Florida State’s coaching search has reopened a familiar door, and Deion Sanders’ name is already hovering around it again.
That comes with the territory in Tallahassee. The Seminoles fired Mike Norvell on Sunday, one day after a 36-24 home loss to Clemson dropped them to 3-5. Norvell finished 41-39 at Florida State, and the school now owes a buyout of roughly $47 million.
The move closes a sharp and messy chapter for a coach who once had the program riding high. Norvell guided Florida State to a 13-0 ACC championship season in 2023, only to see the Seminoles miss the College Football Playoff. Since the start of the 2024 season, Florida State has gone 10-22.
Former Florida State quarterback and longtime Middle Tennessee coach Rick Stockstill will handle the final four regular-season games. Meanwhile, Parker & Associates is running the search for both a new head coach and a new athletic director.
And with Florida State, every major opening seems to pull Sanders back into the conversation.
That connection goes back to the school’s last coaching search in 2019, when Sanders spoke with Florida State officials about the job. There is no verified reporting tying him to this search right now, but the earlier episode explains why the speculation keeps resurfacing.
Florida State fired Willie Taggart on Nov. 3, 2019, after just 21 games. Days later, NFL Network reported Sanders had become a candidate.
Sanders, then an NFL Network analyst, addressed it on his Sunday night show on Nov. 10, 2019.
“I have not spoken to anyone from Florida State regarding this,” Sanders said. “But let me assure you, I am 100 percent, 100 percent, desiring to coach at the next level and I will.”
Florida State hired Norvell on Dec. 8, 2019.
Then, in an October 2020 Sports Illustrated report, the rest of that search came into focus. The story said Sanders had spoken with officials at his alma mater about the opening and also interviewed for the Arkansas job in that same cycle.
Sanders later talked about that period himself. On The Dan Le Batard Show in February 2022, he said he interviewed for three Power Five jobs and believed he should have gotten them.
His Florida State ties run far deeper than a coaching rumor. Sanders played for the Seminoles from 1985 to 1988, earned All-America honors in 1987 and 1988, and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back as a senior.
He also played baseball and ran track at Florida State. The school retired his No. 2 jersey in 1995, and he entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
By the time that SI report ran, Sanders had already moved into coaching. Jackson State hired him on Sept. 21, 2020, less than three weeks earlier. He went 27-6 there and won SWAC championships in 2021 and 2022.
That run also produced a painful hit for Florida State. Travis Hunter, the No. 1 overall recruit, flipped his commitment from Norvell’s Florida State to Jackson State on Dec. 15, 2021, then followed Sanders to Colorado and won the Heisman Trophy in 2024.
Colorado hired Sanders on Dec. 3, 2022.
The Buffaloes went 4-8 in his first season, 9-4 with an Alamo Bowl trip in 2024, and 3-9 last season. They are 3-5 this fall.
Sanders has not publicly addressed Florida State’s opening since Norvell was dismissed.
Florida State president Richard McCullough, though, was clear about why the school made the change. Speaking Sunday evening, he said the decision was driven by the direction of the program.
“I’m just not seeing that trajectory,” McCullough said at an evening news conference.
He also framed the move as the start of something new.
“Today is about a new beginning for Florida State,” McCullough said.
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