Jon Sumrall expected to be a candidate for the North Carolina job

Jon Sumrall is an obvious choice to succeed Mark Stoops at Kentucky. The big questions surrounding that scenario are when the Stoops era in Lexington ends and, perhaps even more pressing, whether Sumrall, one of the rising stars in the sport, will have accepted a job elsewhere by the time it does.

It certainly sounds like Sumrall will have options. John Talty is reporting that Sumrall is expected to be an early candidate for the North Carolina job, which is now open after the Tar Heels fired Mack Brown. As Talty writes, Sumrall is the “belle of the coaching carousel ball” after leading Tulane to a No. 17 ranking and the American Athletic Conference championship game in his first season. Although unlikely, there are scenarios in which Tulane could even make the College Football Playoff. The Tar Heels, who also hired Brown from Tulane in 1988, would be fools not to come knocking.

But would Sumrall listen? North Carolina is the only Power Four job currently open; if he waits a year, he would likely have many more, potentially more lucrative, opportunities. Maybe like Kentucky, his alma mater where he also spent three season on Stoops’ staff before taking the head coaching job at Troy. Had Mark Stoops ended up at Texas A&M, Sumrall was reportedly the pick to replace him.

That’s where things get really interesting. Check out this scenario Talty lays out involving Jimmy Sexton, who is also Mark Stoops’ agent and helped negotiate Sumrall’s deal at Troy.

There’s also the obvious connection to Sumrall’s alma mater Kentucky. Not only did the Alabama native play there but he coached under Stoops for three seasons before becoming Troy’s head coach. It’s a harder job, on paper, than UNC but beyond the sentimental ties, Sumrall knows how the place works, that it pays more and knows what he’d have to do to hit the ground running if he got the top job.

There’s a famous story in college football circles that super agent Jimmy Sexton called Georgia and informed it that SEC rival South Carolina intended to hire Georgia alum and then-Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart. Whether it played a role in Georgia’s decision to fire Mark Richt has been debated but what can’t be is that Smart ended up as Georgia’s head coach by the end of the year. Could Kentucky consider the same action if it feels like this is its best shot at Sumrall? Stoops’ massive buyout of nearly $45 million makes that extremely unlikely but there could be a negotiated number if he took a job elsewhere or simply retired. Stoops, 57, recently pledged an offseason fix to a Kentucky roster that has gone 4-7 this season. 

John Talty, CBS Sports

The next few weeks will be crazy as Kentucky wraps up the season vs. Louisville, the Early Signing Period begins, and the transfer portal opens. For now, it sounds like Stoops is committed to staying in Lexington. How long will Sumrall (or Kentucky) be willing to wait?

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