With the Mike Norvell (and Tony White) era officially over, it’s hot board season in Tallahassee.
TN originally provided a list of names we’d heard from sources or knew had strong connections to Florida State. Now that a bit more time has passed and we’ve gotten more information, we’re able to narrow things down a bit and create a couple of tiers for version 2.0 – things can and will change, but we feel confident in these tiers during this moment in time.
The biggest news between then and now is FSU’s
hiring of Jeff Purinton as the new athletic directors- more on that here.
Just a reminder that if you’d like to fight to the death about Jimbo Fisher, this article is a great place to do it so we don’t hit 1.1K comments so quickly this time around. A few regulars are already in there dueling, so join in!
Tier One: The frontrunners
Jake Dickert, Wake Forest Head Coach
November 10 Update
Dickert has consistently appeared on just about every published list you could imagine and we are confident that he is among the top choices. The complicating factor with Dickert is that many of his assistant coaches and staffers have a no-compete clause in their contracts. These aren’t a deal-breaker by any means, but it could mean a higher cost for FSU to essentially buy out the contracts of the staffers Dickert wants to bring along.
Dickert and another strong candidate, Manny Diaz, will settle up on the gridiron in the last weekend of November and if a hire hasn’t yet been made by then, it’ll be a game that FSU faithful will want to watch closely. Another interesting wrinkle? Dickert’s offensive coordinator at Washington State, Ben Arbuckle, was recently let go by Oklahoma. Arbuckle’s offense was a big boost for Dickert getting the Wake Forest job, and there could be a reunion in store wherever Dickert ends up next. -NoleThruandThru
Initial analysis
Career record: 39-25 (6 seasons)
WHY IT MAKES SENSE:
The dude can coach. He had a winning record in four seasons at Washington State — including 8-4 as essentially an FBS independent in 2024. The state of the Cougars since he left (a one-and-done season by Jimmy Rogers before he bolted to Iowa State and Kirby Moore’s 1-8 debut season this year) shows how hard it is to win at WSU in this modern era.
He then immediately improved Wake Forest’s fortunes upon his arrival in 2025. For as much praise as Dave Clawson (rightfully) gets for the job he did with the Demon Deacons, he had just one nine-plus-win season in 11 years at Wake and it took eight years to get there. Dickert went 9-4 in Year 1 and, with Wake Forest 7-1 (5-1 ACC) this season, he seems like a near-certainty that he’ll get there again in Year 2.
His team knocked off No. 14 Virginia last year, No. 16 Louisville this year and regularly gives more talented and better-funded teams all they can handle. A coach who has had success doing more with less would be a welcome change after the last few years of doing less with more under Norvell.
WHY IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE:
While he’s proven to be a good coach, his 2025 team lost 42-7 at Florida State. One could argue that result should be a disqualifier in its own right, fair or not.
Dickert has never coached at anything close to the FSU level. He played at the Division III level and his first 10 years in coaching were below the FBS level. He didn’t reach that tier until he was a safeties coach at Wyoming in 2017, where he stayed until 2019, parlayed that into Washington State, where he was promoted from defensive coordinator to interim head coach and then had the tag removed. As much as anyone on this list, the leap to a school of FSU’s caliber would be something brand new for Dickert. That’s not to say it would definitely go poorly but it would be a bit of a chance at a time where FSU can’t afford to take one.
It’s also fair to wonder if he’s a flashy enough hire to drive fundraising and interest at a time where FSU really needs both of those. It could work but again, it’s a chance. —Curt Weiler
Manny Diaz, Duke Head Coach
November 10 Update
Diaz, like Dickert, is on every list and is clearly a top candidate for the FSU role. While Diaz recently told media that he stood in front of his players and said that he “made it clear that I’m happy here” after the Norvell news came out, that’s hardly a comfort in coach speak. Diaz checks a lot of boxes for the desired qualities in the next head coach and the search committee will be paying close attention to the remainder of the Duke schedule closely, as the Blue Devils finish out with Miami, Clemson, and Dickert’s Demon Deacons. If Duke pulls the upset over the Hurricanes, Diaz’s stock may never soar higher.
