The Florida Gators finally have their new head coach in place following the decision to hire former Tulane lead man Jon Sumrall. It’s a move that they’re very happy with, but the hire has been met with mixed reactions from the fan base.
Sumrall has had a great four-year run as a college football head coach. In his two years with Troy back in 2022 and 2023, he compiled a 23-4 overall record. In 2024 and 2025 with the Green Wave, he went 19-7.
His track record is rock solid, but winning at Florida is going to be a much more difficult task. Coaching against the SEC is not easy. Sumrall has his work cut out for him to get the Gators back to being a serious national championship threat.
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With that being said, Florida took another step towards rounding out its coaching staff around Sumrall on Tuesday.
According to a report from CBS Sports reporter Matt Zenitz, the Gators are expected to hire Kentucky’s Brad White to be their defensive coordinator.
“Florida is expected to hire Kentucky’s Brad White as its defensive coordinator, sources tell @CBSSports,” Zenitz wrote on X. “Led the way for four Kentucky defenses that ranked in the top-25 nationally during his seven seasons as the team’s DC.”
White has held the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach role for Kentucky since 2019. He’s a well-respected defensive coach in the college football world.
Florida has a long road ahead that Sumrall will try to speed up. The SEC has been strong and the Gators have straggled behind a bit under former head coach Billy Napier. However, the program is still one of the most respected in the nation.
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To start his tenure as the head coach at Florida, Sumrall is working on building an elite coaching staff. White is a great addition to that staff. After the staff is in place, the Gators will need to turn to recruiting and the transfer portal.
It will be interesting to see what Florida looks like in 2026. Sumrall will look to put enough work in before next season to make the Gators a team to watch in the SEC once again.
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