What’s wrong with Florida State? Insider offers damning look at Mike Norvell’s program
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A 20-13 loss to Stanford on Oct. 18 moved Florida State head coach Mike Norvell closer to the firing line. The defeat was FSU’s fourth consecutive loss after a 3-0 start.
For the third time in Norvell’s tenure, FSU is trying to end a 4-game losing streak. From 1976 to 2019 (the final year before Norvell), the Seminoles never lost 4 straight games.
So, what’s wrong? That’s the question on the minds of everyone trying to understand how the Seminoles could seemingly rebound from last year’s disaster, shock Alabama, and then fall right back into mediocrity.
According to a piece from The Athletic’s Matt Baker, Norvell’s messaging is no longer resonating with the locker room. With each loss, confidence that Norvell is the answer dissipates.
Baker spoke to several former Florida State players and staffers — some of them named, some of them anonymous — to get a peek behind the curtain. That reporting included one particularly damning quote from former FSU national champion Karlos Williams.
“I feel like we’re the place where people get paid,” Williams told The Athletic. “I don’t see it. I don’t see the product of what we’re paying.”
An anonymous source said to be involved with Florida State’s roster management pointed to recruits who were added to the team for a scheme FSU no longer runs. A former player questioned why Norvell, in Year 6 of his tenure, regularly misses out on top high school prospects.
Across 6 signing classes, Norvell has signed just 10 players ranked in the national top 100 of their respective cycles.
Under Dan Mullen and Billy Napier, the Florida Gators signed 23 such players. Mullen was fired for, in part, not doing enough in the recruiting world. Napier was fired earlier this month for not doing more with what he did recruit.
Norvell is in danger of joining both as an ex-coach at flagship schools in The Sunshine State. FSU athletic director Michael Alford said a comprehensive program review will come at the end of the season. Last week, Norvell promised FSU would “get it right.”
The Seminoles will look to end the skid against Wake Forest on Nov. 1. They travel to Clemson on Nov. 8
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
