Jon Sumrall addresses coaching rumors: 'Let's make (decisions) at the freaking end of the year.'

Will Jon Sumrall be the next head coach at Kentucky — or anywhere else, for that matter? The fourth-year head coach, now in his second season at Tulane with a 38-10 record overall and 15-6 in New Orleans, is staying where his feet are.

That’s been the message to his team and for himself personally since the summer and into the fall, just as it’s going to be the rest of the way, potentially en route to a College Football Playoff appearance with the Green Wave. It started with a speaker series ahead of camp, bringing various special guests in to talk with the team, including New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore and a financial planner. The final speaker? None other than Jon Sumrall, their own coach hearing his message before the season about avoiding distractions — including the inevitable chatter about his future leading that program.

“No distractions are going to come up with this football team,” Sumrall told Aaron Torres this week. “And what I mean by that is when things are going bad, there may be fans or people on like Twitter or whatever the heck it’s called now, they’re calling for me to get fired, right? And when things are going good, they may try to speculate, like, ‘Hey, Coach could go here or do that. Do something else.’ Same thing with the assistant coaches. We play a great offensive game, everybody’s gonna talk about, ‘(Offensive coordinator) Coach (Joe) Craddock should be on this watch list for a job.’ Or if we play a bad offensive game, we’re talking about, ‘How do we get him out of here? Let’s run him out of town.’

Today’s era of NIL and rev-sharing has changed things for players, too. Kids get paid, and if they live up to or exceed the hype, they deserve raises either internally or externally via the transfer portal. Agents are in their ear relaying messages about potential offers and interest from other schools. If they’re not living up to the hype or underperforming, conversations start about finding better value elsewhere.

Sumrall believes all of those conversations need to be out in the open and addressed with transparency; no use in pretending that that’s not the reality of today. But there is a time and place for it, and it’s not during the season when their goal is to win football games.

“Players now, they can probably appreciate this better, because there is player movement. There are players getting paid. So I said, ‘Guys, flip this to you guys, as well. We lost players from last year’s team. … Guys, some of y’all will be presented with decisions you have to make at the end of the year. Let’s make them at the freaking end of the year.’ It’s October 23, don’t give me anything about, ‘My agent is telling me we should look at this transfer spot,’ or an assistant coach, ‘My agent is telling me.’ Look at it at the end of the year. …

“I talked to them about no distractions. There are other distractions that come up. As a player, you’re not getting the opportunities that your uncle, your dad or your whoever thinks you should. ‘Man, the coaches are messing you over.’ Hey, work harder. Earn opportunities.”

Will he have a decision to make at the end of the year? Sumrall didn’t rule it out. In fact, he embraced what’s ahead, coming off an offseason where he was pursued with bigger, more lucrative opportunities. That’s only going to pick up this time around.

What he did rule out, though, is the idea that he’s looking for an upgrade. If that’s all he wanted, he would’ve been long gone by now — raises at big-name programs have already been offered. If his heart told him that New Orleans was the right place for the next couple of decades as a Tulane lifer, he’d welcome it with open arms.

But, again, that’s a conversation for the offseason.

“I pulled back the curtain in July, probably more than most do. Here’s the deal. If my ultimate goal is just to be a Power Four head coach, I wouldn’t be at Tulane. I’ve had those opportunities,” he said. “If my ultimate goal was just to make the biggest paycheck, I wouldn’t be at Tulane. Other people have offered me more money than I make here.

“I love where I’m at. I love what I do. I love what I do with — I told my team, ’25 years from now, can I tell you I’m gonna be sitting here coaching? I don’t know that, but I wouldn’t be mad about it. I’m cool. Like, I wouldn’t be pissed about that. It’d be cool, I love New Orleans. I love everything about my job.’ I’m so freaking micro-focused on going 1-0 every week that, all that speculation, I don’t pay attention to it. When people bring it up to me, I’m like, ‘Get away from me. Don’t even talk.’ Like, I ain’t got no time for it.”

The keyboard warriors won’t steer him one way or another. Sumrall is happy to be where his feet are with the Green Wave, and then when the time comes to reevaluate his situation this offseason, he’ll reevaluate his situation.

Until then, he’s focused on going to the CFP.

‘That’s great for social media stuff, or probably some backroom message board chat thing, where you can have an anonymous name and nobody knows who you are,” Sumrall said. “Everybody thinks they’re the AD with the keyboard in front of them, you know what I mean? I’m focused on Tulane football winning a game every week right now. That’s all I’m worried about.”

“I got one job offer…it’s to be the head coach at Tulane.”

Sumrall is sticking to the script in all of his media appearances. When previewing Tulane’s matchup vs. UTSA this weekend, he shared a similar answer.

“I’m not really into reflecting on anything right now. I’m into coaching this football team. The one thing that is consistent, I’ve dealt with it every year as a head coach, you know what I mean? I think I get this question every year,” Sumrall said. “I’m so focused on where we’re at as a team, maybe even more so than ever. I was a maniac at practice two days ago and people probably fellt like I was on drugs because I fear complacency. I fear distraction. I’m the head football coach of Tulane. I’ll talk about Tulane, I’ll talk about playing UTSA. … I got enough problems with this football game to not be distracted by anything other than them.

“So, look, coaching changes happen in the middle of the year. My heart breaks for those programs, players, families involved, all that stuff. I think what people forget is there are humans involved. These people aren’t robots, right? I don’t care if they’re talking about coaches, assistant coaches, wives, kids, the players. I addressed our team in July that guys, in the season is never a time to talk about what is next. In the season is the time to worry about winning a game each week. At the end of the year, our players have to make decisions. We lost half our roster last year, so it’s not just coaches anymore.

“I told the guys, let’s let the season be the season. Let’s not allow BS distractions of somebody putting out a speculative article about who could be a candidate here or who could transfer where. Let’s just play football games, and have fun doing it together. I’m more focused on this team this week than I’ve ever been on anything. I will not be blindsided by somebody saying, ‘Hey, you should consider doing this.’

“Well, I got one job offer right now that’s been offered to me. It’s to be the head coach at Tulane and I’m all in on that.”

Pretty elaborate answer today by Jon Sumrall when asked about coaching carousel openings. Felt worth transcribing in full.

“I got one job offer right now that's been offered to me. It's to be the head coach at Tulane and I'm all in on that.” pic.twitter.com/MigVOVkMXz

— Maddy Hudak (@MaddyHudak_94) October 27, 2025