It’s hard to say with certainty that Mike Norvell will be fired as the head coach of the Florida State Seminoles this season. But everything seems to be pointing in that direction in Tallahassee, including Florida State’s puzzling preseason addition to the staff, which Pete Nakos and Matt LaSerre of On3 reported on Monday.
According to Nakos and LaSerre, Florida State is hiring former Texas head coach Tom Herman to its staff for the 2026 season. Herman was last seen in college football as the head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls in 2024, submitting a 2-8 record before he was fired midway through the season. Herman went 32-18 over his four years as the head coach of the Longhorns and 22-4 over a two-year stint at Houston.
NEW: Former Texas, Houston and FAU head coach Tom Herman is set to join Florida State's coaching staff, @PeteNakos and @LaserreMatt report. https://t.co/eAJSep22Dz pic.twitter.com/UPRlkS97cJ
— On3 (@On3) July 13, 2026
Prior to taking over FAU, Herman served as an offensive analyst for the Chicago Bears under Matt Nagy. That’s likely the role he will fill on Florida State’s coaching staff, though no specifics have been reported as of Monday afternoon. Still, even without any reporting, it’s clear what the real job Herman is being brought to Tallahassee for is: interim head coach.
Tom Herman is the interim head coach option Florida State didn’t have
Norvell has gone 7-17 over his last two seasons at Florida State. Even with an undefeated regular season, which he led the Seminoles on in 2023 before the College Football Playoff snub and Orange Bowl debacle, Florida State does not typically have that level of patience. Coming off building a new football facility and renovating Doak Campbell Stadium, however, athletic director Michael Alford and the administration were unwilling to pay Norvell’s $60+million buyout.
After this season, however, his buyout will drop closer to $50 million, which is not a massive difference, but after the donor base largely kept its powder dry during the 2027 recruiting cycle, in which FSU has just 13 commits, the money should be there to pay it. With one of the toughest schedules in the ACC, including a three-game stretch against Louisville, Miami, and Clemson in October after two losable games against SMU and Alabama in September, the motivation to move on will likely be there too.
However, you can’t let things go completely off the rails if you’re going to make a midseason move. That’s not to say you need a good head coach to step in and take over, but you’d feel a lot better with somebody who has experience in the role. That would be Herman, who may not lead FSU to many wins down the stretch, but can at least manage the Sunday-Friday part of the job without any major hiccups.
This is an odd time to make an addition to the coaching staff. Fall camp hasn’t yet started, but this is still like jumping on a moving train. There’s little value Florida State can gain from making this type of hire at this point in the year, unless Herman is the handpicked interim coach. It’s hard not to connect those dots.
Herman won’t and absolutely should not be in consideration to take over the job full-time, and he has no ties to the program that would make you think he’d be sticking around beyond fulfilling that role. That’s the perfect interim head coach because he’ll allow for a clean break with no messiness and no booster or player loyalty like Auburn faced with DJ Durkin and Penn State encountered with Terry Smith last season.
Again, it’s not a guarantee that Norvell will get fired. But this move is another piece of evidence that it’s more likely than not.
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