Grading the hire: Florida pivots to Jon Sumrall after no love from Lane

Once it became apparent Lane Kiffin wasn't headed to The Swamp , it seemed Jon Sumrall to Florida was the next logical move.

And it was.

Florida picked the Tulane coach to become its new head coach, replacing the fired Billy Napier. Sumrall, in his second season at Tulane, has the Green Wave at 10-2 this season and in contention for a College Football Playoff berth . No. 23 Tulane (No. 24 in CFP) plays No. 22 North Texas in the American Conference championship game on Friday, Dec. 5, with the winner having a strong shot at reaching the 12-team bracket.

Here are our grades for the Gators ' hire:

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Blake Toppmeyer: B-

Florida fans weren’t going to be wowed by anyone who isn’t named Lane Kiffin. Sumrall is not named Kiffin, but at least American Conference Jon doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as Sun Belt Billy.

Florida missed its chance to hire Kiffin when it retained Billy Napier last season , and LSU entering the sweepstakes this year ended any hope. That’s not Sumrall’s fault.

If Florida couldn’t hook Kiffin, I would’ve thought the immediate fallback plan would’ve been another proven offensive-minded coach from the Power Four ranks like Louisville’s Jeff Brohm. In Sumrall, the Gators landed the hottest name from the Group of Five tier.

Before coming to Florida, Napier had become the hot G5 name with an SEC pedigree, so I could understand why this might feel like a bad case of déjà vu, but Sumrall doesn’t present like a Napier replica in any way other than they both did a stop in the Sun Belt.

Sumrall will look and talk the part. If he’s feeling cheeky, he can borrow a line from Curt Cignetti. He wins. Google him.

He’s unproven at this level, but after Sumrall crushed it at Troy and kept Tulane humming on the heels of Willie Fritz’s success, it became more a question of where he’d be hired in the SEC and not if.

Sumrall led his teams to the conference championship game in each of his four seasons coaching in the Group of Five. Before that, one of Mark Stoops’ best Kentucky seasons came with Sumrall on staff in 2021, when the Wildcats won 10 games. Big Blue Nation is mournful that UK waited to part with Mark Stoops to allow Florida to nab Sumrall.

Although steady for Tulane, it’s not as though Sumrall had to build it. He maintained success but didn’t exceed Fritz’s momentum.

Stealing Kentucky’s man (and Auburn’s man) might seem like an underwhelming move for Florida, but consider that on a day when three SEC schools hired American Conference coaches, Florida nabbed the one with the most proven resume. That’s not nothing. It’s just not Kiffin — or even Brohm.

Matt Hayes: C+

Here's the concern with Sumrall: did he simply take what Willie Fritz built at Tulane and hold on for the ride?

Fritz worked tirelessly at Tulane, cobbling together difficult, draining seasons in an attempt to build and sustain and convince players that the Garden District campus was more than just a party spot in New Orleans.

Fritz worked six long seasons ― that last of those a 2-10 team that nearly got him fired ― before winning 23 games in his final two seasons. Among those wins: a Cotton Bowl upset of mighty USC.

He left not only the framework for Sumrall, but the entire puzzle pieced together. Sumrall is 19-7 since, and if he wins the AAC conference championship game this weekend, will likely be playing in the CFP.

He said all the right things at Monday's introductory press conference, including the declaration that he will hire an elite offensive coordinator and bring the program back to its high-flying history. Sounds good, but Sumrall looks a lot like the coach Florida just fired and paid $20 million to go away.

Until proven otherwise, there's too much recent bad history of hiring coaches at Florida for this to be anything other than wait and see.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida football picks Jon Sumrall. Expert grades for coaching hire