Jon Sumrall wants to use the Bob Stoops blueprint at Florida

Jon Sumrall wants to be Bob Stoops when he grows up.

Sumrall just left Tulane to become the new head coach of the Florida Gators, and during his introductory press conference on Monday, he proclaimed that he wanted to be a head coach that mirrors Stoops, an Oklahoma legend.

Jon Sumrall wants to be a defensive coach like Bob Stoops was at Oklahoma

Like Stoops, Sumrall is known as a defensive-minded coach. However, he doesn’t want the Gators to be winning low-scoring defensive battles in the SEC.

Stoops’ coaching career started on the defensive side of the ball, including a time as Florida’s defensive coordinator under Steve Spurrier in 1996-98. Stoops then left the Gators after the 1998 season for his first and only college head coaching job at Oklahoma.

By 2000, Stoops already had the Sooners as national champions thanks to an elite defense paired with an offense that had a Heisman contender at quarterback in Josh Heupel.

During most of Stoops’ tenure at OU, the Sooners were famous for potent offenses. That could be credited for Stoops’ knack of hiring incredible offensive coordinators, including Mike Leach, Mark Mangino, Chuck Long, Kevin Wilson, Kevin Sumlin, Josh Heupel, Jay Norvell and Lincoln Riley. All went on to eventually become head coaches because of their success under Stoops.

The (mostly) complementary football resulted in a career that has Stoops in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Now, Sumrall is taking over a program with just as high of expectations as in Oklahoma, so he wants to create the same formula Stoops did. Sumrall hasn’t hired his offensive coordinator yet, but made clear that it was his top priority.

“I may be a defensive guy, but I want to be a defensive guy like somebody Coach Spurrier knows, like Bob Stoops,” Sumrall said. “I want the scoreboard to light up.

“The way we’ve played maybe where I’ve been has looked a little different than the way I want to play moving forward, because your job wherever you are is to figure out how you win for the place you’re at. Well, here, I think we can score a lot of points, and that’s what I want to do.”

The Sooners will travel to Florida next year in Sumrall’s first season leading the Gators.