Danny Kanell shares his top choices for Florida State’s next head coach
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The ongoing head coaching search at Florida State has quickly become one of the most captivating storylines of the early stages of the 2026 college football coaching carousel, and for good reason.
FSU is undoubtedly the biggest head coaching opening currently available in the sport, and several potential candidates have already been linked to Tallahassee by prominent analysts and insiders.
Former Seminoles quarterback and current CBS Sports analyst Danny Kanell has been closely following the ongoing search at Florida State. He joined The Next Round podcast on Wednesday to discuss which realistic candidates are at the top of his list to become the next head coach at his alma mater.
“You’ve got Jake Dickert at Wake Forest, who’s been phenomenal. He won at Washington State… And then Manny Diaz at Duke,” Kanell said. “Manny Diaz was at Florida State when I was there. He was a graduate from there. I think that he’s one of the best minds out there, one of the best eyes for talent.”
RELATED: Interested in DraftKings Predictions? Sign up with this DraftKings Predictions promo code first.
There’s no denying that both Dickert and Diaz have done an impressive job elevating their current programs, and either one would represent a significant upgrade for the Seminoles over Mike Norvell. Both have extensive experience coaching at the Power Four level and have demonstrated an ability to find success at schools with a fraction of the resources that would be available to them at Florida State.
Both coaches figure to be heavily involved in the coaching search in Tallahassee, and it will be interesting to see whether or not one of them ultimately lands the job when everything is said and done.
