It’s no secret that the Florida Gators weren’t playing up to standards under Billy Napier. Now, change is in the air, and Jon Sumrall is working on a rebuild.
Ahead of Florida’s fall camp, Sumrall seemingly wanted to make it clear, just in case anyone forgot how much work needs to be done. That even includes fixing the weight room.
“The first time I walked in there,” Sumrall said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I didn’t love some of the layout.’ I am not trying to take shots, but I don’t, you know, there’s a big patch of turf in the weight room. We have 120 yards of turf right outside. I don’t need turf in a weight room. We need weights in a weight room. So that to me, I was already like, ‘I don’t need a little patch of turf.’”
Sumrall may not want to take shots at anyone in particular, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t still a comment about the previous administration. It’s questioning how things were done before he got there.
Former Florida Gators HC Dan Mullen Took a Shot at the Gators
GettyDan Mullen with the Florida Gators
From 2018 to 2021, Dan Mullen led the Florida Gators to a 34-15 record overall and two double-digit win seasons and AP Top 10 finishes. Still, a 5-6 run in 2021 and questions about recruiting got him fired and replaced with Billy Napier with just one game left in 2021.
Napier went 22-23 before getting fired after seven games in 2025. He never won more than 8 games and never finished in the AP Top 25. Florida, meanwhile, continued to slip off the pace in the hypercompetitive SEC.
Now at UNLV, Mullen still seems to think about Florida from time to time. He recently went on The Paul Finebaum Show, where he seemed to take his own shot at the program while Napier was running it. In particular, that he was on track to make the 12-team College Football Playoff before Napier fell off the pace.
“We won a lot of games,” Mullen said. “But you know what? In today’s world, when you’re when you’re at premier schools, you expect to win. At Florida, they expect championships. I was at Florida as an assistant coach who won two national titles. That’s the standard. That was the standard when I got there. We got to an SEC championship game, fell a couple points short to Alabama. But our standard from the day I got there was championships. We weren’t able to come through, even though we fell a couple points short on on winning the SEC Championship, and going to compete for national championships.”
Had Mullen had two CFP appearances on his resume, it would have been much harder to fire him. But they did fire him, and the program took that nosedive, which Mullen was happy to point out.
“And I think maybe if the Playoff era was around, I think three out of my four years, we would have made the College Football Playoff. Maybe that would have looked a little bit different back then with the resume, of keeping me around a little bit longer to try to try to go win that national title. But hey, it is what it is. Probably hasn’t gone as well there since I left, it doesn’t seem like.”
Napier landed on his feet at James Madison. Meanwhile, Mullen is winning at UNLV. There, both hope to make it to the College Football Playoff as the Group of Six representative.
Florida Went on a Spending Spree Under Sumrall
GettyFlorida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall
The Florida Gators have been quick to make some changes under Jon Sumrall. In particular, just how much money they’re spending.
Earlier this offseason, it was announced that Florida is going to undergo a massive renovation on Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The price tag on that is $1.45 billion.
“Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is approaching its 100th year and requires significant infrastructure improvements to remain the premier venue in college athletics. The project will modernize critical systems, improve accessibility, enhance the fan experience, create new revenue opportunities, and address decades of deferred maintenance while preserving the traditions and atmosphere that make The Swamp unique,” Florida wrote in a release.
Then, Florida is also starting to spend more on NIL and revenue sharing. That should help them put a roster together to get competitive again in the SEC. It won’t come cheap, though. Per Zach Abolverdi of On3, Florida is spending over $50 million on its football and men’s basketball rosters. Around $30 million of that is for football.
It remains to be seen if Sumrall can rebuild Florida. If he fails to, it won’t be for a lack of resources.
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