The Search for the Next Billy Donovan: Is Sumrall It?

Hring Donovan was a stroke of genius whether Jeremy Foley, the AD at the time, knew it or not. He spun the wheel and hit the jackpot.

By Carlton Reese

GatorBaitMedia.com

The search for Billy Donovan takes place in every sport, and athletic directors across the country spin the wheel of available coaches hoping it lands on Donovan. Problem is, one does not normally find out if their hire is indeed Donovan until after the dice come up snake eyes.

Donovan is the standard of all coaching hires for which every athletic director in the country, particularly at the University of Florida, aspires. The young, energetic type who can recruit well, coach well, inspire players, fans and boosters alike – traits of a person who can guide the program into the championship realm for decades to come while earning a place in the pantheon of legends.

When UF hired Donovan in 1996 following the departure of Lon Kruger, insiders knew the quality of the hire, but rank and file sports fans probably wondered who Billy Donovan even was and thought the hire none too sexy. Not long after, it was clear Donovan was creating something special and the result was UF basketball reaching heights no one ever thought possible. Multiple SEC titles, four Final Fours, two national championships? Those bullet points are generally for coaches at Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky or Kansas – you know, those programs we sophomorically refer to as “blue bloods.”

After Donovan created a wrecking ball that made even Kentucky Wildcat fans a bit jealous, no AD could ever again get away with just simply hiring the capable next man up and hope to hit the jackpot. A great hire does not need to meet the criteria of Billy Donovan, but it is the goal. Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer were both great hires who won championships at Florida, but they were of a different mold than Donovan.

Billy Donovan was young and unheralded, a gamble in the minds of most. Spurrier seemed like a sure thing – an established genius of offensive football whose success at Duke proved his system worthy and his personality was a perfect fit in Gainesville. Meyer was the hottest ticket at the time: a hard-nosed up-and-comer who had garnered success at Bowling Green and Utah, where he went undefeated his final season before heading to UF. Hiring those two did not take much insight, but hiring Donovan was a stroke of genius whether Jeremy Foley, the AD at the time, knew it or not. He spun the wheel and hit the jackpot.

Now, in 2026, we stand with what looks to be a Donovan hire in Todd Golden. He’s young, energetic, dripping with basketball knowledge and finesse, and best of all, he knows how to groom winners. He’s brought home one national title, is sniffing another, and looks in no way to lose any steam from here on. He’s the Donovan hire everyone dreams of and nearly all the pundits believed it to be a second tier hire behind LSU’s Matt McMahon, who had guided Murray State to three NCAA Tournaments including an upset of Marquette. McMahon was seen as the Billy Donovan hire, but all were wrong. Today, McMahon will struggle mightily for his Tigers to earn just its second season above .500 in four campaigns. He’s likely back to the Ohio Valley Conference next season and maybe not even that.

That brings us to the hope of the next Billy Donovan hire: Jon Sumrall. He’s not Lane Kiffin, who was definitely not a Billy Donovan, but more of a John Calipari or Chip Kelly – established brands carrying a lot of baggage that will be ignored during the honeymoon. Sumrall comes not as the sure-fire savior as was the legend Spurrier, but as the next hope, the hope that he will emerge as Todd Golden and not Matt McMahon.

What the future holds, no one can predict – just ask all those experts who raved over McMahon and shrugged their shoulders at Golden. Sumrall so far appears ready to make UF AD Scott Stricklin look smart, and if he pans out that will give him two of the greatest coaching hires in school history, something that will no doubt disappoint all his detractors that would prefer his scalp immediately.

In Sumrall, the Gators can already see a different personality at the top. Billy Napier, for all his charms and good-guy manifestations, was not ever going to bust through a wall to prove a point – Sumrall will. His energy on and off the field has brought a new dimension to the program and that sudden shift in intensity could be just what this struggling football program needs.

It reminds one of the shift made in Chicago back in 1982 when the Bears went from the mild-mannered Neill Armstrong to the fiery Mike Ditka. That change, along with some spectacular drafting by Jim Finks, turned the franchise around and in 1985 would result in a Super Bowl victory. Somewhat of the same formula seems at play in Gainesville: the tedious optimist in Napier giving way to the Energizer Bunny in the middle of revamping a roster that already boasts a fair amount of talent. Sumrall may have Ditka’s fire, but he seems to lack the overextended ego that caused so many problems around him. He could actually be the next Billy Donovan hire.

Sumrall’s intensity had better show up in the players, and there’s no reason to think it won’t. The old adage that a team’s personality reflects its coach is not mere cliché – it’s the truth. Spurrier’s teams enjoyed the swagger and bravado of their coach and used it to their advantage on Saturday’s – just ask any Tennessee fan who saw Philip Fulmer’s teams get buried year in and year out by more confident Gators. Meyer’s teams were ferocious, like their coach – just ask Oklahoma receiver Manny Johnson who was crushed by Major Wright in the 2008 national championship game.

If the Gators exude the personality of Sumrall, this could be very fun to watch come September and might even convince the last of his naysayers to join the party. With Sumrall, have the Gators made the next Donovan hire, and LSU with Lane Kiffin perhaps another Matt McMahon? Let’s hope.