TAMPA, Fla. — If Florida asked to leave Tulane before that program’s College Football Playoff appearance in 2025, he would have had a strong reply.
“I don’t care what the offer was on the other side,” Sumrall said Wednesday at SEC media days. “If somebody had said, ‘We need you to take this job and do it on our terms in terms of how you finish the job at Tulane,’ the answer was not ‘No’ — it was ‘hell no.’ ”
But don’t take Sumrall’s principled answer to mean he thinks less of the coach who infamously didn’t follow the same path — LSU first-year coach .
In fact, the two coaches, who were both tied to the Gators’ search, talked often during October and November when Kiffin weighed leaving Ole Miss after six seasons. Sumrall felt bad for Kiffin, whom he considers a friend.
“When I talked with him, he was like, ‘You and I are going through the same thing,’ ” Sumrall said. “I'm like, ‘No, we're not. If you leave, you're leaving an SEC school, you're going to an SEC school. It's a little different. I'm leaving Tulane.’ ”
Ole Miss wasn’t going to allow Kiffin to continue to coach when he was bound for a conference rival, and LSU certainly wanted Kiffin to arrive ahead of Dec. 3 so he could retain the Tigers’ freshman class on early signing day.
Sumrall wanted to do what was “right” in delaying his start at Florida, but what he considers wrong isn’t Kiffin. It’s the college football calendar itself.
“Our calendar does not make sense,” Sumrall said. “The NFL, they have it figured out. They play games, and then after the Super Bowl, they have player movement, like free agency, the draft, OTAs, practice, training camp — play games again.
“When players move, coaches change jobs, too, around the same time.”
Kiffin had to figure things out sooner, sending his family to visit both Baton Rouge and Gainesville, Florida, ahead of his decision. He was also on the phone with Sumrall, who ended up taking the Florida job when Kiffin chose LSU.
“It's cumbersome to say the least,” Sumrall said of the calendar. “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 him.”
Kiffin’s early departure created a stir in Oxford, Mississippi, where he was cursed by Rebel fans on the tarmac before a flight to Baton Rouge. On a national level, his abrupt exit at Tennessee in 2009 to take the Southern Cal job was rehashed.
As lawmakers crafted the Protect College Sports Act to regulate the landscape, it included what was dubbed the “Lane Kiffin Rule” to prevent coaches from leaving early.
While Kiffin was panned, Sumrall had his introductory news conference at Florida on Dec. 1 but returned to New Orleans to coach Tulane in its Dec. 20 playoff game against a Kiffin-less Ole Miss squad. The Rebels, led by new coach Pete Golding, won the game 41-10.
Sumrall is now taking on his first Power Four job. He posted double-digit wins at Troy in back-to-back seasons before he took over at Tulane in 2024. The Green Wave went from a Gasparilla Bowl appearance in Sumrall’s first year to the CFP in Year 2.
Sumrall has a mighty task at Florida because one of the SEC’s biggest brand names has stagnated since the end of Urban Meyer’s tenure.
Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and Billy Napier produced four seasons with double-digit wins in 15 combined years. Napier topped out at 8-5 in his third campaign before he was fired midseason with a 3-4 mark in 2025.
Sumrall, in his blue-collar way, said the Gators just have to keep “stacking days” as they attempt to move things in the right direction.
“I’m not trying to temper expectations. My expectation is to win every time we play,” Sumrall said. “We have a freaking long way to go.”