Tulane visits No. 13 Ole Miss on Saturday in one of the country’s marquee matchups of Week 4, a battle of unbeaten teams with College Football Playoff aspirations.
And Rebels coach Lane Kiffin made headlines Wednesday with a prediction that the next time he sees his counterpart, Jon Sumrall of the Green Wave, that it will be at the helm of an SEC program this winter.
“I told my staff yesterday,” Kiffin told a reporter on this week’s SEC Coaches Teleconference. “I said, ‘I feel like I’m going to be in head coach’s meetings in the conference’ — I think our first one is in January — ‘with Coach Sumrall.’ So, it’s funny you bring that up.”
Sumrall had Tulane in the CFP conversation deep into 2024, his first season at the helm of the program where he had previously been co-defensive coordinator from 2012-2014.
His roles in between those in New Orleans came on staff at Troy, Ole Miss and alma mater Kentucky before his first head coaching opportunity at Troy in 2022 and 2023.
“I just think his teams are really disciplined,” Kiffin said. “They play really hard, they tackle really well. He’s got a really fundamental defensive system, and he wins.”
Coincidentally, Sumrall’s first game as a head coach came in Oxford, Miss., when his Trojans fell, 28-10, to Kiffin’s Rebels.
But the Green Wave coach shared Tuesday that his most lasting memory from that trip three years later is postgame encouragement from Kiffin’s father, legendary defensive coach Monte Kiffin who has joined Lane’s college staffs after decades in the NFL.
“I’m really dejected because we lost and I hate losing. I’m the coaches’ locker room, and I’ve got my head down,” Sumrall said. “And Tom Luke, who’s Matt Luke’s brother — Tom’s still on staff there — comes in our locker room, and he’s like, ‘Hey, Summy, somebody wants to see you outside.’ So I walk out, and there’s Monte Kiffin … and he goes, ‘Hey, our team, way better than y’all, but, man, y’all played hard, and y’all were tough.’ He said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’
“I needed to hear that. It was my first game as a head coach, and we just got our butts kicker. And I’ll never forget that. It was a moment that I shared with Monte, who I respect the heck out of him because he’s a great defensive mind and a big-time coach, and I was a first-game head coach trying to figure out what I was doing.”