Report: Kentucky coordinator set to become next Troy head coach

Kentucky co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Jon Sumrall will be the next head coach at Troy, per Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel. The Trojans parted ways with coach Chip Lindsey with just one game remaining in the regular season.

In three years with Troy, Lindsey never had a winning record. He leaves the program after going 15-19 overall, including 5-6 this season.

Jon Sumrall was an associate head coach for the Troy from 2015-17 before leaving to become the linebackers coach at Ole Miss. After just one season in Oxford, he returned to his alma mater in 2019. This will be the first head coaching job for Sumrall, who played linebacker at Kentucky from 2002-04. After an injury ended his career prematurely, he joined the Wildcats staff as a graduate assistant until 2006.

After an impressive 6-0 start to the season, Kentucky lost three straight games and fell out of contention for an SEC title appearance. The Wildcats, however, have closed the season on a strong note to finish 9-3 and earn their sixth consecutive bowl appearance. If Kentucky can win that game, it will be just the fourth time in program history it ends the season with 10 or more wins. Two of those times occurred during coach Mark Stoops’ tenure.

Sumrall has been a major part of Kentucky’s success this season, as his defense ranks fifth in the SEC. That includes fourth overall against the run, giving up just 117.9 yards per game on the ground.

He got his start in 2007 with San Diego, where he stayed until 2012. From there, Jon Sumrall moved on to Tulane for the next three seasons before arriving in Troy the first time.

The Trojans claimed a share of the Sun Belt conference title in 2017 under coach Neal Brown. They won 10 games the following season before West Virginia lured Brown away to become its head coach. Since then, Troy has failed to record a winning season.