ESPN put out its annual offseason collection of random college football lists, picks and predictions and FSU doesn't appear in this package too often, but when it gets to the list of coaches on the hot seat, you can simply guess where Mike Norvell is.
Adam Rittenberg writes that Norvell is No. 1 on this list of coaches that are more likely to finish the season in a broadcast booth than on the sidelines. On one hand, it's nice that Norvell is ranked number one in SOMETHING, but the larger point is that this upcoming season will feel more like a funeral than a rebirth unless the Seminoles can make something happen.
ESPN has Mike Norvell at the top of the list of coaches on the hot seat
Wittenberg writes the following on Norvell:
"Norvell's lucrative contract after a pursuit by Alabama and Florida State's financial challenges have prevented a change despite a 7-17 nosedive since the infamous CFP snub in late 2023. FSU's transfer-based approach has produced more misses than hits lately, and anything short of tangible improvement could prompt a change. Norvell won 23 games from 2022 to 2023 but has missed bowl games in his other four seasons."
Norvell joins South Carolina's Shane Beamer, Maryland's Mike Locksley, Wisconsin's Luke Fickell and Baylor's Dave Aranda in that order. All five coaches have struggled in their current homes and Norvell is tied with Aranda for the second-longest tenure of the names on this list behind Locksley. Norvall and Aranda are also the only two coaches on this list that have won a conference championship at their current job.
After FSU went 13-1 in the 2023 season, athletic director Michael Alford locked Norvell down with a massive contract extension to keep him from searching out other jobs with claims that Alabama was serious about poaching him. The Crimson Tide hired Kalen DeBoer instead. Norvell must've still been seeing red in regard to Alabama, because he's 1-0 against the Tide since signing that extension, but 6-17 against everyone else.
Rittenberg also talks about Norvell's issues with roster building. His weakness in prioritizing high school recruiting was fairly overlooked when FSU was having so much success in the portal, but the Orange Bowl loss to Georgia definitely raised alarms regarding the depth of the roster and those alarms became a full-blown wildfire after the Seminoles went 2-10 in the 2024 season.
What does Mike Norvell have to do to keep his job?
Win more games. It's that simple. If FSU goes 8-4, no one is going to worry about how poorly the recruiting season has gone. Norvell just has to show that he can win enough games to make the Seminoles interesting. He has to win a game or two on the road and maybe knock off a top-25 team. Fans have to believe that Norvell can keep the Seminoles competitive. Maybe it's just kicking the can down the road for another season, but I truly believe that people would be ok with that. And it would give Alford more time to focus on the other major issues, like determining where FSU stands in conference expansion. Norvell is going to benefit from low expectations this season, so eight wins might get him more runway than he could've imagined.
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