As Florida fans prepare for life with Jon Sumrall as the new coach in Gainesville, most have been impressed by what they have seen from the Tulane coach so far. He wasn’t the number one choice for Florida or its fanbase, but he has been willing to meet all the critiques head-on and seems to know what he is stepping into.
But there are still a couple of loose ends to tie up with the guy who was the number one choice, and a new admission from Scott Stricklin paints a picture that Florida fell out of the running for Lane Kiffin far sooner than Gator insiders originally thought.
Florida fell out of the Lane Kiffin chase shortly after LSU entered
Andy Staples of On3 just posted a long article in which he interviewed Stricklin about the coaching search that ultimately landed on Sumrall. It paints a picture of how Florida was able to pivot once it became clear that Kiffin wasn’t coming to town and that the two final choices for Florida were Sumrall or Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea.
But there is one tidbit Stricklin shared that throws off the timeline of what was being reported on the Gator side throughout.
Stricklin shared that he knew about 10 days before Thanksgiving that he was likely going to need to pivot to a Plan B. That essentially lines up with the Monday after the Florida vs. Ole Miss game and was the week that Kiffin’s name was first seriously mentioned in the same breath as LSU. It was also that week that Kiffin sent representatives to both Baton Rouge and Gainesville and was the week Sumrall’s name first entered the conversation after his “cancelled” meeting with the Gators.
And while Stricklin or Staples doesn't say it in the article, this also paints a picture of Florida essentially being pushed out of the picture once LSU got involved. The Tigers fired Brian Kelly on October 26, and the implication is that Florida was out of the running by November 17.
Stricklin has pushed back on previous reports that indicated he and Kiffin got off to a bad start and that Florida was willing to meet his demands on things like a GM, but if one is to assume conversations were drifting away from Florida well before November 17, then it's clear that within two weeks, LSU leapfrogged the Gators and never looked back.
Sound of silence
What’s frustrating for Gator fans is that every other insider around the country was indicating that Florida was out of the running at about this same time. But for whatever reason, it kept getting reported right up until Black Friday that people inside the building at Florida were confident Kiffin was coming to Gainesville.
Did Stricklin intentionally mislead everyone so he could quickly pivot to Sumrall without resistance?
Maybe, maybe not. But when Stricklin runs around and muses about the “misinformation” that has been out there, including the public spat between boosters that tried to claim mega booster Gary Condron drove Kiffin away and Sumrall was the top choice all along, he needs to realize that the lack of information he allowed into the public sphere is what enabled these narratives in the first place.
In the end, Florida didn’t land Kiffin and landed Sumrall. And Sumrall might not have been the first choice among Florida fans, but he was well sought after by other SEC programs like Auburn and Ole Miss.
And perhaps had Florida fans been given more time to digest Sumrall before it all happened at once, the initial visceral reaction and uphill climb might not have been as steep.