Jon Sumrall is about to step into a hornet's nest in Gainesville because he's not Lane Kiffin. That's not Sumrall's fault, and he can only control what he can control. He will take over the Florida Gators with an impressive Group of Five resume and has a demeanor that Florida fans are going to love.
But as much as Stricklin and crew are going to try to sell Gator fans that Sumrall is a perfectly capable candidate to lead Florida, the truth is Stricklin didn't land Kiffin because Stricklin wasn't willing to handle the responsibilities of being a winner.
Scott Stricklin never loved Lane Kiffin
CBS Sports just dropped a long-winded piece that goes into great detail on everything that went down in the pursuit of Kiffin. The piece painted a picture that Florida had the early advantage to land Kiffin and seemed to be in the lead back in October.
There was just one small problem with trying to get Kiffin to move to Gainesville:
"The first conversation between Kiffin and Florida AD Scott Stricklin did not go well, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. At the time, Florida was the biggest job available and had the perceived leverage to dictate some of its terms. That included wanting a general manager with an NFL background who wouldn't report directly to Kiffin. This was a non-starter for Kiffin, who strongly believes in the abilities of Ole Miss general manager Billy Glasscock, and it got the pursuit off to an awkward start."
This is not the first time this nugget has been floated around. It also highlights Stricklin's inability to do anything in a progressive manner. Kiffin built up Ole Miss into an annual playoff contender with a fraction of the resources of Florida, and yet Stricklin felt his way was the way.
As the article continues, it highlights how Stricklin himself is basically what drove Kiffin away:
"Kiffin was concerned about Stricklin's meddling and how they would mesh, later telling confidants he had a "weird vibe" about the situation."
Nice guys finish last
None of this is a shock to Gator fans. Even as the coaching search began, we highlighted how Stricklin has failed on virtually every hire he has made in Gainesville.
Part of that failure is that he hires coaches who are "likable" humans, regardless of whether they are actually good coaches.
It's no accident that Stricklin opted to keep Napier around for one more year, even though it was clear Napier was failing. Napier was a yes man to Stricklin who didn't rock the boat.
In the eyes of Stricklin, who cares if the Gators weren't winning because The Swamp was still full and Napier was well-liked inside Florida's athletic offices.
But the real malpractice of Stricklin here is how he led everyone in Gator Nation to believe Florida was going to land Kiffin, when in reality, Florida got left behind at the starting line. As CBS put it:
"The initial conversation with LSU, especially in contrast to the one he had with Stricklin and Florida, couldn't have gone better for Kiffin."
Once it became clear the shell game was up, Florida tried to feed a narrative that they backed away from Kiffin because his responses became "erratic."
The only thing erratic about Kiffin is that he dared to have a vision of how to run a football program that would have forced Stricklin to do his job.
If Jon Sumrall succeeds in Gainesville, it won't be because Stricklin actually expects him to succeed. In Stricklin's world, 8-4 most seasons with an occasional appearance in the playoffs would be a success.
Don't believe us? Go look at men's basketball. Stricklin never intended to hire Todd Golden and would have been perfectly content riding out the Mike White Experience had White not left for Georgia.
Stricklin is the type of AD who would rather punt on 4th and two from the opponent's 45 than go for it. He is the type of AD who hopes both teams have fun.
And he is the type of AD who would rather be friends with the people he works with rather than be their boss.