FSU fires Mike Norvell; what's next?

It was a hallmark of the inconsistency that we were really seeing during the Mike Norvell era, right? Like, he won some games he was supposed to lose. He lost a lot more games than he was supposed to win. You're coming off a great effort against a rival, Miami, the current number one team in the country. You go to double overtime, a lot of controversial calls at the end of that game. You have a bye week to prepare for this. You're playing Clemson, which is like a traditional, almost kind of like fringe rival outside of Miami and Florida. The university is putting a lot of weight behind you, like the Operation Garnet Storm with the drone shows and the lights. Clemson, this might be their worst football team in the past 20 years. And that's the effort that you put forth at home, right? On Halloween night, I think it was just, especially with the optics of actually how the game was played, giving up the type of number. Clemson doubled their passing touchdowns for the year in that game. They have a truly inept offense. And you let them put up 36 points to the point where the stadium was basically empty by the fourth quarter where you almost came back. It's just there were too many factors. That were things that have been consistent during this latter half of the Mike Norvell era to really show administration that the trajectory of this program is plateaued at best or down at worst. And one of the big questions that I have, and that a lot of fans have, is why now? A couple weeks ago, the AD gets fired. They wait more weeks. It kind of felt like they were going to let Mike Norvell ride it out. Why now? I think they had to get a lot of their ducks in the row structurally as far as what Mike offered. And that was a question that we had on President McCullough's statement on Friday. You haven't started looking for the AD yet. It's perplexing. I think they had to get a lot of structural things in place. Why now? I really think, and unfortunately it's something Florida has seen over the past couple of years, is, man, we like Mike. We want it to work out. We really hope it works. When we look at Mike Norvell just as a whole, right, the epic highs of 2023 and then the epic lows of the past few years, what is his legacy at Florida State now? That's so tough. And it's something that really kind of conflicts me because there was, there was so many ups, so many downs, seemed to be a person universally liked within the athletic building. I think his legacy right now is cloudy. I think it was just. If I had to think about it now and the day after the firing, it was a guy that really did put his all into the university. But to me, it was a guy that really was a victim of the ever-changing landscape of college football, a guy who took advantage of it in 2022 and 2023, being cutting edge, being on the portal, trying to find a new way to do talent acquisition. And then when everybody caught up to him, he just couldn't. He just couldn't keep up. He really just couldn't keep up, especially when it comes to the roster building and the personnel building mindset, that sort of NFL GM program builder, not only with how much the landscape is changing, how much money you have to allocate your roster, but where you allocate that money to. It was just something that was never really a great skill of his, especially when everybody caught up to him. So to me, he's a guy that poured himself into the university, cared a lot, a lot of people liked. I think he will be looked at favorably with some time in the rearview mirror, but it's weird. Both a beneficiary and a victim of the ever-changing landscape of college football in 2026 is how I view Mike Norvell at Florida State. And when we look at the next two months, you know, right now, FSU is three and five. We got Rick Stock still taking over. What can fans expect from this Knowles team? You're going to see I think you're going to see short term. I think you're going to see like a rallying cry. There has been at least like a recent history of like when a head coach is let go. A lot of people expect, oh, well, they're in trouble for the rest of the season. I find to be that next immediate game, Boston College at noon. I think you are going to see like a galvanizing moment for the team. However, I just think that. I think it's going to be a rough last third of the season, right? Like, Florida's improved under John Summerall. You've never really played NC State well under this regime. Uh... And you're dealing with a lot of injuries. You're dealing with a lot of injuries to your running back room. Deuce Robinson's banged up. Deontay McCray, your defensive lineman, was on crutches. Like, it's just, I think in the near short term, like this Saturday, I think they are going to have a great effort against Boston College, and I predict them to win that game. After that, I think it's going to be. It's just going to be tough sledding. Going into the season, Florida State had some talent at the starting 11 on each side of the ball. Depth was a concern. Mike Norvell's kind of recruiting sins of the past have started to catch up with him when it comes to the high school ranks and building out depth. And now you're at the latter part of the season where that's going to continue to be an issue. With this search firm trying to find a new AD, trying to find a new head football coach, what are some things that you would like to see from the next set of leadership at Florida State? Forward thinking. You need somebody that has a clear identity, like a clear vision of what the program needs to be built in their image. Mike Norvell, his ethos throughout the entire time at Florida State was climb and respond. And while it was an identity that you could identify with Mike, I need somebody that's a little bit more proactive. I want whatever the ethos of the next person to come into Florida State University has to be doing something to the opponent rather than responding when things are happening to you. Realize and recognize the vast amount of history and resources and success that you have access to in Florida State University. And to me, in the year of 2026, it's got to be somebody that understands the changing landscape of college football, understands how to build a competent roster, has an identity, whether offensively or defensively, that as these teams change so dramatically, like year to year, in a way that's been so new to the college football viewer, you have to have a consistent identity. Things that you do that can translate from year one to year two to year three, as you have so much dramatic roster shift, to me, it's program building, but it's really talent acquisition. It's either a head coach that gets recruiting or is a CEO type and holds his assistants to a higher standard of player and personnel acquisition because Mike Norvell coming in. He was a solid X's and O's coach, arguably one of the better offensive minds coming in in 2020. But the thing that really bit him is he never held, he placed a lot of importance on X's and O's, but never held his assistant coaches to a high standard of recruiting, like what you see with Mario Cristobal down in Miami. And X's and O's and Jimmy's and Joe's, man, you've got to figure out. Like, there's. There's teams competing for college football national championships. That have literally never had one, like Indiana, our last national championship. Teams like Texas Tech. Like, there is more parity across the landscape. So coaching skill is going to be important. But finding out roster acquisition, like getting, like, get a quarterback. Man, when's the last time Florida State had a great quarterback? It was Jordan Travis, and they tried to bargain Bennett the past couple years. And you get what you pay for. Understand the premium positions in college football. Acquire the highest talent you can at those and then build a competent roster supporting those players that you get. We just, we never really figured it out post-2023. One to 10, how confident are you in FSU being able to hire the right guy? Yeah. Okay. So this might be not right. Like, okay. Like Florida state's administration, not the best track record recently. They don't even have a sitting AD. So one would think, oh, they're probably going to screw it up again. They've been screwed up a lot of stuff. I'm on the other side. I think that they are going to get this higher, right? I was really encouraged by. The comments from President Richard McCullough yesterday, that is a very serious individual. And he touted that during the press conference. He goes, hey, I've been focused on the academic side. Like, basically what I heard is I've been focused on the academic side, and I did that. Like, he touted graduation rates, the partnership with Florida, Tallahassee Health. Like, he basically just said, hey, my focus was on academics. That's what I did. And now we're solid, like we're great, like we're up there with like he quoted some stats that like Harvard and Princeton were their peers on like first year retention and graduation rates and things like that. And he basically said, now athletics is my concern, like this is my thing. And when I get involved, when I get personally involved with something, I'm successful at it. They understand the gravity of the situation that they're in. Which is why they decided to make the move in the first place. There's obviously a massively complicated decision with a huge financial component of this buyout that Mike Norvell had. I think they understand the gravity of the situation that they're in. And they've got somebody that I'm really confident in, President Richard McCullough, Bruce Warwick, kind of the acting AD right now. Those are competent people, and I think they're going to get it right. Because if they don't, I don't want to think about the ramifications if they screw this up. This could be Florida State's last chance to maintain their status as a nationally prominent college football program that is in the conversation for national championships. This situation is that grave.