After Hectic 2025 Coaching Carousel, Sumrall, Golesh meet
Sunday, Nov. 30, 10:54 a.m.: “Sources: Alex Golesh will become the next head coach at Auburn.”
Sunday, Nov. 30, 11:09 a.m.: “Sources: Florida is finalizing a six-year deal to make Tulane’s Jon Sumrall the head coach.”
Announced only 15 minutes apart, this isn’t the only way the two coaches are linked. Both were in talks for the other’s current positions, both coaches are friends, and they spent the last few years in the American Athletic Conference at the same time. Although the pair is well-acquainted, they won’t be friendly this week when 2-0 Auburn takes on 2-0 Florida. “He said we are friends this week?” Golesh joked. “Not this week. We are not.”
But they’re only here because of the chaos last fall. Last year’s coaching search might have been the most drama-filled in college football history, with six SEC head coaching spots shifting. So let’s take a deeper look into what went on during this period, the distinct representation of a trend that might start to define Power Four schools.
Sumrall ended the 2025 season at Tulane with an 11-3 record, leading the Green Wave to their first College Football Playoff appearance.
Golesh finished last fall at USF with a 9-3 record, his best finish at the school and the University’s best in eight years.
The major player in both puzzle pieces falling into place was none other than the most polarizing figure in college sports: Lane Kiffin. A brief refresher:
Oct. 19, the tweet reads, “Sources: Florida is firing Billy Napier.”
Candidate lists quickly start to populate for the Gators’ head coach opening. All three of Kiffin, Sumrall, and Golesh, in some way or another, were on those lists. Initially, fans — and quite possibly, the Gators themselves — had Kiffin at the top of the list.
For the better part of October, it looked like Florida would land Kiffin and Auburn was going to get Sumrall, but then the tides changed.
In the early hours of the morning on Nov. 30, news broke: a bombshell in the college football landscape. Lane Kiffin would be leaving Ole Miss for the… LSU job.
One large domino had fallen, and although Florida had reportedly known for some time that Kiffin was heading elsewhere, it had to pivot and act fast; otherwise, it would be stuck with a name who was far from the top of the school’s preference list.
The next large domino of the morning fell, with Auburn hiring Golesh to be its next coach, knowing that since Florida hadn’t landed Kiffin, the Gators were now in the lead in the Sumrall sweepstakes.
The third domino of the day finally fell with the Gators hiring Sumrall to be their next coach.
Over the past 10 years, there have been 20 coaches hired by Power Four schools who have come from being head coaches at Group of Five schools.
Some notable names in that company: Matt Campbell, hired by Iowa State from Toledo in 2016; Matt Rhule, hired by Baylor from Temple in 2017; Mike Norvell, hired by FSU from Memphis in 2020; Eli Drinkwitz, hired by Missouri from Appalachian State in 2020; Josh Heupel, hired by Tennessee from UCF in 2021; and Billy Napier, hired by Florida from Louisiana in 2022.
Among the notable coaches selected from the Group of Five, the only ones to have a winning initial season after being hired? Kalen DeBoer and Sonny Dykes. DeBoer went 11-2 at Washington, and the following year took his team to the national championship. Dykes went 13-2 in 2022 and took TCU to the national championship that season, although the team got manhandled by Georgia and lost 65-7.
Based on past trends, Sumrall and Golesh don’t look set up for success in year No. 1, but a step toward success could be decided Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Category: College Football, Football, Gators Football
