A dismissal hours after another home defeat
Florida State dismissed coach Mike Norvell on Sunday, roughly half a day after the Seminoles lost at home to Clemson. The school is taking on a buyout of about $50 million, a figure among the biggest ever recorded in college football. Assistant Rick Stockstill will serve as interim head coach while Florida State looks for a permanent replacement.[S1][S2][S3][S4]
The decision followed a 36-24 defeat to Clemson on Saturday in which Florida State entered as a five-point favorite. The Seminoles are 1-5 against Power Four opponents this fall and have not beaten any of their three main rivals — Miami, Florida or Clemson — since the 2023 season. Their record stands at 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with a trip to Boston College next on the schedule.[S1]
A steep slide since the 2024 season began
Since the start of the 2024 campaign, Norvell and the Seminoles have gone 10-22. The quarterbacks he chose — DJ Uiagalelei, Tommy Castellanos and Ashton Daniels — each had problems with accuracy. Over his six-plus seasons in Tallahassee, Norvell compiled a 41-39 mark, a stretch that included surprising defeats to then-lower-division Jacksonville State in 2021 and to Memphis in 2024. In ACC play since 2020 he was 24-30.[S1]
The high point came three years ago, when Florida State won its first 13 games before being excluded from the College Football Playoff. That run, part of a 19-game winning streak stretching from the middle of the 2022 season to the ACC championship game in December 2023, earned Norvell a new contract. Since 2015 the program has gone 44-49 under Jimbo Fisher, Willie Taggart and Norvell, and it has won only five Power Four games across the past two and a half seasons.[S1]
The price of the exit and what comes next
Norvell's buyout comes to roughly $47 million, or 85% of the salary remaining on a contract that runs through the 2031 season. The deal contains offset language that would reduce the amount if he takes another job. He was due to earn $10.3 million in 2026, and buying out his assistants would lift the total well beyond $50 million. For comparison, the combined buyouts of Maryland's Mike Locksley, N.C. State's Dave Doeren and Baylor's Dave Aranda are smaller than Norvell's alone.[S1]
Florida State's vacancy is the fourth to open among Power Four schools. The department has been in flux: athletic director Michael Alford was dismissed in mid-September, and president Richard McCullough issued a statement last Tuesday acknowledging that supporters were frustrated. McCullough wrote that the school was not asking fans to disregard the results or to believe everything was fine.[S1]
