Buster Faulkner is going to get his shot as a head coach in college football. The question is where, and whether the first big opening that comes along is the right one.
Right now, the buzz has him tied to Florida State, a job that figures to be open in a few weeks if Mike Norvell is eventually fired. On paper, it makes sense why people are talking.
Faulkner is 45, he’s running the best offense in the country, and his rise has made him one of the names to watch for a first head-coaching opportunity. For Florida fans, there’s also the obvious sting: losing a top offensive mind to a rival would be another frustrating twist in the Sunshine State rivalry.
But Faulkner should be careful before jumping into that situation.
He’s likely headed for a head coaching job as soon as the 2027 season, and Florida isn’t going to block him from taking that next step. The Gators also aren’t going to meet the kind of money he could land on his first deal, which is expected to be in the $7-8 million range. Jon Sumrall, who empowers his staff, would support Faulkner moving on when the time is right.
The issue is not the idea of Florida State as a brand. The Seminoles have a huge place in college football history, with multiple national titles, multiple Heisman Trophy winners, and that remarkable 14-year run of top-5 finishes from 1987 to 2000.
That’s the standard. The problem is that this is not that Florida State program.
What exists now in Tallahassee is a rebuild that looks far deeper than a simple coaching change. The athletic director is gone, Norvell has been allowed to drag the program down with poor coaching hires, bad recruiting, and what the source describes as a broader lack of aptitude in running the football operation. Fundraising is down, the program is trying to stay relevant as conference realignment shifts again, and there’s no clear leadership around FSU football.
That’s a brutal place for any coach to walk into, especially one taking over for the first time.
Florida State’s patience with Norvell has already stretched far beyond the point of producing real progress, and the buyout alone - between $40-50 million - only adds to the mess. That money has to come from boosters who are already fed up with pouring resources into a program that keeps coming up short. The result is a job that still carries prestige, but also carries a mountain of instability.
Yes, a fast turnaround is possible in modern college football, with NIL and the transfer portal giving programs a chance to rebuild quickly. But that only works when the infrastructure is solid. The source makes the point plainly: it isn’t solid at Florida State.
That’s why this feels like the wrong move for Faulkner right now. If this were 10 years ago, the decision might have been easy. Today, it looks like a first-time head coach would be walking into a much harder job than the name on the door suggests.
In Other News...
Former Florida QB Pledge Just Raised The Stakes For Mizzou Game
Austin Simmons path has already taken him from one SEC sideline to another, and now it brings a little extra intrigue to Missouris matchup with Florida this weekend. Simmons initially pledged to the Gators in 2023 as a class of 2025 prospect, then reclassified to 2023 and flipped to Ole Miss before eventually transferring to Missouri, where he has emerged as the Tigers starting quarterback.
For Florida, the connection is hard to miss. A player who once looked headed to Gainesville will be lining up against the Gators instead, adding a familiar face to a conference game that already carries plenty of weight. With Simmons now running Missouris offense, the meeting has a little more personal history attached to it than most late-season SEC showdowns. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Sumrall Already Has Georgia Fans Arguing Over Florida Practice Talk
Jon Sumralls Florida practices are already drawing attention well before the Gators and Georgia line up for their next meeting, and this time the buzz has more to do with terminology than tactics. Sumrall has been using Bloody Tuesday to describe the kind of intense, physical work he wants on the practice field, a label meant to signal how demanding those sessions are.
Some Georgia fans and media quickly tried to frame the phrase as a Kirby Smart hand-me-down, but the history stretches far beyond that rivalry. The wording has been around for years, including at Florida under Urban Meyer and even earlier with Penn State coach Hugo Bezdek in the 1920s, which only adds another layer to a matchup already loaded with enough history and side chatter to keep both fan bases engaged as the game gets closer. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas New Offensive Identity Puts Pressure On Buster Faulkner
Floridas offense has started to look like something sturdier and more convincing than the unit that spent earlier stretches searching for an identity, and the recent 52-28 win over Ole Miss only reinforced that shift. Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner pointed to the rushing game as the clearest sign of progress, with Jadan Baugh continuing to set the tone and Duke Clark emerging as another dependable option in the backfield.
Baugh leads the SEC in rushing yards and touchdowns, but the bigger takeaway for Florida is how the ground game has changed the way defenses have to play the Gators. Faulkner said the offense is showing it can adapt and impose its will, and that kind of flexibility will matter again as Florida turns its attention to Missouri, where the challenge is not just carrying over the same production but proving this new identity can hold up week after week. [Read more 🡒]