Jon Sumrall opens up on losing his dad in days before College Football Playoff

It was a difficult lead-up to the College Football Playoff for Jon Sumrall. While incredibly busy, balancing two jobs, Sumrall lost his father, who passed away after a battle with his health at the age of 77.

Sumrall would go on to coach Tulane in a losing effort shortly after his father’s death. After the game, Sumrall was emotional, speaking about finding out that his father had died and what his family meant to him in the lead-up to the Playoff.

“It’s been hard,” Jon Sumrall said. “I’m not gonna deny it. I called my mom Friday morning at about, I don’t know, 6:00 a.m., whatever time, when I was driving into the office. She picked up and she just said, ‘Jon, I was going to call you in about an hour, but Dad passed last night, through the night.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, Mom, what can I do? What do you need?’ She said, I’ve got — she had the emergency people there to help.”

Having grown up in Huntsville, Alabama, Sumrall has coached relatively close to home for the most part in his professional career. That did allow his parents to travel to games this season, even with his father’s ailing health.

“I told her, Mom — she had gotten my dad to the last couple games. They came to the conference championship game, they came to the Charlotte game, they came to the FAU game. My dad had been facing some struggles for a while, and my mom is tough as nails,” Sumrall said. “And I told Mom, I said, ‘Mom, you don’t have to come to the game but I’d love to have you there if you want to be there. You make the call.’ She said, ‘I’m not missing the game.’ So, Mom is here tonight.”

Ultimately, the Playoff game didn’t go Sumrall’s way. His Green Wave lost 41-10 to Ole Miss on the road in Oxford. Still, having his family there made things better for Sumrall.

“My dad, he had had some battles health-wise for really since March is when it got severe. Man, it’s been hard. But I loved my dad. I’m a lot of who I am because of how he raised me, and I can smile knowing that I’m going to live a life that’s going to honor my dad. He watched us today. He’s probably got some questions about how we played, just like I do. I just don’t have to hear them tonight from him. I’m sure I’ll hear them from my mom, though. But man, it’s been hard. I’ve been very grateful that my family was here tonight. My brother was here, my wife was here, my mom was here. Makes it a little bit better.”

Now, Jon Sumrall is set to turn over to a new chapter in his life. He’s moving on from Tulane to take over as the head coach at Florida.