SerpApi.Org
Jon Sumrall made it clear that he was going to coach Tulane and not leave early for Florida. Heck, if Tulane or Florida told him he could not coach the Green Wave in the CFP last, he’d still be at Tulane in 2026.
That’s the biggest difference between Sumrall and Lane Kiffin, who left Ole Miss for LSU. While Kiffin said he wanted to coach the Rebels in the CFP, ironically they beat Tulane in the first round, it was not allowed by Ole Miss administration. Kiffin left for Baton Rouge anyway.
$19.99 gets you a FULL year of On3 | Rivals national coverage
Sumrall, while not taking a direct shot at Kiffin for the situation, made his feelings clear on his career timeline during Wednesday’ SEC Media Days.
“How you walk into a place says a lot about you and how you leave says even more,” Sumrall said Wednesday.
Sumrall clarified that he and Kiffin are friends and their decisions to move to Florida and LSU were different. Funny enough, Florida was also in pursuit of Kiffin as their top candidate.
“Well, I’d say no two decisions are alike. You know, like Lane and I are friends, and Lane and I talked several times through the process of October, November about what it was looking like for both of our schedules of how things were going to unfold,” Sumrall said. “Lane and I talked as we were going through it. He’s like, ‘you and I are going through the same thing in November.’ I’m like, ‘no, Lane, we’re not. If you leave, you’re leaving an SEC school to go to SEC school. It’s a little different. I’m leaving Tulane.’ It was challenging to do it. I wouldn’t have done it any other way. I may have on the front end of taking this job, maybe not been at my best every second for Florida because I wanted to make sure I left Tulane the right way.
“If any university had told me I couldn’t coach in the playoff game, I don’t think I’d have taken the job just because I couldn’t leave the team I had coached all year. That’s one of the issues.”
Jon Sumrall’s change was different from Lane Kiffin
Sumrall is one of many college football coaches that are against the current structure of the athletic calendar. It has spilled too far over into the second semester of the academic calendar, making player movement and coaching movement unsustainable.
“The calendar we’ve got in college football right now, going from being a one-semester sport, essentially to now we’re playing our championship game in late January, it doesn’t match up with the movement of players and coaches very well,” Sumrall said. “And so it’s cumbersome to say the least. I did not envy Lane’s situation at all. Every time he and I would talk, I felt awful for what he was going through and everybody involved because it wasn’t fair to anyone.”
Sumrall and Kiffin won’t be able to talk about that situation in person again any time soon, unless they meet for the SEC Championship or in the CFP. The two schools are not scheduled to play each other this season.
But one thing’s for sure: Sumrall and Kiffin’s departures to their new locations are vastly different and were praised or criticized for many different reasons. Now it’s on them to make their new employer’s investments worth it.
