Let me start this piece by acknowledging, as I did then, that there were other coaches who could and should have been fired/let go other than Pat Surtain Sr.
The fact that Surtain was the first to go suggests some things may have happened behind the scenes that fans and/or media were not privy to.
Fans get caught up and make judgments on very small sample sizes. For instance, fans used to think former FSU offensive line coach Alex Atkins was the greatest thing since sliced bread because he was thought to be the best recruiter on the staff. In hindsight, he was a poor evaluator and couldn’t develop players, resulting in arguably the worst unit on the team before getting fired a year ago.
Patrick Surtain was similar; he signed some blue-chip recruits who couldn’t get on the field for whatever reason. Whether it be injuries, a new defensive scheme, or something else. However, former FSU defensive tackle Robert Cooper hit on something in the clip below:
Can’t keep getting surprised when it comes to that DB room especially. pic.twitter.com/jWwchlS3kq
— In The Coop Podcast (@InTheCoopPod) December 30, 2025
Cooper said, “There is no leader in that DB room.” It was true; otherwise, someone would have checked Edwin Joseph when he was openly disrespecting the head coach during the Stanford game. Patrick Surtain continued to play Joseph despite the costly penalties and social media antics.
It seems more and more like these defensive backs were upset Surtain wasn't retained because he let them do whatever they wanted. Rawls is the only guy worth keeping, but even he hit the transfer portal looking for more money.
That's the difference between this FSU team and the 2022-23 FSU teams. Jared Verse, Jordan Travis, and the rest of those guys could have gone elsewhere and gotten more money. They wanted to be at FSU to try to win something. Nowadays, everyone's chasing the bag, or looking to get a starting spot without competing, which contributes to the lack of player development.
I'm not saying not to get a bag, but if Rawls is good enough, he'll get drafted next year and really get the bag while helping the program who gave him a shot out of high school when many others didn't.
Check out Robert Cooper's podcast called "In The Coop." Former FSU players Kalen DeLoach and Christian Meadows join Cooper. Unlike many of the former players speaking on FSU, they actually give context to situations without ranting about something they’re uninformed about.