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Florida State’s Mike Norvell has been a hot name on Texas A&M coaching boards following the firing of Jimbo Fisher. The Seminoles have already lived this situation out six years ago when their national championship winning head coach bolted for College Station.
It doesn’t seem like a repeat scenario is in the cards this time around.
Norvell shut down the media speculation in a recent press conference. And why wouldn’t he?
He’s got the Seminoles sitting at 10-0 and positioned inside the Top 5. FSU has already booked its ticket to the ACC Championship Game, and it’s looking for its first national title since 2013-14.
That ’13 squad went 14-0 led by Fisher (or was it Jameis Winston?), but things unfortunately deteriorated in Tallahassee. After starting the season at No. 1 in the polls the following year, the Seminoles went 13-0 and made the inaugural College Football Playoff.
They’d win 10 games in the next two seasons before finishing 7-6 in Jimbo Fisher’s final campaign.
Many around the program believe he jumped ship at the first sign of adversity, leaving the next coach to clean up the mess.
Willie Taggert wasn’t up to the task, getting fired after two losing seasons. Norvell’s tenure started similarly, but he’s now built the program into a contender.
That success has his name on coaching boards, but he’s not intending to leave the Seminoles high and dry.
Florida State Head Coach Mike Norvell appeared on a short list of candidates to replace Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M. He addressed those coaching rumors at today’s press conference #FSU @Coach_Norvell @FSUFootball
Full Interview 🎥: https://t.co/Js5YbDQBp5 pic.twitter.com/olGS3zmhNg
— Warchant.com (@Warchant) November 13, 2023
A number of FSU fans took a welcomed victory lap after seeing how everything’s unfolded since Jimbo’s departure.
“Jimbo jumped ship when the house was on fire (mostly due to him). The program that Mike is building is ascending with a Top 5 recruiting class for ’24. Why leave?”
“Mike has so much more character and class than Jimbo.”
“He already cleaned up one Jimbo Fisher mess and is now reaping the rewards of his hard work. Why would he do it all over again at Texas A&M?”
As for Fisher, the move might not have worked out for him on the field, but his bank account won’t be suffering. His $76 million buyout will continue to make him one of the nation’s highest paid coaches despite the fact that he won’t actually be on the sidelines… at least in College Station.
The risk certainly didn’t pay off for the Aggies, who are paying a small fortune to get rid of the dead weight. Texas A&M won’t get a second chance at swiping the right FSU coach in Norvell, so they’ll have to look elsewhere for their next hire.