Tulane Head Coach Listed As Possible UCF Candidate After Gus Malzahn Stepped Down
Things are about to start happening around the college football landscape now that the regular season is over, but luckily for Tulane, they were able to maintain their high level of success despite having a new head coach in his first year in charge of the program.
Jon Sumrall has been nothing short of spectacular so far in his career.
Hired by Troy ahead of the 2022 season after being the inside linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator of Kentucky, he put together a dominant two years there by having a 23–4 record with two Sun Belt championships.
He's carried that success with him to Tulane.
In a more difficult conference, he's gone 9-3 with two of those three losses coming against Power 4 schools, already securing a place in the AAC title game against Army where he has a chance to make it three championships in a row for his teams.
Because of that, Sumrall is going to continue being a hot name on the coaching market whenever there is an opening, and following the news that Gus Malzahn stepped down as head coach of UCF to become the offensive coordinator at Florida State, it should be no surprise he's being floated as a candidate.
"Sumrall is the hottest name in the sport right now, and it’s easy to see why ... Pretty much any school with an opening will be calling about Sumrall, who would have replaced Mark Stoops at Kentucky had Stoops gotten the Texas A&M job last year," writes Andy Staples of On3.
It's hard to imagine he would leave New Orleans after one season with the program when he initially signed a six-year contract to take over, but there is precedent of him doing so.
Sumrall agreed to a contract extension with Troy in the spring of 2023 that would have run through 2026, but months later, he departed to take over the Green Wave.
Considering UCF would technically be a step up since they are in a Power 4 conference, this will be an interesting situation to watch.
Right now, Sumrall will be focused on winning the AAC championship, but fans should keep an eye on this and see how it develops.
