Tulane coach Jon Sumrall gives fiery response about interviewing with North Carolina

Tulane coach Jon Sumrall has been linked to the open North Carolina coaching job as a potential replacement for Mack Brown, but is the young, up-and-coming coach even interested?

Sumrall was asked whether he has interviewed with North Carolina and gave a passionate response that seemed to call into question whether he might entertain leaving for the Tar Heels opening.

“I don’t… am I here? I mean, my goodness,” Sumrall began, in a video recorded and tweeted by WDSU’s Fletcher Mackel. “Do you want me to leave? All right. I get asked about it every day right now and I’m like, I know we lost two games, everybody wants to run me out of town. But I’m here. I showed up to work today.

“I’m not going to comment about hypotheticals. I’m trying to figure out how we can win a game.”

Very PASSIONATE Jon Sumrall addresses all the reports linking him to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels opening. pic.twitter.com/fIgdtc4uiu

— Fletcher Mackel (@FletcherWDSU) December 8, 2024

North Carolina would be a significant step up for Jon Sumrall, who went from Troy to Tulane last offseason. Sumrall once again had Tulane competitive, even vying for a potential playoff berth until the AAC title game.

Given his success, he’s become quite the hot commodity.

Listen to him, though, and it’s unclear if North Carolina is a big enough job to really pique his interest.

“Look, people call. They call my agent. I don’t talk to them very often,” Jon Sumrall said. “Like very little gets to me. Very little. Like almost nothing gets to me. I’m like, ‘I’m not talking, I’m not talking, I’m not talking.’ When it gets to me it’s usually because I’m like, ‘This is something that could be really… something I need to consider.’ Nothing’s getting to me right now. I can say that. Nothing’s getting to me.”

That’s not to say the door is completely shut, though.

“Could that change? I mean, I don’t know, if some newspaper tripled your salary you might go,” Jon Sumrall said. “I mean I’m just saying I don’t know. I’m very happy. Other than we’ve lost the last two games. I’m pissed off about that. And everybody probably wants me to leave because we’ve lost twice. I don’t know. My kids are mad at me. I want to win a game for these guys. I’m not trying to be a smart aleck.”

He added one final note for the local reporters asking about him.

“I’m not wearing a Tulane logo because I went to church this morning,” Jon Sumrall said. “I’m not wearing Tulane gear to church.”

Certainly one way to take a bit of steam out of the speculation surrounding him.