It has been three weeks since Mike Norvell fired Alex Atkins, and he's already found his replacement. We relayed the news on Saturday night that UCF head coach Gus Malzahn will resign and become the new FSU offensive coordinator.
Malzahn's name wasn't among those that most subscription sites were pushing. The most popular name was Brennan Marion, someone with ties to Mike Norvell.
However, it makes sense that Mike Norvell would go with a guy he likely trusts more than anyone now that his future at FSU is on the line. Malzhan will take over the play-calling duties and has done it at a high level at multiple stops. We'll talk more about it later, but he was the offensive coordinator at Auburn when they won their national title with Cam Newton at QB. He was the head coach at Auburn when FSU defeated the Tigers for the 2013 National Title.
That Auburn offense gave a stout FSU offense fits for most of that night.
Mike Norvell learned from Malzahn in his first role as a graduate assistant when Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Tulsa. I like the hire and will discuss ways he'll help improve the FSU offense immediately.
Proven Experience
Former FSU great Peter Boulware spoke on the coaching hire recently and believed FSU should get coordinators with proven experience.
I sure hope that @FSUFootball picks two veteran proven coordinators. Now is not the time to try an unproven up and comer. @Warchant
— Peter Boulware (@pboulware) November 17, 2024
Malzahn has been an offensive coordinator at Arkansas, Tulsa, and Auburn. He has been a head coach at Arkansas State, Auburn, and UCF, compiling a 105-62 career record in college.
Mike Norvell should feel comfortable handing over the offensive reigns to a guy like Malzahn. We'll discuss how successful his offenses have been, but their relationship and familiarity should work well together.
This will free up Mike Norvell to concentrate on important aspects of the program, like recruiting and taking more of a CEO approach. Why is that important?
It's easier for Norvell to hold folks accountable because he'll have more time to focus on those things instead of trying to game-plan for teams and player development. The credibility Malzahn brings should make it easier for players and staff to buy in as well.
Potential Players
FSU isn't without talent overall, but certain areas have huge holes to fill and must be filled immediately.
The transfer portal, and giveth and taketh away, but this could be an opportunity for FSU to fill holes quickly. FSU must bring in quality offensive linemen, defensive linemen, and at least one wide receiver.
Offensive linemen are at the top of the list.
They might be in the market for a quarterback, depending on how Mike Norvell evaluates the performance of Luke Kromenhoek over the past couple of weeks.
We'll talk more about this shortly, but Malzahn has ties to a number of players he's coached at UCF or was recruiting to UCF.
He knows what it's supposed to look like, and his track record as an offensive guy should attract some quality guys who will help FSU immediately.
There may be some UCF commits at key positions who may look to follow him to a bigger stage than the Big 12. We'll have a piece on that later.
Run Game/Scoring/Explosiveness
Gus Malzahn has had very good offenses everywhere he's been. However, I'll stick with UCF since they are the most recent.
UCF averaged 31.9, 32.9, 31.3, and 30.4 points since 2021. His offenses always find ways to run the ball, averaging well over five yards per rush each year.
They are explosive, averaging 6.04, 6.17, 7.07, and 6.50 yards per play. They run a lot of plays, and only 7.5 percent of their plays get tackled for a loss in 2022, 8.2 in 2023, and 7.9 in 2024
If we compare that to what FSU has done over the last three years? FSU had 8.5 percent of its plays go for a loss in 2022, 8.1 in 2023, and 12.9 percent in 2024.
UCF has been excellent in the red zone under Malzahn. They scored touchdowns 71 percent of the time in 2024, 60 percent in 2023, 62 percent in 2022, and 72 percent in 2021.
FSU scored touchdowns 69.70 percent of the time in 2022, 60 percent of the time in 2023, and 54 percent of the time in 2024.
Recruiting
Recruiting is the one area that's a question mark for me regarding Gus Malzahn. He turned 59 years old in October, and I'm not sure what his motivation is like these days.
Auburn had multiple top-10 recruiting classes while he was head coach. UCF isn't anywhere near Auburn in terms of resources and the ability to recruit top players.
However, Malzahn always had UCF in the top 40, usually taking smaller high school classes and using the transfer portal to fill in the gaps and compete at a higher level.
Malzahn knows what it's like to recruit at an elite level and should provide some direction to Norvell in that department. Coordinators don't need to be ace recruiters, but they need to close on targets, and I think that's something Malzahn can likely do if he's motivated.
Will Mike Norvell hold him accountable? That'll be weird, admittedly, considering Malzahn gave him his start. However, Norvell's future at FSU is on the line.
Attract Good O-Line Coach and Others
This hire is likely the most important aspect. Whoever FSU hires as the offensive line coach will have a massive overhaul on his hands, and Gus Malzahn will likely have a large role in this hire.
As mentioned, Malzahn has had a successful running game at every stop he's coached and likely has a large Rolodex of potential offensive line coaches.
Whoever that coach is may have ties to some quality offensive linemen who can enter the portal and come to FSU to help improve things immediately.
FSU must hire a wide receiver coach and may have to hire others if they decide to move on from the coaches currently on the staff. Malzhan has had productive wide receivers at nearly every stop. He'll likely have input on that hire as well.
The hope is Malzahn and Mike Norvell get coaches who can recruit at a high level and assist in player development. We'll likely find out who is retained or let go in the next week or so. The good news is Malzahn has a large coaching tree to pull from that could help flip things quickly.
Parting Thoughts
As you can see, there are a lot of positives with Malzahn when it comes to getting things turned around quickly.
He knows how to coach an offense and what to look for to make his offensives effective.
He has an extensive coaching tree that should attract some quality coaching hires. Malzahn should recruit at a competent level, at the very least.
The biggest thing is his experience. I think he'll help Mike Norvell re-evaluate how they recruit. I know some folks will say why he didn't recruit at an elite level at UCF, but it's UCF. FSU is easily in a different tier and hardly ever battled UCF for recruits.
He's coached in some massive games and beat Nick Saban when Bama was Bama. I can see why Mike Norvell believes he'll get things turned around quickly, unlike if had hired someone like Brennan Marion.
Sure, Marion could probably recruit, but he doesn't have the Power 5 experience or coaching tree to draw from to help turn it around as fast as it needs to. It should make for an interesting offseason.