FSU head coach Mike Norvell announced he will close practices to the media as spring practice begins this week:
Statement from FSU coach Mike Norvell on decision to close spring practices (except one scrimmage) to local media. pic.twitter.com/OpAasqWDPS
— Warchant.com (@Warchant) March 17, 2025
Norvell gave extreme access to his practices in the first five years of his tenure. He didn't limit access after the 3-6 or 5-7 campaigns in 2020 and 2021. He didn't change it after the 10-3 and 13-1 campaigns in 2022 and 2023. However, I don't blame him for the decision after last season.
FSU media having access to practice won't affect the wins and losses column one iota in 2025. Honestly, it's something he should have done some time ago. Some FSU media members do a great job, and I respect them a great deal.
However, others are immature and allow their emotions to dictate how they cover the team. It was evident last year when articles got published that had no business seeing the light of day. It was evident that some of the subscription recruiting sites were in the dark in several recruitments last summer when they were "caught off guard" by "surprise" commitments.
I think that was by design by Norvell, and when the season went down south, some of those media guys let their true colors show as the de-commitments happened.
It's not like many fans pay attention to the practice videos. We're talking about way fewer than 10,000 views on most of those videos, and probably a couple thousand never watch more than 30 seconds.
It's not like we can learn anything from the videos because they were only getting access to stuff Norvell was cool with them seeing.
Also, practices are designed so that guys work on specific things, so just because a guy won or lost a rep doesn't necessarily mean anything if he's working on a skill he's trying to improve.
I'm sure some media members will have some connections who gather tidbits of information from practices, but again, it's what they want folks to know.
It's a catch-22. If Norvell grants media access and fans don't like what they see, they'll complain. Now that they won't have access to much, some will complain.
At the end of the day, it comes down to winning football games. If Mike Norvell and the team go out and win eight, nine, or 10 games, all of this will be a distant memory. If he doesn't, he's likely gone. If I were to put myself in his shoes, I'd control everything possible until the season started.