and made them a team that has begun to compete year in and year out.
Sumrall would be a good candidate as well, but he does come from a Group of Five school, and the last few coaches to take power conference head coaching positions from Group of Five positions have worked out incredibly well. Luke Fickell went from Cincinnati to Wisconsin and has yet to find any success. Before that, Scott Frost went from UCF to Nebraska and never had a winning season, and was later fired.
The good thing is that Florida has a backup plan and won't be scrambling if Kiffin goes elsewhere.