Diaz overlapped with new athletic director Jeff Purinton when Diaz was a graduate student coach under Bobby Bowden and Mickey Andrews and Purinton was getting started in athletics communications administration. Perhaps my favorite aspect of a Diaz hire would be the very likely end of John Garrett’s tenure in the GM role. Garrett was on his way out of Duke before FSU swooped in and offered him a contract, and Diaz managed to keep the most talented staffers in place for the Blue Devils. -NoleThruandThru
Initial analysis
Career record: 45-26 (6 seasons)
WHY IT MAKES SENSE:
He’s got real ties to the program. Diaz is an FSU grad who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden in 1998-99 and was part of the 1999 national title staff. He’s a Miami native, which still matters for recruiting in this state, especially in South Florida. After getting fired at Miami, he went to Penn State, put together strong defenses, then took the Duke job and has actually delivered with back-to-back nine-win seasons, an outright ACC title in 2025 and a Sun Bowl win.
Defensively he’s been good for a long time as a coordinator (Miami, Penn State, and earlier stops). At 52 he’s not ancient, and he’s already coached in the ACC as both a head coach and coordinator. He is one of few coaches who has rebuilt his reputation after a rough head-coaching stop, that kind of comeback story is what people love to see. Duke’s recent success under him shows he can win in the conference, and his South Florida background gives him a natural recruiting inroad that a lot of outside candidates wouldn’t have. Plus, anyone who has watched Florida State football the past season knows how bad the defense has been. Having a defensive-minded head coach could provide a big boost there.
WHY IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE:
Diaz was not particularly well-liked in Miami by the end. The early energy and “The New Miami” stuff was big when he first got the job, but the results never fully matched the hype, and a lot of people in South Florida were happy to move on when Miami fired him after three seasons with a 21-15 record. That history doesn’t just disappear, and it raises the question of whether the same issues that showed up in Miami would show up again at a higher-pressure job.
He also just signed an extension at Duke in April which runs through the 2031 season. Buying him out won’t be cheap — which is something FSU is probably looking for when factoring in its own buyout it is paying — and he’s in a good spot right now. Recruiting at Duke has improved, but FSU needs consistent high-level classes, not just solid ones. Whether he can scale that up, hire the right offensive staff, and handle the pressure and expectations that come with this job is still an open question. Rising stock is nice, but it also means other schools could be interested, and after finding something that works at Duke he might not be in a rush to leave a stable situation for a rebuild. The last time he was a head coach at a Florida school the results were uneven, and the game has only gotten harder since then. -Tony Morris
Glenn Schumann, Georgia Defensive Coordinator
November 10 Update
Purinton also overlapped with Schumann for a decade and a half while both were at Alabama, as Schumann rose from student assistant to Kirby Smart’s right-hand man under Nick Saban while Purinton progressed from a communications staffer to Executive Deputy Athletic Director. With both having made major strides in their respective careers in Tuscaloosa, Schumann has naturally gained more attention as a leading candidate to replace Norvell.
Schumann just helped put on a coaching masterclass in Georgia’s 42-7 thumping of Ole Miss and the Dawgs’ defense is once again formidable. It would be very surprising if FSU did not interview Schumann, with the most plausible reason being timing if Schumann elected to stay with Georgia through a possible playoff run. Of all the coordinator interview possibilities, Schumann is clearly the biggest target, but he doesn’t feel as sought-after as Dickert or Diaz at this juncture.
Initial analysis
WHY IT MAKES SENSE:
Could Schumann be the next Kirby Smart? Smart spent nine seasons working under Nick Saban and as his star rose, it became clear that Smart only had eyes for the Georgia job. Once it opened, he finally made the move, bringing Schumann (who was the director of football operations for Bama after spending time as a grad assistant) along with him as the first coach he hired. Schumann is now in his 11th season at Georgia, having worked his way up from inside linebackers coach to co-defensive coordinator (alongside Dan Lanning and later Will Muschamp) and finally to the sole DC role in 2024. Could his eyes be set on a job like Florida State? The timing could be perfect to make the move. Schumann has been part of six national championship teams at Alabama and Georgia, and his time under Nick Saban and Smart has primed him for a head coaching job. He wouldn’t command a major salary but wouldn’t come cheap, either.
Under Schumann’s guidance as the sole defensive coordinator, Georgia’s defense ranked 10th in the nation in 2025 and 23rd nationally in 2024. In 2023, Georgia ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (15.6 points per game) and topped the country in third-down-conversion defense (25.7%). From 2019-2022, Georgia led the nation in combined scoring defense (13.6 points per game) and rushing defense (75.7 yards per game) while ranking second in total defense. Schumann has been an integral part of that success, and we haven’t even touched on his recruiting chops yet.
