Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
Jon Sumrall is a former linebacker, so it was no surprise that he saw the blitz coming Tuesday. As reporters assembled for his weekly news conference, the Tulane head football coach — the hottest young coaching prospect in college football — anticipated the questions about his candidacy for several vacant major college jobs and attacked them like he was rushing the A gap. Asked about his candidacy for the vacant LSU job, Sumrall deftly audibled to talk about Texas-San Antonio, the Green Wave’s upcoming opponent Thursday night in a nationally televised game on ESPN. “I know you all have got a job to do to ask me that question, and I’ve got a job to do, and it’s to coach the Tulane football team,” Sumrall said, a vein pulsing in the side of his thick neck. “The coaching carousel is not even a thought because we're in the midseason phase. UTSA has 100 percent of my focus right now.” Sumrall’s passion is understandable. He’s been down this road before. Only a year ago, he was one of the leading candidates for the North Carolina job that eventually went to Bill Belichick. He’s been the apple of Kentucky fans' eyes since he left the school four years ago as an assistant to take over the program at Troy. It’s no surprise when his name pops up atop the list of leading candidates at places such as Florida, Penn State, UCLA and LSU. “I’ve dealt with (coaching speculation) every year as a head coach," he said. “I understand it comes with the territory. I get those questions because we’re having success.” And Sumrall knows the questions won’t go away anytime soon. It’s the reality of the business when you’re as spectacularly successful as he’s been at a Group of Five program like Tulane. Green Wave fans are not going to like it, but it's only a matter of time until a school comes along with an offer he can't refuse. It's not a matter of if he is hired away but when. He’s already attracted the interest of Florida, Penn State and UCLA, according to industry sources, and would be among the leading candidates, if not the favorite, for both the Auburn and Kentucky jobs if either open up. Some Vegas oddsmakers have installed Sumrall as the favorite to land the coaching job at LSU, which opened Sunday when Brian Kelly was fired after three-plus seasons in Baton Rouge. ESPN listed him No. 2 on its list of top candidates for the Tigers' gig behind Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. Sumrall makes a lot sense for LSU. He owns a sterling .791 winning percentage in three-plus seasons as a head coach, and he won two Sun Belt championships in two years at Troy. In his first season at Tulane, he made the American Conference title game. He has the Wave at 6-1 this season despite losing 17 starters from last year’s team, including quarterback Darian Mensah (Duke) and star running back Makhi Hughes (Oregon) to the transfer portal. In coaching circles, Sumrall is viewed as the complete package, a shrewd in-game tactician, a passionate recruiter with an expert eye for personnel, and a charismatic leader and culture-builder. As former Troy head coach Neal Brown told The Athletic, “Whatever ‘it’ is, Jon Sumrall has it.” The question is not whether Sumrall would be a good hire for LSU. Of course, he would. A former Kentucky linebacker and Huntsville, Alabama, native, he has followed, played and coached in the Southeastern Conference for most of his career. He is arguably more qualified than Ryan Day or Kirby Smart were when they were hired at Ohio State and Georgia, respectively. Ditto the hottest young head coaches in the land, Marcus Freeman and Dan Lanning, both of whom had no head coaching experience before taking over at Notre Dame and Oregon, respectively. The better question is whether LSU would consider hiring Sumrall in the first place. LSU has hired 27 coaches in the 121-year history of its football program. In that time, it has never hired one from Tulane, its onetime SEC rival located just 90 miles to the south. If school officials are smart, they won't worry about optics or historical precedents. Sumrall is the hottest coach in college football for a reason. He is young, innovative and energetic. He instills an undeniable toughness and swagger into the teams he coaches. He knows how to hire good coaches and manage a staff. His players love him and play their tails off for him. In short, he is everything Kelly was not. Sumrall would be a different kind of hire for LSU athletic director Scott Woodward, assuming he is actually allowed to make the decision. Woodward has a track record of hiring proven commodities rather than ascending types such as Sumrall.
