Florida coach Jon Sumrall vows to 'wake this beast up' in his debut season
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — It’s been seven years since Florida notched double-digit wins and 17 years since the Gators were legitimate national championship contenders. Calling Florida overdue would be an understatement in Gainesville, and new coach Jon Sumrall knows it as well as any diehard who watched the team’s annual spring game unfold at the Swamp on Saturday.
“Championships are the standard and expectation,” Sumrall said following the Orange and Blue game. “We’ve got to get it back there. We’ve got to wake this beast up.
“Like, it’s time we wake this thing up. This is a sleeping giant. I’m telling you right now: it ain’t a matter of if we’re going to win here.
It’s how fast we’re going to win. It’s coming. This winning thing, it’s coming.
” Florida is a paltry 29-37 over its last 66 games, including losing seasons in four of the last five years. It would be unacceptable at just about any Power Four program. It’s downright embarrassing for one that has three national titles and eight Southeastern Conference championships since 1990.