Schumann is an elite recruiter, plain and simple. He’s played a significant role in landing 13 five-star recruits and dozens of four-star prospects, the vast majority of whom were victories over other top programs in the nation. He’s beaten FSU head to head for players such as Nakobe Dean, Raylen Wilson, Daylen Everette and Channing Tindall, and he knows the recruiting rigors in states like Georgia and Florida like the back of his hand. How about as a developer? Since becoming Georgia’s inside linebackers position coach in 2016, he’s produced an incredible three Butkus Award winners (given to the nation’s best linebacker): Roquan Smith (2017), Nakobe Dean (2021), and Jalon Walker (2024).
WHY IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE:
All of the accolades above look great, right? But then … why is he still at Georgia?
Smart and Schumann are intertwined a great deal and many folks (myself included) think Smart deserves the lion’s share of credit for Georgia’s outstanding defenses in the early 2020s. It’s always a major gamble when you hire a coordinator working under a head coach who specializes on the same side of the ball. College football history is littered with coordinators who left the shadows of their bosses for head coaching positions, only to return to the shadows a few seasons later because they couldn’t hack it in the head coach’s seat. If indeed the Georgia defenses were primary products of Smart (and Lanning as co-DC), would Schumann be able to replicate those heights on his own? Schumann is only 36 years old, so what kind of staff would he be able to assemble? Moving from a situation like Georgia to a situation like FSU may not be appealing for more established assistant coaches and Schumann isn’t exactly well-traveled enough to have a big book of potential staff hires.
Another interesting caveat is how Georgia fans currently feel about Schumann. Suffice it to say, he isn’t too popular in Athens. Every program’s fanbase chooses a scapegoat on the assistant coaching staff when things aren’t going right. Schumann seems to be that guy for Dawg faithful. Have things just gotten stale? Has he become complacent? Eleven seasons coaching the same unit is an eternity in contemporary college football landscape. Would a change of scenery help, or would it be a harbinger of things to come under a first-time head coach? -NoleThruandThru
Tier Two: These names keep popping up
Rhett Lashlee, SMU Head Coach (New to the list)
November 10 Update
Lashlee is a name that has gained steam among pundits of late and he gave a non-denial response to a question about the FSU opening, leading some to speculate that he’s interested. He is a disciple of Gus Malzahn, having worked under him at Springdale High School (Arkansas), Auburn, and Arkansas State. In fact, he worked under the Gus Bus every year between 2004 and 2016 (with the exception of a one-year stint at Samford in 2011). Starting in 2017, he served as offensive coordinator at Connecticut, SMU, and Miami (under Manny Diaz) before returning to Dallas as SMU’s head coach in 2022. He has a 45-18 record for the Mustangs in four and a half seasons to date.
Lashlee has been nominated for the Broyles Award (nation’s top assistant coach) at four different schools. His two primary QBs at Miami were Tyler Van Dyke and D’Eriq King. His offenses in Coral Gables were ranked 32nd and 22nd, respectively, and his offenses at SMU have been in the top 40 every year, including 14th and 16th in 2022 and 2023, respectively. However, Lashlee’s teams are known for predictability on offense and self-inflicted issues like high penalty yardage, turnovers, and struggles on special teams. Would he leave a lucrative private institution in Texas for another job in the same conference? -NoleThruandThru
Bob Chesney, UCLA Head Coach (New to the list)
November 10 Update
Chesney still hasn’t signed a contract extension and has been critical of the fan support at UCLA. So…. you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance? Chesney has been a revelation for the Bruins in his first season, with UCLA heading into week 11 undefeated and ranked eighth in the nation (albeit against one of the easier schedules in the nation). Prior to his arrival in California, Chesney followed Curt Cignetti in Harrisonburg and compiled a 21-6 record at James Madison, including the first CFP appearance in school history last season.
I wouldn’t get my hopes up but FSU is definitely interested in Chesney and will keep trying to interview him until an extension is in place… if one comes. -NoleThruandThru
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri Head Coach (New to the list)
November 10 Update
He said he wasn’t a candidate at Florida State without even being prompted, but Drinkwitz’s name keeps coming up among national outlets, so he’s been included in this iteration of the hot board. Drink is another Gus Malzahn disciple, having worked under him and alongside Lashlee at Springdale High School (Arkansas), Auburn, and Arkansas State before a two-year stint at Boise State. Drinkwitz is familiar with Florida State from his time as NC State’s offensive coordinator from 2016-2018; the Wolfpack went 2-1 against the Seminoles with Drink running the offense. He parlayed his first season as a head coach at Appalachian State into the Mizzou head coaching role, where he has achieved sustained success since 2020.
