What Jon Sumrall’s rebuild of Florida can learn from Cristobal and Miami

Jon Sumrall has taken on a daunting burden.

Any coach who assumes a leadership role at one of the nation’s biggest athletic brands does. Yet, having to rebuild a former college football power like Florida can be even more daunting. Pressure and expectation breed an atmosphere where weight is constantly pressing down on your every move.

And Florida’s newest coach, Sumrall, knows it.

“The Florida fan base is not patient. They want to win right now,” Sumrall said in an introductory press conference where he uttered the word “win” 26 times. “I’m not comfortable having a plan to win in eight years. I want to win tomorrow.”

The path to doing so isn’t always so clear. Fourteen Power Four coaches were fired this year while still searching for the answer to how to build a program in rapid succession, and only a handful saw past their third year at each school.

There is, however, some framework Sumrall can fall back on. Down the road, fourth-year Miami coach Mario Cristobal is one of the few recent hires who revitalized a once-dominant brand. In days, his Hurricanes will make their first College Football Playoff berth when they visit Texas A&M on Saturday.

To chart their own resurgence, here’s what Sumrall and Florida can learn from this Sunshine State counterpart.

Lean into transfers

Part of the allure of Florida’s open position during this coaching carousel was the already existent talent on the Gators’ roster. To close previous coach Billy Napier’s tenure, the Gators landed three consecutive top-15 classes, which included a bevy of youthful skill position players that saw the field this year. Quarterback DJ Lagway, a former top-10 recruit, was the ringleader of that crew. But he’s now gone, having announced on Monday his intention to enter the transfer portal.

As the portal opens Jan. 2, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if others follow suit, which means roster replenishment will immediately rise to the forefront of Sumrall’s concerns. College football’s current ecosystem, in which over 15,000 players entered the transfer portal in 2024, is designed for teams to reset quicker by harvesting journeymen.

Miami is one of the clearest examples. The Hurricanes are starting 11 transfers this season, with Carson Beck leading South Beach’s push for national contention. The quarterback is surrounded by five other All-ACC honorees who transferred in.

Sumrall emphasized his willingness to “supplement” with the transfer portal, but to find immediate success and stave off pressure, he may need to lean all the way in. Florida is as geared to do so as it’s ever been.

“UF has never been more invested in the success of this football program – elite facilities, robust NIL opportunities and comprehensive support for our student athletes and staff,” athletic director Scott Stricklin said, “than we are today.”

Don’t be concerned to pivot

After Cristobal concluded his first season at 5-7, he promptly fired both of his coordinators. The Hurricanes had been 100th in the nation in scoring, and didn’t win a Power Five game at home. In turn, Cristobal promptly reset.

And he’s done it time and time again. Miami found an offensive system with coordinator Shannon Dawson that made Cam Ward a Heisman finalist and the top pick in the NFL draft last year, but its defense lagged behind, allowing opponents to score 30 points in six of its nine games. So Cristobal adjusted again, firing defensive coordinator Lance Guidry and hiring Corey Hetherman, which has resulted in Miami finishing this year sixth in scoring defense (13.8 points per game) and 11th in total defense (277.8 yards).

The lesson is that being willing to make large-scale, schematic changes can be the difference in building a major program. This should hit close to home at Florida.

“It’s Year 8 for me, and I think it’s the way we’ve done it,” Napier said while refusing to give up play-calling of Florida’s 103rd-ranked offense in September. “I think it helped us get here. It helped us.”

Sumrall has already hired George Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who guided the Yellow Jackets to 33.1 points per game this year, for the same role with the Gators. But some of Sumrall’s decisions surely won’t pan out, and Florida’s improvement will hinge on making adjustments.

It’ll take time

As much as it contradicts Sumrall’s original statement, reestablishing a national outlet isn’t an overnight ordeal. Cristobal took four years to break into the Playoff, finishing 12-13 in his first two years. Georgia was 8-5 in Kirby Smart’s opening campaign, and Texas was 5-7 in Steve Sarkisian’s first run.

Florida’s painstakingly proven its openness to stick it out with a coach — queue, Billy Napier’s 22-23 record — so the realistic aim is to see gradual sparks of growth.