(This is the first of a three part series on Florida’s Big Three in college football. Today, Florida)
He was not Florida’s first choice. Than would be Lane Kiffin, who snubbed the Gators for LSU. So Jon Sumrall, the highly successful coach at first Troy and then Tulane, a team he took to the College Football Playoff, has had to sell himself. To the players. To the donors. To the fans.
He has been trying to convince everyone in Gator Nation that he fits, that despite the fact he comes from a Group of Six program and has very limited experience at a Power Four conference level and none as a head coach, he can pull this off.
That despite the fact that he is replacing another Group of Six coach, Billy Napier, who came before him, tried to lead the Gators out of the swamp and instead drowned in it.
So, if some who follow the team in Gainesville are a bit uneasy, you can understand why. Florida is not just any Power Four program. It is expected to be elite. If you are going to succeed here, you need to fill the footsteps of Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer. Anything less is unacceptable.
Sumrall is spending a lot of time trying to convince people he understands.
The resources are there, he says. The talent is there, as well as the commitment of those involved with the program, from top to bottom, he says.
All that is needed is somebody to put it all together, and he is that somebody. “I want everybody in our building to have an appreciation for the privileges that we’re afforded each and every day,” Sumrall declared at the recent SEC media days.
“When I interviewed for this job one of the questions the committee had for me was ‘Coach, what do you view as our negatives at the University of Florida?’ I said the biggest one I see is we haven’t been winning enough.
“At the places I’ve coached; look, I’ve got a full time nutritionist now. I didn’t have that at Troy. I’ve got a staff of nutritionists. Like there are so many great resources we have,” Sumrall said.
“Every time you walk into a place that’s different, the most important thing you do as a new head coach is you listen to maybe what’s gone right and you listen to what’s gone wrong, and you try and identify where you have to recalibrate. Try to get the right people in your building. Maybe it’s okay if some people leave.
“I’m just trying to inject an attitude we’re going to attack every day with enthusiasm,” Sumrall continued. “I may have some bad moments, I don’t have bad days. I got life pretty good.
“So for me, I think you have to have a great attitude in what you do. I define attitude as demeanor, drive and desire. Demeanor is your body language. Drive and desire is the mindset That you never arrive, you can always get better.
“I am a firm believer that the only disability in life is a bad attitude,” Sumrall commented. “I ain’t going to have a bad attitude. When things go bad I am still going to have a positive attitude.
“That’s not purple skies and butterflies. We are going to have some moments that don’t go our way. There will be adversity, but when adversity hits, I don’t change.
“You know things are going to go bad. When things go bad, how do you respond? You better respond with the right attitude. I want everybody in our building to be filled with urgency and excitement and passion about what they do,” Sumrall emphasized.
Sumrall’s effusive praise of Florida football and the program’s potential has gotten him some buy in. He has a believer in Nick Saban, who, even in retirement, towers above the SEC. His word is regarded as gospel by many.
“I think Jon Sumrall is very, very impressive,” Saban said on the SEC Network. “That guy has the right stuff. He talks about the right things, in terms on intangibles, to build a program and a culture that’s going to sustain itself. Florida, I think, is a sleeping giant,” Saban added.
And there are many who echo Saban, calling Sumrall a breath of fresh air and an inspiration to those around him. So he’s made his point, calmed the masses. Now all he has to do is turn words into wins.
(Next: Miami)