FSU Football: 3 ways Mike Norvell turned this program around

1. Winning Mentality

Mediocrity is unacceptable for FSU football. Everyone understands that. Enough was enough as far as the losing seasons, and it was time to get back to winning. Mike Norvell instilled a winning mentality into the players, which transferred onto the field.

By stressing the importance of hard work, hustle, and commitment to the players, Norvell has seen a dramatic improvement, with those qualities manifesting on the field. The overall effort has been much better due to Norvell's all gas no brake approach. Complacency is the recipe for disaster. Nobody understands that more than the Seminoles after the embarrassing Jacksonville State loss. Since that loss, Norvell has been relentless in making sure the Noles don't let up on the gas.

Being able to learn from mistakes and adjust accordingly is what makes a coach stand out. Norvell always strives to improve from approaches to different players or overall creative scheme. Whether it be wearing the defense down with the RPO, playing more aggressively on special teams, or deciding to go for it early instead of kicking the field goal, his desire to win games and have fun doing so is evident.

A winning mentality includes having confidence in the team no matter the circumstances. What separates Norvell from the rest is his ability to use his creativity to adjust to unfortunate circumstances. Norvell doesn't panic when key players are out due to injury. Instead, he puts faith in the next man up and starts preparing and encouraging them from the beginning, which was seen in both the Florida game, and ACC Championship game.

The best example of this from last season was during the ACC Championship game, with the Seminoles relying on third-string true freshman, quarterback, Brock Glenn. Once Norvell sensed Glenn's struggles, he quickly made a creative adjustment by running the wildcat with Lawrance Toafili, resulting in several positive plays that eventually leading to a touchdown. That was the smartest move in the game by Norvell.

Despite the ACC Championship game being a huge struggle, Norvell's coaching was better than in any other game this season because of the adjustments and confidence in his players. If that's not a winning mentality, I don't know what is.