While two Louisiana schools are gaining new head football coaches, another one is losing its coach. Jon Sumrall has announced that he’s leaving Tulane to take the head coaching job at Florida. Tulane Athletic Director David Harris says while it’s sad to lose Sumrall after two seasons, it’s not exactly unexpected, with the Green Wave one win away from a potential spot in the College Football Playoff.
“I think for me and for us, you recognize that when you have some level of success, that this can be what occurs,” Harris said.
Unlike the Lane Kiffin saga at Ole Miss, there was no drama at Tulane as to whether Sumrall would be able to finish the season with the Green Wave. Harris notes that Sumrall’s situation is very different from Kiffin’s, in which Sumrall is taking a step up from a mid-major to an SEC program, whereas Kiffin is going from one SEC school to a rival SEC school, thus presenting a conflict of interest by staying any further.
“When I thought about trying to do this the right way, trying to do what’s in the best interest of the team, who was going to help us have the best chance to be able to win the game and looking at it from a big picture, it just became the obvious decision that he was in the best situation to be able to continue to coach the team,” Harris explained.
Harris says even though Sumrall is leaving for Florida, he knows – and the players know – that there is unfinished business, starting Friday night at Yulman Stadium against North Texas in the American Championship Game.
“I know that they’re not happy to be losing their coach, but I think they felt very positive that the direction of the program for this week, the focus, the goals that they had had all season, were not going to be impacted,” Harris said.
