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Jon Sumrall Gives Tulane Classy Parting Gift With Sizable NIL Donation After Leaving For Florida

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Tulane coach Jon Sumrall

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images


Plenty of smaller college football programs have had to reset after having their head coach poached by a more prominent school, and Tulane became the latest one to meet that fate after Jon Sumrall was tapped to take over for Florida. However, he went out of his way to set up the Green Wave for success in the wake of his departure with a six-figure donation to their NIL fund.

Jon Sumrall spent more than 15 years paying his dues as an assistant with five different college football teams before landing his first gig as a head coach when he was hired at Troy ahead of the 2022-23 season.

He staged a dramatic turnaround with a Trojans team that finished at 12-2 a year after going 5-7 under Chip Lindsey, and he went 11-3 while defending their Sun Belt title the following year before taking his talents to Tulane.

The Green Wave earned a berth in the AAC Championship Game after going 9-5 during his first year at the helm, and they’re currently sitting at 11-2 after avenging their loss to Army with a win over North Texas that clinched their first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Tulane will be facing off against an Ole Miss team that will not be coached by Lane Kiffin while trying to win a national championship, but the school has allowed Sumrall to stick around for what will be his last dance after Florida tapped him to fill the void that formed after Billy Napier was fired midway through the season.

The circumstances of Kiffin’s departure made him a pariah in Oxford, but it’s hard to imagine Sumrall will be facing the same fate based on how he’s handling his exit from New Orleans.

Jon Sumrall donated $100,000 to Tulane’s NIL fund after accepting the head coaching job at Florida

In 2024, Tulane inked Sumrall to an extension that had him earning around $3 million a year, and it was easy to understand why he was unable to turn down the chance to lead an SEC team at a school that offered him a contract with an average salary of around $7.5 million.

Will Hall, who was serving as the passing game coordinator under Sumrall at Tulane, has already been promoted to head coach, and he’ll have some extra NIL money to work with heading into his inagural season courtesy of the predecessor who donated $100,000 to the school’s Green Wave Talent Fund.

Earlier this year, current Indiana guard Lamar Wilkerson donated a six-figure sum to Sam Houston as a thank you gift in the wake of his transfer, but as far as I can tell, this is the first time a college football coach has pulled a similar move.