A bragging right that Kentucky football has over UK men’s basketball
Given the historical levels of success of Kentucky men’s basketball vs. UK football, what follows will qualify as a major upset:
For the 2026-27 school year, there will be more former Wildcat players serving as NCAA Division I football head coaches than there will be ex-Cats working as D-I men’s basketball head men.
While Mark Pope (Kentucky) and Travis Ford (Little Rock) will comprise the entirety of the former Wildcats men’s hoopers toiling as college basketball head men, ex-UK football players Jon Sumrall (Florida), Neal Brown (North Texas) and Gerad Parker (Troy) will all be leading FBS programs in 2026.
Each of the former Cats serving as football head coaches will have a lot on the line in 2026.
Sumrall, 44, will make his debut as a Southeastern Conference head coach at Florida.
The former UK linebacker (lettered in 2002, 2003 and 2004) and assistant coach (2019 through 2021) appears to be buying the stock of Florida football at an ideal time.
Steve Spurrier won at least nine games in all 12 of his seasons (1990 through 2001) coaching the mighty Gators and produced nine years of double-digit victories. In his six years (2005 through 2010) running the Florida program, Urban Meyer had three different 13-1 seasons.
Those two coaches combined to lead Florida to three national championships (Spurrier one, Meyer two).
In the current decade, however, Florida has had losing records in four of six seasons and has not won more than eight games in any year.
Over his four seasons as a head coach, Sumrall has given every indication of being college football coaching’s next big thing.
He’s shown he can rebuild. Sumrall left Mark Stoops’ coaching staff at Kentucky after the 2021 season to take over a Troy program that had endured three straight losing seasons. Out of the gate, Sumrall produced back-to-back seasons of 12-2 and 11-2.
Sumrall has proven he can maintain. In 2024, he took over a Tulane program that had gone 12-2 and 11-3 in the two previous seasons under Willie Fritz. By year two in 2025, Sumrall had the Green Wave in the College Football Playoff.
After Stoops was dismissed by UK following the 2025 season, Sumrall likely could have had the head coaching job at his college alma mater had he wanted it. As it is, Kentucky-Florida coaching matchups between new top Cat Will Stein and UK alumnus Sumrall will likely carry an extra edge. The first such meeting will be Nov. 14 at Kroger Field.
Brown, 46, is attempting to relaunch his college head coaching career as the new head man at North Texas.
Unlike Sumrall, Brown is inheriting a program that is coming off its best season in school history. In 2025, the Mean Green went 12-2 and won the New Mexico Bowl. That propelled last season’s North Texas head man, Eric Morris, into the Oklahoma State head coaching job.
A former UK wide receiver (lettered in 1998 and 2000) and offensive coordinator (2013 and 2014), Brown is returning to head coaching after being dismissed by West Virginia in 2024. In Morgantown, Brown went 37-35 over his six seasons of leading the Mountaineers.
Prior to WVU, Brown had started the recent pipeline of former Kentucky players coaching Troy football when he departed Stoops’ staff at UK in 2014 to become Trojans head man.
After going 4-8 in his first season (2015), Brown proceeded to go 10-3, 11-2 and 10-3 in the next three years at Troy with three bowl victories.
At West Virginia, Brown went 9-4 in 2023 but won either five or six games in each of his other five years.
In the big picture, if his tenure at North Texas goes well, Brown is young enough to get another crack at a power-conference head coaching job.
Parker, 45, will enter his third season as Troy head coach with expectations. In the Sun Belt Conference preseason coaches’ poll, the Trojans were tabbed to repeat as West Division champions.
A former UK wide receiver (lettered four times from 2001 through 2004) and graduate assistant (2007), Parker went 4-8 at Troy in 2024 after succeeding Sumrall as Trojans’ head man.
Last year, however, Parker led Troy to a bounce-back 8-6 season that ended on a down note with losses to James Madison in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game and Jacksonville State in the Salute to Veterans Bowl.
As Brown and Sumrall have proven, Troy can be an effective launch point to propel a coach up the college football coaching ladder. If Parker and Troy can back up their preseason accolades, it could position the former Notre Dame offensive coordinator and Penn State assistant for a higher-profile job.
Bottom line: For all three of the ex-Cats who will lead NCAA Division I football programs, there is much at stake in 2026.
