FSU football coach Mike Norvell has a plan to get the Noles back to prominence. Advanced metrics suggest he knows how to do it.
FSU football head coach Mike Norvell has the fate of the FSU football program resting on his shoulders.
The Noles had to fire Willie Taggart at a lofty price and can’t afford to fire another coach after just a few years on the job.
That’s why the coaching search went how it went, but the FSU administration always maintained Norvell was near the top of the list of potential hires when the search began.
He’s done a good job in his five months on the job considering the circumstances, and ESPN’s Bill Connelly released a stat recently that suggest FSU is in good hands moving forward.
It's not Memphis Day yet or anything, but ... holy smokes, what a turnaround. Can't think of where else I've seen 8 straight years without regression. pic.twitter.com/C7bAz3h6HB
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) May 3, 2020
Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente has to be given credit for getting Memphis on the right track, but as you can see in the graph, the program only continued to ascend once Mike Norvell became head coach in 2016.
The great part about the graph is the large jump in S&P+ rankings in his third year. That’s a great indication of the success being attributed to his fingerprints on the program as opposed to Fuentes.
Not to mention the program never regressed in the three years Norvell was there. All of this success was done with recruiting classes that averaged in the mid-60s’ in those three years.
That speaks to the evaluation to find players that fit into their system along with player development once they get into the college program.
The 2020 year is going to be difficult to gauge because this spring has been unprecedented in terms of practice time missed, etc. However, this is the most talented team Mike Norvell has ever had overall, so it’ll be interesting to see how things get started in the Norvell era at FSU.
If these advanced stats point to anything, it’s Norvell knows what needs to be done to maintain success while ascending higher once the program is fully his.