While he wasn't ready to say who the FSU Seminoles will hire as their next head coach, new athletics director Jeff Purinton did explain what he is looking for in a candidate at his introductory press conference on Tuesday.
“To me, the most important thing is the product that you see on the field,” Purinton said. “How do they play the game? Are they motivated? Do they make mistakes? Do they play pretty clean football? To me, that matters. And Coach Bowden and Coach Saban, some of the most successful to do it, you watch their teams, they play the game the right way. And they play hard all the time.
“And recruiting of course ties into that. You need to look at recruiting history, but not just recruiting rankings where you brought in this many five-stars
and you’re top 10 in the country. Sometimes the rankings are wrong and you got a two-star that turns out to be the starting quarterback and makes a difference on your team, I mean you look at Ole Miss, Trinidad Chambliss, coming from a smaller school. So, I think it’s that identification of talent that’s important. And then how they play the game and how they motivate their team as well.”
FSU president Richard McCullough spoke before Purinton and acknowledged that he was tired after the search, which he said they wrapped up in four days, but he knows the work is not done and added that they have already started working on hiring a football coach.
It has been widely reported that FSU would prefer to hire a sitting head coach, but Purinton made it clear they will consider other candidates.
"We're going to explore every candidate and hire the best candidate for Florida State," he explained.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: FSU's Jeff Purinton explains key qualities for head football coach
