What is the first rule of holes?
If you find yourself in one, stop digging.
That piece of life advice must have missed the Florida State administration, as President Richard McCullough, Athletic Director Michael Alford and Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins decided to break out their shovels and retain head coach Mike Norvell with a meaningless statement on Sunday.
“With support from FSU leadership, Norvell has pledged to institute fundamental changes in specific areas to improve performance to meet
FSU’s championship standard.”
For the second straight year, Norvell’s program severely underwhelmed while losing in unimaginable ways and once again, instead of pulling the plug, Florida State’s administration wants to throw good money after bad.
At the end of the 2024 season, FSU gave everything Norvell could have wanted. They fired four coaches, paying millions in buyouts, and allowed Norvell to handpick his new staff, including seven-figure contracts for two new coordinators. The Seminoles also funded a brand-new roster, which boasts enough talent to beat Alabama. The result? A Florida State team that has outgained opponents in 10 of its 11 games played but still sits at 5-6 on the season.
The issue, they said, in 2024 was that the coaching staff was not good enough, and that Jordan Travis glossed over cracks in the infrastructure. With new blood on the sidelines, the Seminoles could turn themselves around quickly. Except that in 2024, FSU’s defense allowed 26 touchdowns in ACC play, and in 2025, they allowed 24.
Maybe it was not the lieutenants but the general?
Now, according to multiple sources and the Florida State statement, Norvell will make sweeping changes across personnel and recruiting because, of course, this is general manager Derrick Yray’s fault. Yet everyone seems to forget that this is a decent roster. Most of the first-year transfers taken from the portal this year, excluding those with prior staff connections like quarterback Tommy Castellanos or defensive end James Williams, are holding their own. Duce Robinson became the first Florida State pass catcher to go over 1,000 receiving yards this decade. Center Luke Petitibon stabilized a Florida State offensive line that was one of the worst in the country last year. Jerry Wilson has struggled at times this season, but his three interceptions are one fewer than the entire FSU defense had in 2024. The transfers brought in are not at fault for the lost season in 2025.
Another area Norvell’s program is often criticized for is his failures in high school recruiting. But the Desir brothers along the defensive line appear to be linchpins for years to come. Running back Ousmane Kromah and wide receiver Jayvan Boggs also flashed potential during their freshman season.
All this is to say that the failures this season are not because the roster is not good enough, like Florida State’s statement made it seem. The personnel department brought in good enough players to keep Florida State around an eight- or nine-win team, yet they are under .500. That is a coaching problem.
And even if the idea is that the money is being spent on the roster rather than on a buyout and new coach, Florida State’s decision to continue investing in Mike Norvell will likely result in no return on investment. If Florida State wants to take high-school recruiting seriously, those dividends are paid out at the earliest two years down the line. Does anyone think Norvell will still be the head coach in 2028? And what players will want to sign up to join a lame duck tenure?
When FSU lost to Miami, the Seminoles did not lose because the Hurricanes finished with a top-five recruiting class in 2025; they lost because Rueben Bain and Francis Mauigoa committed to Mario Cristobal in the same recruiting class three years ago. Instead, the athletic administration will be on the hook for more money and more buyouts in 2026 when a new head coach wants to bring in his own personnel staff. While FSU’s decision to keep Norvell sounds like saving money, they are merely wasting it.
Besides the practical decision to keep Norvell, the communication around the Florida State program has been a disaster. It was just over a month ago that, after an embarrassing loss to a Stanford team without a head coach, Athletic Director Michael Alford issued a statement saying a decision on head coach Mike Norvell wouldn’t come until after the Seminoles concluded the regular season. But after a confounding loss to NC State and the Seminoles falling to 5-6, the athletic director says he has seen enough and wants to keep Norvell around for another season? I have been banging the drum that Florida State needs to operate in the modern world of college football, not like they were a behemoth in the ’90s. But what message does this signal to the fan base? There has been no description of additional investment in the program, as in other programs that retain their coaches, and no explanation of how firing and hiring new personnel in the department will impact results in 2026. Everyone understands this situation is untenable, and keeping Norvell sends the message to the public that the athletic department is broke, delusional or simply incapable of making a hard decision.
Above all, though, Mike Norvell is broken. After the defeat to NC State, he admitted he does not have the answers. He could not make eye contact with the reporters who made the trek north to Raleigh. He believed he could initiate a “fast and immediate fix” and failed. After a quote like this, how can the athletic department think they can pull the wool over the fan base’s eyes:
“If I had a better answer, which I should, it would be fixed,” responded a disconsolate Norvell about his team’s struggles on the road. “We have had multiple games on the road where we are not able to make the plays in the moment. We play at home and we’re making the plays. Whatever that is, we’ve tried a variety of different things, but that was extremely frustrating.”
The school continues to make excuses and shift blame for what everyone else can see. No, the lack of success over the last two seasons is not due to Alex Atkins, Adam Fuller, Yray or any other name thrown out to take the blame — it’s all on Mike Norvell, who is not cut out for the Florida State coaching job. The team quitting against Stanford, special teams disasters and an inability to ever be ready to play are all head-coaching stats that are the main culprits in Florida State’s failures, ones that echo the same slip-ups found early in his tenure. Yet, according to the statement released today, the administration is too ignorant, ambivalent or incompetent to realize.
Instead of digging a larger hole, maybe they should pick their head up.
