Gators hire Trojans OL coach Mike Summers

By Mike Brandes
January 6, 2014

By Mike Brandes – OnlyGators.com Contributor

Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp on Monday announced the hiring of former USC Trojans offensive line coach Mike Summers to the same position.

Summers, who will replace Tim Davis and has 33 years of experience coaching the offensive line, previously worked under current Florida wide receivers coach Joker Phillips at Kentucky from 2010-12.

“I’m excited to have Coach Summers join our staff,” said Muschamp in a school release. “He has 34 years of experience, has been an offensive coordinator for 15 years and has coached in the SEC. He has a diverse background and has experience in the NFL. He will be a great addition to our staff.”

Bringing a wealth of knowledge and talent to the Gators coaching staff, Summers, 56, began his career as a graduate assistant at UK (1980-81) and Texas A&M (1982-84) before moving on to become the offensive coordinator for Northern Illinois (1985-90). He then left for Oregon State, where he worked as the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator from 1991-95, prior to taking over as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator at University of the South (1996-99).

Summers’s one year not coaching the offensive line came as tight ends coach at Oklahoma State. He then returned to manning the offensive line at Ohio (2001-02) before joining Bobby Petrino’s staff at Louisville (2003-06) and moving on with him to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in 2007.


When Petrino left Atlanta for Arkansas, Summers followed and added the title of assistant head coach, spending two more years coaching under him until Petrino got fired. He then moved on to coach the offensive line and coordinate the running game at Kentucky before heading to USC for just one season in 2013.

He was well-known at Louisville for helping low-rated prospects develop into NFL players. Summers notably coached up former two-star recruit Eric Wood into a Freshman All-American and who became the No. 28 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

Summers is Muschamp’s third new hire this offseason, joining Duke offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper and New Mexico special teams coordinator/outside linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler, each of whom was hired to fill the same roles on Muschamp’s staff.

Photo Credit: Unknown

13 Comments

  1. Frank says:

    Adam- What happened with Searls? Think Strong’s retaining him? Seems like Summers was a surprise to most Gator media but he looks like a solid hire. What about his stats?

    • Good question.

      He was a surprise to some for sure, but only after Helton wasn’t hired as OC. Muschamp was interested in him. I wrote about Summers yesterday in the updated Searels post.

  2. gradygator says:

    Another Solid Hire–anybody who Petrino can rely on to help his offenses at Louisville and Arkansas go up and down the field is GOOD TO GO with me! I’m sure some troll will post something negative about a guy with a ton of proven experience. I hope that we can all support the new hires, the players and give them an opportunity to put it on the field. I am confident that the addition of Roper is going to be a dramatic improvement and Summers has the experience to support him in getting our offense back to where it should be.
    Coach Summers, welcome to the Gator Nation. Let’s kick some ass! Go Gators!

  3. DKT says:

    He coached at Oklahoma State, not Oklahoma

  4. buffguff42 says:

    Great hire! Anybody who can have success at Sewanee with athletes that are a step above middle school athletes is good enough to me. Excited about all the staff changes and looking forward to a great season! Go Gators!!!

  5. Daniel M. says:

    Great hire. Hopefully the Oline can open up some big holes for Hingle McKringleberry. I think Fudge is primed for a breakout year.

  6. WJP2 says:

    Coach doing what he can to right the ship. Go Gators.

  7. John says:

    With Florida State just winning the National Championship, could that possibly cause us to lose some commitments knowing that they will have a great shot to win it next year with Jameis Winston back at QB?

    • Not for that reason specifically. But FSU is the hot program in the state and Florida is the cold one.

      • uf_84 says:

        Lol. That’s very true, and a really nice and polite way of stating the fact that FSU is a million miles ahead of us with no sign of that gap closing anytime soon. It just goes to show how critical the QB position is. Hopefully Grier will be everything he’s advertised to be and we will be able to close that gap after next year.

        Speaking of next year, do you have any early predictions? Because the schedule is so brutal I’m going with 7 and 5. That’s assuming pretty much guaranteed losses: @ Bama, UGA in Jax, and @ FSU. Probable losses: LSU and Mizzou at home. Could go either way: @ Tenn, @ Vandy, and South Carolina. Should win: Idaho, Eastern Michigan, Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky.

        • G2 says:

          Same scenario during the Tebow years. UF was the hot team, but then when Tebow left and the depleted talent level was exposed, fsu started beating us immediately. Think Jimbo has recruited better than we did post Tebow but key injuries can’t be predicted. Winston getting hurt next year would change everything.

  8. aziatic41 says:

    uf_84- Don’t expect amazing things from Will Grier early on. He put up big numbers in a private high school league in North Carolina. Also, Grier is on the smallish side for a QB. He’s only about 6’2 180 and is probably done growing; He has a full beard already. Grier does have a live arm but to me he is overrated..

    Our only hope next season is if Roper can get our offense going and maybe we can steal a game against some higher ranked teams.

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