Drinkwitz has gone 52-32 thus far in Columbia, which is a respectable mark for any head coach at a non-premier SEC program. He’s certainly elevated the program from where it was before. That said, when you dive deeper into his tenure, you’ll see that his conference record is 29-27 and his record against ranked teams is 8-22 (when opponents are ranked at the time they played), including a paltry 2-14 when playing ranked SEC teams on the road. Drinkwitz simply doesn’t win big games. Would that change if he moved into the ACC? He would be an expensive signing before even considering the staff he’d bring, and I view him as a Temu-version of James Franklin. Plus, he willingly signed John Papuchis to be on his staff, which makes me question his assistant coach evaluations. -NoleThruandThru
Tier Three: The darkhorse
Jimbo Fisher, ACCN analyst
November 10 Update
Perhaps no marriage is quite as intriguing as two old flames reconnecting in Fisher and FSU. Plenty of speculation has come from around the country, with some arguing it’s a great match while others warning that the dumpster fires will only blaze hotter if Fisher returns. We even made an article about it so folks could use the comment section to debate the pros and cons (hint hint).
Real talk: Jimbo and his camp are clearly putting out a lot of information to national and local sources that make it seem like he’s a much bigger contender than he likely is. Jimbo is the only candidate not currently coaching, so he has far more time on his hands to make the case to gain his old job back. This is just my opinion, but I would advise folks not to take the bait that Jimbo is a done deal. None of the sources we’ve connected with are convinced that FSU and the search committee have done anything more than normal due diligence on Fisher, just like they’re doing with all the other candidates. If FSU starts getting rejected by others, the talk for a Fisher reunion may intensify. -NoleThruandThru
Initial analysis
Career record: 128-48 (14 seasons)
WHY IT MAKES SENSE:
For at least a portion of the FSU fanbase, Fisher is the clear favorite for the job now that Norvell is gone. It’s not entirely surprising. He’s the last guy to win a national title in Tallahassee, went 83-23, won three straight ACC titles, the 2013 national championship and led the Seminoles to a 29-game winning streak. Those years were when FSU was a blue-blood and a real powerhouse year after year had older fans reminiscing to the Bobby Bowden era. A lot of people who checked out over the last few seasons could come back for that version of the program.
He also recruited at a level FSU hasn’t touched since he left. Even his weaker full classes at FSU and Texas A&M ranked right around where the Seminoles’ best classes have been in the years after. He knows Florida, he knows the program and recent reporting says he’s actively making it known he wants the job back. If the goal is getting boosters and alumni who have dismissed the team after the past few seasons to re-engage and get excited about FSU football again, Fisher is the guy who moves that needle the fastest.
The money piece is practical too, which is key for Florida State. Texas A&M is still paying him roughly $7.2 million a year through 2031 from that massive buyout. He’s not starting from zero financially, which could make a lower salary more realistic and free up money for the roster and staff. At 61, he’s been out of coaching for three seasons but has stayed around the game. For a fan base that has been waiting for something that feels like a real reset, this is the name that generates the most immediate buy-in.
WHY IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE:
The exit was a complete and utter mess. He left in 2017 after a 5-6 season with a lot of hard feelings still floating around. Some fans and boosters never really got over how it ended and the way it went down. Leaving midseason for Texas A&M after years of tension still resonates with people. At A&M, he had elite resources and recruiting classes and still only went 45-25 with one top-15 finish and no SEC title game appearance before getting fired in 2023. That’s a lot of money and a lot of talent for a résumé that mostly says “pretty good, not great.”
The bigger issue is how much the sport has changed since he last coached. He was fired in November 2023. Since then, the transfer portal has turned into a year-round free agency, the world of NIL and revunue sharing have gotten more sophisticated (and more expensive) and the rules around roster construction keep shifting under everyone’s feet. The version of college football he was operating in even at the end of his A&M tenure already looks dated compared to what programs are dealing with now. Three years away from the headset is a long time in a game that doesn’t sit still. Some of the assistants who helped him win at FSU have coached for three different schools since he left Tallahassee. Building a staff that actually wants to come to the current version of FSU and can navigate the portal and NIL the way the top programs do is not automatic just because he led a program well a decade ago. Especially with how impatient the FSU fanbase will be.
There’s also the practical side of trying to get the offense and quarterback development back to a high level. The last time he developed to an elite level was Jameis Winston. The game has sped up and the talent evaluation has changed. Nostalgia is powerful, sure, but so is the memory of how things looked when he left and the reality of how much the landscape has moved since 2023. Whether it’s the right move right now is a different conversation, and the last time he was here the program was already trending the wrong way by the end. It’s like my dad used to say, “Just because it worked once doesn’t mean it’s gonna work again.” -Tony Morris
