In an interview with Ralph Russo of The Athletic on Tuesday night ahead of ACC Media Days, Mike Norvell said that he doesn’t believe that he’s coaching for his job this season, and that “I don’t fear failure. I never have.”
Remember the first time you were tall enough to ride the big rollercoaster at the amusement park, or maybe even the first day of high school, when you started a new job, or moved to a new city. It’s scary at first, but the fear tends to evaporate the more you do something. Maybe that’s the case with Norvell and failure, because he’s had more than his fair share of them during his six years in Tallahassee.
Coming off a 5-7 season after going 2-10 in 2024, the first 10-loss season in Florida State history since 1974 under Darrell Mudra, Norvell is absolutely coaching for his job, no matter how prohibitive his $50+ million buyout may seem. He may not want to admit it, and on some level that’s understandable, but if he truly doesn’t feel that there’s pressure to deliver in 2026, either the standards at Florida State have slipped to a horrifyingly low level, or he’s a bit delusional.
No matter what he say, Mike Norvell is absolutely coaching for his job
Pardon My Take, the No. 1 sports podcast in the country, has a long-running bit about how every coach is ‘coaching for their job’ because “their job is to coach.” So, in that sense, of course, Norvell is coaching for his job. But to take the meaning of the phrase, Norvell’s job is absolutely on the line in 2026. How could it not be?
Florida State has gone 7-18 since going 13-0 in 2023. That’s flatly unacceptable, no matter how great things went during the Seminoles’ undefeated run. Florida State felt robbed of a chance to play for the national championship that year, and that clearly destabilized the entire program, but to let that moment be so destructive is a sign that the foundation was not as strong as you would have thought.
Norvell has never been a strong recruiter. The Noles have continued to struggle to land in-state talent, and though there is some recent momentum, the 2027 class ranks outside the top 50 in the country. There are reasons for that. The donor base appears to be holding back its resources, most likely to pay Norvell’s buyout, and recruits understand that he’s on unstable ground because he’s become far too familiar with failure.
Norvell went on to tell Russo, “I do fear regret… And the only thing that I could be in control of is me, the team, the guys that I get to lead on a daily basis. And so, you know, I just want to make sure that I don’t regret any of the work or the investment into these guys to help put them in the best position for what I believe we can accomplish.”
That’s a lot of coach-speak and not a lot of substance, which was probably his goal with this interview. That doesn’t make it any less frustrating for a beaten-down fanbase to hear their coach sound so blissfully unaware of the unacceptable state he has the program in.
Along with yada-yadaing the 2024 debacle, Norvell tried to put a positive spin on the 2025 campaign, saying: “’24 was a season all in itself, and then last year we showed flashes, but you lose five games by a score, and it shows the margin for victory or defeat, I mean, it’s small.”
It’s not small. It’s seven losses. That’s happened four times since Bobby Bowden took over the program in 1976, and Norvell is responsible for three of them. But hey, at least they were close losses.
He reiterated that message on Wednesday when he took the podium at ACC Media Days. "The words don't matter, it's about the action. That's our focus. You can say a lot of things, but it's still about what's going to show up." Adding, "This past season we showed glimpses of being able to play at a very high level."
On some level, Norvell has shown he understands that, no matter what he says, if he doesn't start winning games, it won't matter. But why then does he keep trying to justify another losing season as if he's making a plea to keep his job? If he doesn't feel the pressure, why does he continue to remind everyone that FSU went 0-4 in one-score games?
Maybe it's because he does. Maybe he's not so delusional as to think his seat isn't scorching hot. But then he should just say that because this 'we're closer than you think' message he's trying out is already getting old.
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