Mike Norvell’s time at Florida State feels like it’s already on borrowed time, and Miami fans would love nothing more than to be the ones to close the book.
That kind of ending has happened before. In 2019, Willie Taggart was dismissed the day after Florida State fell 27-10 at home to the Hurricanes. A similar finish would be the dream scenario for Miami heading into the Oct. 17 game at Hard Rock Stadium, but the chances of Norvell lasting that long don’t look good.
Florida State already moved on from Michael Alford, and his departure only added to the sense that the program is unraveling. Alford’s run as athletic director is described here as a failure in Tallahassee, though it ended up helping Miami in a different way: the Hurricanes got the full $20 million in College Football Playoff payout money without having to share a dime after a lawsuit led by FSU and Alford. As the source put it, “Thanks, buddy, maybe Mario Cristobal will leave some tickets at the gate for you.”
The bigger issue for Florida State is what comes next, and the schedule isn’t offering much relief. The Seminoles are widely expected to get beaten badly by Alabama this weekend, with the Crimson Tide carrying plenty of payback on their minds and FSU looking shaky on defense. Once the program is already shaking things up by moving on from its AD, the question naturally becomes whether Norvell is next.
Norvell’s record against Miami is 3-3, though the 52-10 loss in 2020 is one game he probably would prefer not to be attached to, since he missed it while dealing with COVID-19 symptoms. Still, the bigger picture is hard to ignore. The source notes that it would be nice for Norvell to stick around long enough to lose a third straight game to Miami, but that doesn’t sound likely.
Florida State’s current state stands in stark contrast to what Miami has endured in its own rough stretches. Even during the Al Golden years, the Hurricanes were not this bad, and Miami was also dealing with the fallout from the Nevin Shapiro situation and the self-imposed punishment that came with it while the NCAA sorted things out. Golden’s worst season still finished 6-7, which is four games better than Norvell’s low points at Florida State.
That gap matters, especially because Florida State has done this without sanctions or any other outside force holding it back. The source says Norvell has now failed to reach six wins in four of his six seasons, and the program has not had recruiting sanctions or significant injury issues beyond the games Jordan Travis missed late in the 2023 season.
The criticism here is blunt: Norvell is being portrayed as a coach who is simply overmatched. The 2024 Orange Bowl against Georgia is held up as the clearest example, with Florida State’s effort described as giving up once Georgia was piling up touchdowns against what was called FSU’s practice squad.
And in a strange way, the source argues, Norvell’s legacy in Miami might be more important than his own results in Tallahassee. The 2021 game, when Miami converted on fourth-and-14, is framed as the moment that jolted the Hurricanes’ leadership into action and made them realize they couldn’t keep losing to Florida State under Norvell.
That’s the twist in all of this: Norvell’s limited success at Florida State may have helped push Miami toward being better. So while Hurricanes fans may not get the chance to see him exit via a loss at Hard Rock Stadium, the source makes clear that they already got something out of his tenure.
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