Florida‘s recent hire of Jon Sumrall has been met with some skepticism by the fanbase, in part because his resume looks a lot like that of former coach Billy Napier. Napier obviously didn’t work out, which is why Sumrall has been brought in.
But how similar is Sumrall to Napier? Maybe not as much as you might think.
“Another guy that has SEC experience: Jon Sumrall,” analyst David Pollack said on the See Ball Get Ball podcast. “He goes to Florida. I’ve seen a lot of Billy Napier comparisons. Is he Billy Napier-esque? Sumrall… fiery, passionate. Again, played in the SEC, has experience from living in the state of Alabama. He’s definitely a guy that’s familiar with the territory.”
Pollack, a former Georgia superstar turned analyst, knows a thing or two about the value of having played in the SEC. That’s something he harped on with Jon Sumrall.
Though he didn’t necessarily explain how Sumrall was different than Napier, Pollack did seem to offer an opinion that the two aren’t quite the same and shouldn’t be evaluated as such. He also offered some reason for optimism that Jon Sumrall could work out just fine.
“He comes from a school in Louisiana, in the G5. Like mmmmm, I feel like there’s a lot of things that Florida fans are like this, they’re ticking a little bit,” Pollack said. “‘It’s not who I want.’ I know you wanted Lane, was a shiny toy. At least Sumrall has experience as a head coach in this era, which is craziness. I think that speaks volumes for him, that helps him. Obviously playing at Kentucky, familiarity with the league.”
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Paul Finebaum questions Jon Sumrall fit
National analysts haven’t been shy about voicing their opinions on Sumrall to Florida, one of the more high-profile coaching hires this cycle. Will it work out?
ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum didn’t offer a concrete answer to the latter question, but he did outline why he thinks Jon Sumrall was not the right fit for the Florida job.
“I mean, I think Sumrall is at the wrong school. I think he ‘ought to be at Auburn, but he’s at Florida,” Finebaum said. “It will be fascinating to see if, this time, they get it right down there. And, by the way, for all the criticism of Auburn and Sumrall, there’s equal criticism to Scott Stricklin in letting Lane Kiffin get away from a place that almost everybody thought he was going to go on Day 1.
“I mean, in some ways, if you flip-flop (Alex) Golesh and Sumrall, it might make a little more sense. But, I think problem is that Florida tried to save face, in my estimation. They lost Kiffin, and they did not want to look bad so they took somebody away from somebody else. A lot of Florida’s mistakes have been made from the administration. First of all, I mean, keeping (Billy) Napier was a catastrophic mistake that they’ll pay for in the end. But, I just, I think there’s no guarantee at Florida. I mean, I’ve seen big coaches go to Florida and lose. I mean, Dan Mullen was an outstanding coach on the day he was hired. Jim McElwain, I thought, was going to be a big success there. Sometimes, that program down there eats its own.”
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