FSU football coach Mike Norvell met with media Sunday afternoon to be formally introduced. Here are my three takeaways from his press conference.
FSU football formally introduced its new head coach Mike Norvell Sunday afternoon. I wasn’t able to watch it live but did see some of the comments on Twitter as it was happening.
I was able to watch the press conference a couple of hours after it ended and I came away impressed.
Some folk will say winning the press conference means nothing and it’s the results on the field that count.
That’s true, but he can’t coach a game until 2020 and one can only win the game in front of him. In fact, making a great impression at this press conference was the first step.
There was a different feeling Sunday than when Willie Taggart’s press conference took place two years ago. Taggart won the presser also, but Norvell went about it an entirely different way.
I went back and watched Jimbo Fisher’s introductory press conference nearly a decade ago and it was largely different from that too. However, one common theme all three shared was the goal of getting FSU football back to its rightful place among the elite programs.
Norvell was grateful, passionate, but most of all came across confident that he was the man for the job. Let’s get into three takeaways from the press conference.
Embraced Nole Nation and Memphis
One of my favorite things Mike Norvell did was talk about FSU as a place of reverence. He said this was a “special opportunity” and called the FSU brand “iconic” and along with one of the “greatest football programs in the United States of America.”
Florida State Seminoles Football
He talked about his time as head football coach at Memphis and how much he poured into his time there and how much that place poured into him.
Norvell said, “If I was to ever leave it had to be for the right fit…for the right place. I’m so grateful for the four years that I had there, but I know this is the place and this is the time.”
Norvell also took time to personally thank FSU great and interim coach Odell Haggins for what he’s done for this program.
The way those players played for Coach Haggins when they were fighting to make a bowl was part of the reason he wanted to come to FSU.
Norvell didn’t call FSU football his dream job but it was clear this is a place he believes is one of the best opportunities in all of college football.
I should also mention the way Memphis fans sent nothing but well wishes in leaving to take the Tallahassee job speaks volumes about what type of coach he’s been there the past four years.
Passion and Communication of Values
I began watching the press conference and knew what was to come. Most of these press conferences are similar in that folk are thankful for the opportunity and thank everyone to help them get to that specific moment.
However, at about the seven minute mark Norvell began to speak with even more confidence and authority as he addressed the current players.
He said, “We are gonna do something special here because of the work that you’ve done. To the current players, first thing I did when I got off that plane…I’m sorry I did not rush to see you[media]. I went to go see them. I thank the coaches for bringing them here and I thank those players for choosing to be Florida State Seminoles….they choose to come here and I chose to be with them and they are no MY players. They are now our future.”
His tone was that similar to a preacher building up to a crescendo during a fiery message, and I was ready to run through at wall at that point. He spoke about doing things the right way every single day.
I can tell he will have attention to detail based on how he described his vision and what he wanted to transpire to get FSU football back to the top.
He said he didn’t ask the current players to trust him but to give him the opportunity to earn their trust.
Norvell said, “It’s a new day for Florida State. It’s a new opportunity. I can tell ya that we’re gonna bring a new age approach to everything that we do, with old school values and an old school philosophy. This is gonna be a program that you have to work for everything. It’s gonna be a program that’s built off true core family values of service, sacrifice and respect.”
Tempered Expectations
One mistake Willie Taggart made was using terms like “realignment instead of rebuild” in some of his first appearances. He made the impression there would be a quick turnaround and, when the Virginia Tech game unfolded how it did it cost him a lot of cache within the fan base.
Mike Norvell didn’t make that mistake when he was asked directly about how long he thought it would be before FSU could compete for championships.
Norvell said, “I believe the sky is the limit for where we can go, but I also understand the journey it’s gonna take. Every single day my expectations and our passion will be the best version of ourselves. My focus is going to be on our personnel immediately, making sure we bring the best coaching staff in college football here to Tallahassee….I’m going to put no limitations on where we can go and how fast can get there but all of our focus will be on today…and we’ll take care of tomorrow when it gets here.”
So Norvell communicates he needs an exceptional staff to assist him in getting this program where he believes it belongs. However, he smartly answers it’s going to be a journey he’s going to attack every single day.
At the same time he leaves it open by saying the sky is the limit, so it sort of sets the ground work for fans to expect progress but not to compete at an elite level immediately either.
I think most fans understand this team will be less talented than the one Willie Taggart took over in 2017 so patience will be important.
Final Thoughts
It would be hard to believe Mike Norvell is only 38 years old with four years of head coaching experience. He’s impressive and has gotten off to a great start with the introductory press conference.
However, gaining momentum on the recruiting trails while assembling his coaching task will be no small task. We saw that with Willie Taggart who did a great job in salvaging the 2018 class, but struggled to make the necessary coaching hires to put together a quality staff.
That’s the next two things he has to win and assembling the right coaching staff is even more important than salvaging this class.
The way things are set up now recruiting can continue to be addressed via the JUCO route and transfer portal.
The good news is Norvell has used both very well in his last stop, and will likely need to continue that the next couple of years with FSU football while he builds his Florida connections.
I thought it was smart to address the high school coaches in the state of Florida and give them an open invitation to FSU to see what he’s about also.
It’s time to get to work.