Why did Jon Sumrall stay at Tulane? Green Wave coach looks to be hot candidate again John Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORKSeptember 20, 2025 at 4:02 AM 0 When Tulane football lured away Jon Sumrall from Troy to be the successor to Willie Fritz in New Orleans, the Green Wave were hiring one of the upandcomi...
- - Why did Jon Sumrall stay at Tulane? Green Wave coach looks to be hot candidate again
John Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORKSeptember 20, 2025 at 4:02 AM
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When Tulane football lured away Jon Sumrall from Troy to be the successor to Willie Fritz in New Orleans, the Green Wave were hiring one of the up-and-coming top college football coaches in the country.
That statement has only strengthened in his now two seasons in New Orleans with the Green Wave, as Tulane is 12-5 overall and ranked first or second in the American Conference in 10 different categories while leading the nation with six defensive touchdowns.
The Green Wave are out to a 3-0 start this season with wins over Northwestern and Duke under Sumrall, who is expected to be one of the most sought after Group of Five coaches to make a jump to a Power Four head coaching position this coaching carousel cycle.
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That coaching carousel cycle has started early this season in college football with openings already at Virginia Tech and UCLA and several others expected to open in the coming weeks or by season's end. For that, the buzz and connections to jobs have already begun for the former Kentucky product, who will be on the sidelines with Tulane at 3:30 p.m. ET against No. 11 Ole Miss on the road.
It's a position and situation that Sumrall dealt with last offseason as his name was thrown out and linked to openings before he ultimately decided to stay put in the American Conference with the Green Wave.
Here's what to know on Sumrall and why he decided to remain at Tulane after last year:
Why did Jon Sumrall stay at Tulane?
One of the top Group of Five coaches the last three seasons, Sumrall's name was thrown out there for the vacant head coaching positions last offseason.
As noted by The Athletic, Sumrall received interest from several Power Four programs that had openings: West Virginia, UCF, Purdue and North Carolina.
However, on the day of the College Football Playoff selection show last year, Dec. 8 of 2024, Sumrall informed Tulane officials that he was not pursuing any of those vacancies. He made the announcement official on X (formerly Twitter) by quote tweeting a report from ESPN's Pete Thamel with the "I'm not leaving" GIF from Wolf of Wall Street.
https://t.co/tbwa42cYOW pic.twitter.com/izRIH8rxUg
— Jon Sumrall (@CoachJonSumrall) December 9, 2024
In an interview with Fox 8, a local Fox affiliate TV station in New Orleans, Sumrall said that what went into his decision to stay at Tulane was that he wasn't "ready to move on" as there remains "a lot of work left" in the program.
"I love it here. My family loves it here. I love this program. Certain things that I want to make sure that were in place to be successful moving forward. There's still a lot of work left to be done," Sumrall said. "While I'm all in to be here, there are still a thousand things we have to do to continue pushing this program forward.
"I'm very comfortable with where we are but we have a long way to go. I just didn't feel like I was ready to move on. I really like what we are doing."
Jon Sumrall record at Tulane -
Jon Sumrall record at Tulane: 12-5 overall
In two seasons at Tulane, Sumrall has led the Green Wave to a 12-5 overall record and a 7-1 record in American Conference play. Last year, Sumrall led Tulane to a second place finish in the American Conference with a 7-1 league record and the program's third consecutive trip to the American Conference Championship Game — the third program in conference history make three straight trips.
Here's a year-by-year breakdown of how the Green Wave have fared under Sumrall:
2024: 9-5 (Gasparilla Bowl win)
2025: 3-0
Jon Sumrall coaching career
Here's a look at Sumrall's coaching career:
Head coach unless otherwise specified. Assistant role listed in parentheses
2005-2006: Kentucky (Graduate Assistant)
2007-2009: San Diego (Defensive Line coach, recruiting coordinator)
2010-2011: San Diego (Assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, cornerbacks coach)
2012-2013: Tulane (Co-defensive coordinator, defensive line coach)
2014: Tulane (Co-defensive coordinator, linebacker coach)
2015-2017: Troy (Assistant head coach, linebacker coach, special teams coach)
2018: Ole Miss (Linebackers coach)
2019-2020: Kentucky (Inside linebacker coach)
2021: Kentucky (Co-defensive coordinator, inside linebackers coach)
2022-2023: Troy
2024-present: Tulane
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why did Jon Sumrall stay at Tulane last year and not take Power 4 job?
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