The FSU Seminoles wrapped up their search for a new athletic director on Monday, hiring Jeff Purinton, who is an FSU graduate. While he spent the past 18 months working at Learfield, he spent the vast majority of his career in various roles with the Arkansas State Red Wolves, Alabama Crimson Tide, and FSU.
He developed extensive connections in those 25 years, and he has worked with two of the potential candidates to be FSU's next head coach. Purinton started his career in collegiate athletics with FSU in 1994 as an undergraduate student. Another young staffer working with Bobby Bowden's program was Duke Blue Devils head coach Manny Diaz, who started working with the Seminoles in 1998 as a graduate assistant.
While Purinton stayed at FSU until
2006, Diaz left after the 1999 season to become a graduate assistant with the NC State Wolfpack. The Seminoles would reportedly prefer to hire a sitting head coach, and Diaz has emerged as one of the top options.
He is in his third season leading the Blue Devils, with them winning nine games in each of his first two seasons and the ACC championship in 2025. Despite losing star quarterback Darian Mensah to the Miami Hurricanes this offseason, Duke is 5-2 to start the year and is once again one of the better teams in the ACC.
If FSU does elect to go after a coordinator, one of the top options appears to be Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. Purinton worked with Schumann at Alabama from 2008-15, giving him even more history with him.
Purinton was hired as Alabama's associate athletic director of communications in 2007, with Schumann joining the program as a student assistant, a position he held until he became a graduate assistant with the Crimson Tide in 2011. He was then promoted to director of player development/associate director of player personnel in 2014, a role he held until he joined Kirby Smart's coaching staff at Georgia in 2016.
The two worked together that entire time, with Purinton also climbing the ranks at Alabama before leaving in 2022 to become the athletic director at Arkansas State.
If FSU does elect to go with a coordinator instead of a head coach, Schumann would check several boxes. He has worked at two of the best programs in college football and is an elite recruiter.
Follow us @FSUWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida State news, notes, and opinions.
This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: How will FSU hiring Jeff Purinton affect its head coach search?
