Is Jon Sumrall right man for Florida football coaching job? Swampcast discusses
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway, Noah Ram and Andrew Abadie break down the hiring of Florida football coach Jon Sumrall and the state of Florida basketball.
Former Florida football coach Billy Napier is set to return to the Sun Belt Conference.
Napier is closing in on a deal to become the next football coach at James Madison, according to a report made on Dec. 4 by On3 Sports’ Pete Nakos and ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
The 46-year-old Napier was fired from the Florida Gators after going 22-23 in three-plus seasons, the worst record for a UF coach since Raymond “Bear” Wolf went 13-24-2 from 1946-49.
With the James Madison job, Napier would return to a level he’s been more successful. In his prior stint in the Sun Belt, he went 40-12 in four seasons at Louisiana, winning conference titles in 2020 and 2021.
At JMU, a public university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Napier would inherit a strong program in an effort to resurrect his coaching career. The Dukes are 11-1 this season and set to play Troy in the conference title game on Dec. 5.
Napier would replace Bob Chesney, who was hired by UCLA on Dec. 1. Before Chesney, JMU was coached by Curt Cignetti, who went 52-9 at JMU from 2019-23 before engineering a masterful turnaround at Indiana. Under Cignetti, the Hoosiers have gone 23-2 and are on the verge of their second straight College Football Playoff appearance. No. 2 Indiana will play No. 1 Ohio State for the Big Ten title on Dec. 6 in Indianapolis.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
