Jon Sumrall’s message hints at what went wrong under Billy Napier at Florida

As Jon Sumrall continues his offseason speaking tour, the topic of Billy Napier has come up a few times. Sumrall has been blunt that he is aware of why the comparisons between him and Napier exist, and he has also made the point that he and Napier are not the same people.

In an interview that was released today with Josh Pate, Sumrall also brought up another point that many haven’t considered as to why he and Napier aren’t from the same exact background.

Jon Sumrall says stop at Tulane was essential to his own development

Sumrall was asked how much it mattered to him that he was getting compared to Napier even before the ink was dry on his contract. Both had similar win percentages and were Group of Five coaches from Louisiana. Sumrall gave a response that is in line with how he has responded in the past to this question:

“I'm unapologetically myself. I'm not naive. I'm aware of the environment or landscape in front of me. And so after my first conversation with the administration here and the search committee here, I remember thinking, man, the University of Florida. Like, wow, that would be awesome. 

And I also really quickly remember thinking they're not going to hire another G5 coach from Louisiana. No chance. Like zero percent. Not because I'm the same as what was here. And I have a ton of respect for Billy. Not knocking who Billy is. I think he's been really successful. But we're not the same guy.”

Sumrall would go on to explain why he felt it was necessary to spend two years at Tulane first, rather than heading straight to a Power Four conference from Troy:

“But I do think it's a lazy take to think just because somebody maybe had come from a similar level that we're the same guy. The thing I will tell you, too, is that had I come here or any SEC job, for that matter, after my second year or first year at Troy, I probably would not have been ready. I needed a step in between. Like I did. I'm not saying everybody else does. I did. 

That's why after the 2023 season, we got done at Troy and we'd gone 23 and 4 in two years and won two conference championships. And there were other jobs open than at Tulane that year. As I evaluated the landscape of the open jobs that year, the one that attracted me the most was Tulane for several reasons. One, I felt like we could win. Two, my family liked the place and knew the place. 

And three, professionally, I felt like it was a gradual step towards a larger infrastructure, more resourcing, a different type of recruiting, a different scope of what you can maybe accomplish at that place year in, year out, without having to take such a big leap that I might get lost in some of the things you have to be good at. So it gave me a little bit better training on how to manage some things that I have to manage here.”

Sumrall takes a stepping stone 

Sumrall’s point is that the American Conference is a step up from the Sun Belt, and he felt like he needed to prove he could handle the American before jumping straight into the SEC. This is part of why Napier failed in Gainesville; he thought he could just import the system that made him successful at Louisiana. 

Essentially, jumping from the Sun Belt to the SEC is like going straight from AA to MLB, and Sumrall felt he needed a stop at AAA Tulane.  

Now Sumrall will still have a ton to prove as to whether or not those two years at Tulane prepared him for the job at Florida. As we highlighted when Sumrall was hired, one concern was that in 2025, of the Power Four head coaches ranked in the top 25, only four had come straight from a Group of Five program. Everyone had been at a Power Four program as their previous stop before taking their current head coaching gig.

But unlike many other failed G5 coaches, Sumrall seems aware of the challenges he faces and that the standard does need to rise. Only time will tell whether his pit stop at Tulane made a difference.