Florida head coach Jon Sumrall made his debut at Gator Talk, an hour-long program that runs weekly and covers UF athletics, Monday at The Swamp Restaurant in Gainesville.
Hosted by Voice of the Gators, Sean Kelley, Gator Talk takes place each Monday through Nov. 23 from 7-8 p.m., but no show will air Oct. 19 or Nov. 2.
In his first appearance at Gator Talk, Sumrall detailed his love for the Southeastern Conference and lessons he’s both taken with him to Florida and learned in his first nine months in Gainesville.
Sumrall said he knew since ninth grade he’d be a college football coach, and now, the Florida coach is taking over one of the premiere programs in college football.
The old adage: If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life, reigns true for Sumrall.
He said though it’s been a whirlwind, the opportunity to coach at Florida is still surreal. As a child, Sumrall thought there were three leagues of football: the AFC, NFC and SEC. He even recalled watching the Gators win the 1993 SEC Championship game over Alabama 28-13 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, a memory that still sticks with him nearly 33 years later.
“It’s something that’s been a dream of mine pretty much my whole career to get to this level and to be able to go to the University of Florida, especially,” Sumrall said.
However, a larger program and larger conference means more fans, more staff to manage and more pressure. But Sumrall thrives under pressure.
“I thrive under it, to be quite honest with you,” Sumrall said. “I enjoy it, I don’t shy away from it. I really do feel like, in so many ways, I’ve been built and groomed for this opportunity.”
But despite all the preparation and the go-getter mentality Sumrall brought to Florida, he said he’s glad he hit a stop in between coaching at Troy and Florida. Tulane was a great stepping stone for him because of the increased media obligations and money involved with the roster.
In fact, when Sumrall joined Tulane’s staff, he and his wife thought that’s where they wanted to stay. Now, he said he wants “to stay here a long time.”
“When I took the Tulane job, my wife and I, we go and sit down and say ‘We’re not leaving Tulane other than to go to a place we feel like we could go and do something special,” Sumrall said.
To ensure he could do just that at Florida, Sumrall took lessons with him from former Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. He credited Stoops with teaching him valuable lessons he’s carried with him through his coaching career such as understanding that every program is different and you have to hire people who are right for the place. As Sumrall has echoed, “Don’t hire your buddies.”
“The Stoops family has had a great influence over me as a coach,” Sumrall said, “and Mark, he was able to give me some feedback on my first-day coaching job and some advice on the outset that I’ve carried with me.”
The biggest shift that needed to be made when Sumrall arrived in Gainesville was Florida’s weight room routine. He wanted his players to be more physical and well put together, and now, both his offensive and defensive lines are looking better, he said.
Along with the physicality, a message Sumrall stressed to his team: Don’t be casual.
“You have to be urgent in this game,” he said. "I've never been comfortable with people who think they can be nonchalant. To me, there’s only one way to play the sport.”
That mindset, Sumrall said, starts with coaching. As he put it: You can’t expect players to play with a certain swagger if the coaches don’t coach that way in practice.
In his time at Florida, Sumrall has put an emphasis on coaching every play with effort, energy and enthusiasm.
Now, after months of preparation, Sumrall has his sights set on Florida’s season opener against Florida Atlantic at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. The passion, energy and excitement that fill The Swamp each week will be key components of the Gators' success.
“This place, as an opponent, it’s a daunting place to play,” Sumrall said. “I’m going to be fired up for our guys. They put in so much work to have the opportunity to play 12 regular-season games.”
The next Gator Talk will take place Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Curan is a senior sports journalism student in his sixth semester at The Alligator. He is currently a sports editor and football beat reporter for the Gators and the Jaguars. He previously served as a men's tennis and sports enterprise reporter, and he is pursuing a public relations minor.
