Sources: Florida set to hire Tulane coach Jon Sumrall

Tulane coach Jon Sumrall is set to be Florida’s new coach.

Sources told Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger that Florida is expecting Sumrall to accept the school's job offer to officially replace Billy Napier.

The Gators are looking to hire Sumrall after moving on from their pursuit of Lane Kiffin. Florida had viewed Kiffin as its top candidate, but as it became clear that Kiffin’s top two options were staying at Ole Miss or going to LSU, the Gators looked at other options.

And it’s hard to quibble with Sumrall’s record. Tulane has won 19 games in Sumrall’s two seasons in charge. He came to the Green Wave ahead of the 2024 season after two years at Troy. The Trojans were 23-4 during Sumrall’s tenure and lost just two Sun Belt games in that time.

Tulane beat Charlotte on Saturday night to clinch a spot against North Texas in the American Conference title game. The winner of that game on Friday night is virtually guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff and North Texas coach Eric Morris has already been announced as Oklahoma State's new coach.

A former Kentucky linebacker, Sumrall, 43, is very familiar with the SEC. He was an assistant with the Wildcats before taking the job at Troy and also worked as Ole Miss’ linebackers coach in 2018.

Florida got an early start on its coaching search after firing Billy Napier in October. The Gators improved to 3-4 after a win over Mississippi State on Oct. 18 but moved on from Napier the next day. Assistant coach Billy Gonzales was the Gators’ interim coach the rest of the season.

The Gators were just 22-23 under Napier after hiring him from Louisiana after the 2021 season and had just one winning season. Florida was 8-5 in 2024 after winning four straight games to end the season. The fourth game in that streak coincidentally came over Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Sumrall is now tasked with turning Florida into a consistent winner contending for SEC titles. That’s something no coach since Urban Meyer has done. While Will Muschamp (2012), Jim McElwain (2015) and Dan Mullen (2018 and 2019) all posted a season of 10 or more wins in their tenure, they all had at least one losing season or their team had a losing record at the time of their firing.

Can Sumrall reverse that trend? Florida has financial resources and is located in one of the most talent-rich states in the country. Yet the Gators have had six losing seasons in the 16 years since Meyer’s departure.