Steve Spurrier calls for Florida fans to get behind Jon Sumrall

On Sunday, Florida officially named Jon Sumrall its next head football coach. Evidently, fans aren’t the only ones happy with the hire. On Another Dooley Noted Podcast, former Florida head coach Steve Spurrier raved about Sumrall.

“I hope the Gators all get behind their new coach, Jon Sumrall,” Spurrier said. “He’s got a nice track record the last four years. He’s a winner. He took Troy—I forget exactly the record, and then Tulane is playing for another conference [championship] Friday night.

“They lost championship last year, but consistent winner. nine, 210, three, something like that. … He’ll bring some more energy and excitement to that sideline. I thought somebody down there needed to get mad occasionally or give a rah-rah, and I think Jon Sumrall will bring that energy that maybe we’ve been missing a little bit.”

Sumrall has been Tulane’s head coach since 2024. Prior to his time leading the Green Wave, he was the head coach at Troy for the 2022-23 seasons.

In his two seasons at Tulane, he’s amassed a 19-7 overall record and 14-2 mark in conference play. Sumrall plans on finishing the season with Tulane despite accepting the job offer from Florida.

The Green Waves are currently ranked No. 24 in the country and have a chance to be the Group-of-Five team in the College Football Playoff. On Friday, Tulane will square off against North Texas in the American Athletic Championship.

Tulane pulled off multiple impressive victories this season, including wins over Duke and Memphis. Now, Sumrall will look to lead the Gators to similar success.

“That passion and enthusiasm, the fire, that’s part of what attracted me here, because I’m wired the same way,” Sumrall said Monday at his introductory press conference. “The standard here is championships. That’s why I came. I’m built for this job. I was made for this job. Winners win; I’m a winner; we’re going to win.

“… We’re going to play with an edge, a blue-collar mindset, and a chip on our shoulder. We will be tough. We will have grit. We will not be outworked. We will play with passion and physicality. We will build our scheme in all three phases around our players and their strengths.”

Sumrall also revealed that he spoke with Spurrier before accepting the job offer from Florida. He also talked to former Florida head coach Urban Meyer. Sumrall can only hope to follow in the two Florida legends’ footsteps.