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Jon Sumrall’s name is among the hottest in the coaching business, as he’s been tied to various openings — and potential openings — around the SEC and the country. Sumrall is 38-10 in four seasons as a college head coach, two at Troy and two at Tulane. His Green Wave is 6-1 this season heading into Thursday night’s American Conference game at Texas-San Antonio. A Huntsville native and former Kentucky linebacker and assistant coach, Sumrall almost certainly is or will be on the short list of candidates for jobs that area already open — Florida, LSU, Arkansas, Penn State and Virginia Tech among them — or might come open, such as Auburn and Ole Miss. He said earlier this week he’s used to such talk coming up. “I’m not really into reflecting on anything right now,” Sumrall said in his weekly news conference, via Tulane radio sideline reporter Maddy Hudak. “I’m into coaching this football team. The one thing that is consistent, I’ve dealt with it every year as a head coach … I get this question every year. “I’m so focused on where we’re at as a team, maybe even more so than ever. I was a maniac at practice two days ago and people probably felt like I was on drugs because I fear complacency. I fear distraction. I’m the head football coach at Tulane. I’ll talk about Tulane, I’ll talk about us playing UTSA. I’ll probably get asked this question tomorrow too, I’m sure. UTSA is 22-0 at home in conference games since 2020. I’ve got enough problems with this football game to not be distracted by anything other than them.” Nevertheless, Sumrall didn’t deny his potential involvement in the 2025-26 coaching carousel. He simply said such decisions — for coaches who might change jobs or players who might enter the transfer portal — should wait until after the season. “So look, coaching changes happen in the middle of the year,” said Sumrall, who coached Troy to back-to-back Sun Belt Conference titles in 2022 and 2023. “My heart breaks for those programs, players, families involved, all that stuff. I think what people forget is that there are humans involved. These people aren’t robots, right? I don’t care if they’re talk about coaches, assistant coaches, wives, kids, the players. “I addressed our team in July that ‘guys, in the season is never a time to talk about what is next. In the season is the time to worry about winning a game each week.’ At the end of the year, our players have to make decisions. We lost half our roster last year, so it’s not just coaches anymore. “But I told the guys, ‘let’s let the season be the season.’ Let’s not allow BS distractions of somebody putting out a speculative article about who could be a candidate here or who could transfer where. Let’s just play football games, and have fun doing it together. I’m more focused on this team this week than I’ve ever been on anything. I will not be blindsided by somebody saying ‘Hey, you should consider doing this.’ Well, I’ve got one job offer right now that’s been offered to me. It’s to be the head coach at Tulane and I’m all in on that.” The Tulane-UTSA game is set for 6:30 p.m. Central on Thursday, with television coverage on ESPN.
