Florida State head coach Mike Norvell continues to add to his staff amid the negativity surrounding the program and transfer portal recruiting. He promoted Ernie Sims to linebackers coach and has hired an assistant to take his old position.
The linebacker assistant will be Jake Rothschiller, defensive coordinator at Minot State in North Dakota, according to a report from Pete Thamel:
Sources: Florida State is expected to hire Jake Rothschiller as the asst linebackers coach. He comes from Minot State as the DC and was previously the LB coach at New Mexico. He brings experience in the 3-3-5 defense, which is the same background as FSU DC Tony White. pic.twitter.com/J35ykHfTyc
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 12, 2026
Rothschiller is likely unknown to the casual fan, but was named to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) 35 Under 35.
Mike Norvell is pulling guys out of nowhere to try and help win games in 2026
He has experience in the 3-3-5 scheme that Tony White likes to use as his base defense. Rothschiller played as a safety at New Mexico and became a graduate assistant there once his playing days were over. He eventually took over as the linebackers coach before taking over as the defensive coordinator at Minot State for the past two seasons.
I'm not sure how much of an impact Rothschiller will have, but it's good he has experience in the defense that Tony White likes to run. Ernie Sims as a great linebacker at FSU, but didn't play in a 3-3-5 in college, and the linebackers were pretty bad in the first interation of it.
Rothschiller's experience coaching linebackers is a good thing. I know most big time programs don't run this scheme and it's an assistant position, but how in the world did they find this guy all the way in North Dakota? It's impressive to make the AFCA 35 under 35 list though. Here's to hoping this hire can help the linebacker unit in 2026.