Jon Sumrall, who stuck with Tulane for CFP, doesn’t fault Lane Kiffin for Ole Miss exit

TAMPA, Fla. — Jon Sumrall and Lane Kiffin reached different decisions last year as they similarly navigated the coaching carousel while leading teams to the College Football Playoff. Sumrall kept coaching Tulane after being hired at Florida; Kiffin immediately left Ole Miss for LSU.

Although Sumrall told interested teams that he wasn’t leaving the Green Wave before the CFP, he doesn’t fault Kiffin for his controversial exit before Ole Miss’ season ended.

“I did not envy Lane’s situation at all,” Sumrall said Wednesday during SEC media days. “Every time he and I would talk, I felt awful for what he was going through and everyone involved, because it wasn’t fair to anyone.”

The two spoke several times last season as their names were linked to marquee jobs — sometimes the same ones. In November, Sumrall said, Kiffin pointed out how they were going through the same thing.

“I’m like, ‘No, Lane, we’re not,’” Sumrall said. “If you leave you’re leaving an SEC school to go to an SEC school. It’s a little different. I’m leaving Tulane.”

Kiffin was the top name among Florida fans after the Gators fired Billy Napier in mid-October, but he chose LSU instead. Sumrall joked about it during his introductory news conference in December, cracking that he and Kiffin agreed he was the right person to lead the Gators.

As for the way Kiffin left Ole Miss, Sumrall blamed the college football calendar rather than the coach. Unlike most professional leagues, college football’s timeline for player acquisition overlaps with the postseason, hurrying coaching transitions. Sumrall tried to balance his roles as the Green Wave’s CFP coach and the incoming leader of the Gators, but admitted he probably wasn’t “at my best every second for Florida” during the transition because he wanted to do the best he could at Tulane.

The Kiffin-less Rebels crushed Sumrall’s Green Wave in the first round of the Playoff before eventually falling to Miami in the semifinals. Sumrall and Kiffin will not face each other in SEC play this season, as 2026 marks the first season since 1970 that LSU and Florida aren’t scheduled to play.