Florida Hires Rusty Whitt as Director of Football Performance, Adding Grit and Championship Pedigree to Gators Program
The Florida Gators just made a serious move in the trenches-and we’re not talking about the offensive line. Head coach Jon Sumrall announced the hiring of Rusty Whitt as the program’s new Director of Football Performance, a seasoned strength and conditioning coach with three decades of experience and a military background that brings a whole new edge to Gainesville.
Whitt arrives from Tulane, where he spent the last two seasons helping build one of the most physical and disciplined programs in the American Athletic Conference. Under his guidance, the Green Wave didn’t just get stronger-they got results.
Tulane went 20-7 over those two years, made back-to-back AAC title game appearances, and capped off 2025 with a conference championship and a trip to the College Football Playoff. That’s not just weight room hype-that’s real production.
“There’s no better person to lead our strength and conditioning program than Coach Whitt,” Sumrall said. “His experience in coaching, as well as his decorated history in our military, has proven results for the teams he’s worked for in the past. His approach will reinforce the core values of our program.”
Sumrall knows what he’s getting. Whitt isn’t just a coach who knows how to build muscle-he builds culture.
Before Tulane, he led the strength program at Troy from 2020 to 2023, where the Trojans stacked up back-to-back Sun Belt titles and a combined 23-5 record in his final two seasons. The 2022 squad broke new ground for the program, finishing ranked in the AP Top 25 (No. 19) and Coaches Poll (No. 20) for the first time ever.
That year also marked Troy’s debut in the College Football Playoff rankings after their Sun Belt Championship win.
Whitt’s track record is consistent: wherever he goes, teams get tougher, more resilient, and ultimately, more successful.
“Being named the Director of Football Performance for the Florida Gators football team is both thrilling and humbling, and an immense honor,” Whitt said. “I understand the extremely intense environment we are stepping into.
Gator Nation expects and demands excellence. I will bring a world-class performance staff that will embrace the pressure at Florida and we will soon get to work on developing and sustaining SEC Championship-level athletes.
Go Gators!”
That mindset didn’t come from nowhere. Whitt’s approach is forged from more than just reps and sets-it’s rooted in his military service.
From 2003 to 2009, he served in the U.S. Army as a Senior Special Forces Communication Sergeant in the 10th Special Forces Group.
He was deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was awarded a combat infantry badge, two Iraqi campaign medals, and an Army commendation medal with valor. He also developed a pre-deployment conditioning program for his team, blending physical preparedness with mission-critical performance.
That blend of discipline and high-level performance has been the throughline of Whitt’s career. After his military service, he returned to college football, bringing that same intensity to programs like Army (2019), Texas Tech (2016-18), Louisiana (2009-15), and Rice (2008). At every stop, he’s been more than just a strength coach-he’s been a culture shaper.
At Texas Tech, he led a staff that worked in lockstep with the athletic training and nutrition teams, overseeing holistic development for the Red Raiders. At Louisiana, his teams won four straight New Orleans Bowls and captured the 2013 Sun Belt title. Whether it was football, baseball, swimming, or track and field, Whitt’s fingerprints were all over athletic development.
His roots in the profession go even deeper. Before joining the Army, he was the head strength coach at Sam Houston State, where he also taught kinesiology and helped design a new weight facility. His career started in the late ‘90s with stops at William & Mary, Midwestern State, and Texas, where he earned his master’s in kinesiology after playing four years of football at Abilene Christian.
Now, he brings that full-circle journey to the SEC-a conference where physicality is the price of admission. With a decorated past and a relentless approach, Whitt is tasked with elevating Florida’s performance program to championship-caliber standards.
For a Gators team looking to reestablish itself among the SEC elite, this hire isn’t just about strength and speed. It’s about identity. And with Rusty Whitt in charge, Florida just added a proven leader who knows how to build both.