By Mark Pszonak
North Carolina has been actively pursuing their next head coach since they parted ways with Mack Brown on November 26th. Many names have been floated, but now it looks as though they have identified their main target. And things are likely to heat up this weekend.
Jeff Duncan, a sports columnist for Nola.com, believes that the Tar Heels are now focused on Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall. You can read his story here.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise since Sumrall is one of the hottest coaching names in the country. And because of that North Carolina has company in the chase. UCF and Purdue are also in the picture, but it is believed that the Tar Heels are leading the pack.
Coach Sumrall deserves all the positive attention that he is getting. He earned his stripes as an assistant at Ole Miss and Kentucky before getting his first head job at Troy in late 2021. While he only spent two seasons with the Trojans, he led them to a 23-4 record. This led him to his current job at Tulane prior to the 2024 season, where he led the Green Wave to a 9-3 record.
An argument can be made that with only three seasons as a head coach he is still lacking the experience to lead a P4 program, but a 32-7 career record is something that will make people overlook that.
More Sports News
And this is also why it becomes very important for North Carolina to seal the deal as soon as possible. Nobody knows what additional coaching jobs will become available in the coming days and weeks. But it is safe to assume that these new vacancies will lead to more competition to get someone of Sumrall’s caliber. North Carolina doesn’t need or want this additional competition so the quicker they get a deal done, the better.
Coach Sumrall is the belle of the ball right now, so all North Carolina has to do is get the next dance.
