Florida State’s next coaching decision may come down to more than names and résumés. It may come down to dollars, and that’s where Manny Diaz starts to make real sense.
Mike Norvell is still in place for now, but Yahoo Sports reporter Ross Dellenger reported that Florida State’s administration may not want to spend $50 million to move on from a coach they still seem to like. Even so, after the firing of athletic director Michael Alford, the pressure around Norvell is obvious. If the Seminoles lose at Alabama in Week 3, a change could come as soon as Saturday night or Sunday.
If that happens, Florida State will be staring at a clean slate in the two most important jobs in the athletic department. And in that scenario, Diaz deserves a hard look - not Jimbo Fisher.
Diaz was at Florida State in 1998-99 as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden after graduating from FSU. He didn’t play for Bowden, but he is an alum, and it’s easy to see why he would be interested if the job opened in Tallahassee.
His first run as Miami’s head coach left plenty of people unconvinced, and that history could understandably make both fans and decision-makers hesitant. But Diaz, now 52, has been far better in his second act.
His 2025 ACC Title, despite five losses and a missed College Football Playoff berth, says plenty. So does the work he’s doing at Duke. Wednesday’s Athletic report on FBS roster budgets adds another layer to the case.
The numbers paint a clear picture: Florida State is spending the fourth-most in the ACC on its 2026 roster. The Athletic used multiple estimates to rank all 68 FBS programs by the average of those figures, and Florida State’s range came in at $23-30 million. That puts the Seminoles No. 4 in the league and a little above the conference average.
At the top of the ACC sits Miami, alone in a different financial tier at $44-50 million. At the other end is Boston College, which checks in between $8 million and $13 million.
For Florida State, the bigger issue is what that spending is producing. The Seminoles are investing at a level that should matter, but it’s difficult to picture them finishing fourth in the conference standings. That’s where the gap between cost and results becomes impossible to ignore.
Diaz, by contrast, is squeezing everything he can out of a far smaller budget. Duke’s roster is the second-cheapest in the ACC at $12-15 million.
That figure is likely affected by the late loss of Darian Mensah and Cooper Barkate, who got top dollar from the Hurricanes. Still, the Blue Devils are 2-0 after a 31-27 road win over Illinois, a team whose roster is estimated at $19-23 million, with Nate Sheppard leading the way.
Even with Mensah and Barkate last season, Duke probably never climbed above $20 million in roster spending. And yet the program still won a conference championship.
That’s the point in the NIL and revenue-sharing era: the best coaches don’t just recruit talent, they create surplus value. Diaz has done that. He’s paired that with an eye for bargains, which is part of why Florida State pulled general manager John Garrett from Durham this offseason.
If Norvell can’t survive, maybe the Seminoles should think bigger than just hiring a coach. Maybe they should look at the whole operation Duke has built, add a few million to it, and let Diaz keep doing what he’s already proven he can do: win above the budget.
He may not be Florida State’s obvious first choice. But given the financial realities the school could face in both the coaching search and the roster build that follows, Diaz looks like a strong option. At the very least, he looks like a clear upgrade over Norvell.
In Other News...
Mike Norvells Future Just Got More Uncomfortable For Florida State Fans
The scrutiny around a college football coach can turn every small detail into a talking point, and Mike Norvell is living through that familiar Florida State pressure again. With questions about his future already hanging over the program, even something as ordinary as a box truck at his residence has become part of the conversation, a reminder of how quickly uncertainty around a coach can spill beyond the field and into his personal life.
Norvells situation fits a pattern anyone around the sport recognizes, from the way departures have been tracked in real time before to the constant media attention that follows a coach when the seat gets warm. And it is not limited to football, either, with basketball coaches facing the same kind of public watchfulness when speculation starts to build, leaving the focus less on what is known than on what might happen next. [Read more 🡒]
Florida States Upset Shot May Depend On Two Quiet Playmakers
Florida States offense has plenty of familiar names, but the Seminoles may be carrying a little extra upside in two receivers who have not made much noise yet this season. Duce Robinson, an All-American and All-ACC performer, has five catches for 75 yards, while Micahi Danzy has six grabs for 69 yards, and together they have yet to find the end zone. For a team looking to shake up Alabama, getting more out of those two could be part of the answer.
Mike Norvell has not needed to force the issue on every playmaker so far, but the path to an upset may ask for a different approach. Robinson brings the kind of pedigree that can change a game, and Danzy has been steady enough to suggest there is more to tap into. If Florida State is going to threaten the Crimson Tide, its attack may need to lean harder on the receivers who have been waiting for a bigger role. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State's Linebacker Depth Is About To Face Its Biggest Test
Florida States linebacker room is about to be tested in a real way, with Blake Nichelson expected to miss an extended stretch because of injury. It is a notable development for a group that coach Ernie Sims said he believes has enough depth to absorb the loss, even if the challenge now shifts from theory to the field.
The timing adds a little more weight to the situation, with the Seminoles set to face Central Arkansas on Sept. 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET during Family Weekend and the 2026 Hall of Fame class induction. Around the program, there has already been plenty of activity, from Florida State womens golf taking fifth at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup to the Splatoon esports team placing ninth in Sandusky, Ohio, but the linebackers will be one of the more closely watched spots as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]