There was arguably no coach in college football who entered the 2026 season on the hot seat more than Mike Norvell at Florida State. Two weeks in, that seat has only gotten hotter. After beating New Mexico State 34-17 in Week 1, a team the Seminoles were favored to beat by more than 30 points, Florida State proceeded to lose to SMU 27-24 just over a week later.
The Seminoles looked bad in both games, and by the end of it all, "Fire Norvell" chants were echoing through Tallahassee. Then on Monday, the university took its first major step, firing athletic director Michael Alford. That decision has since raised questions about whether Norvell could be next as FSU looks to overhaul the program from the top down.
But according to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, that might not be the case. "I know that it signals that the coach is going to get fired when the AD gets fired and when the coach is going into this kind of year. And all I can do is convey what I've heard the university president and the board chair tell other people at the university, which is that they really like the coach and don't necessarily want to pay $50 million to fire the coach," Dellenger said.
"Obviously, when you get beat 50-7 by Alabama, and if you get trashed at home by Virginia, I'm assuming that changes, but it's been interesting the last week or so — it was obvious for a while that the administrative change was going to happen. What isn't as obvious, at least to the people making the decision, like the president and the board chair and some of the board members, is that the coach was going to be fired. I know from the outside it seems like that has to happen, but they're conveying something different." More news: Alabama Fans Calling for Crimson Tide Assistant to Replace HC Kalen DeBoer Safe to say this is the last thing Seminoles fans want to hear right now.
Norvell took this program to extreme heights in 2023, going 13-0 in the regular season, winning the ACC Championship, and becoming the first Power Five school ever to go undefeated and not make the College Football Playoff. Norvell won the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award and ACC Coach of the Year honors that season. Florida State then endured one of the biggest collapses in college football history, falling to 2-10 the following year and then going 5-7 last season.
Winning just seven games across two seasons is enough to get any coach fired, regardless of past success. So when you follow that up by losing to SMU and going through a close game against New Mexico State, you're not doing yourself any favors. More news: Urban Meyer Sounds the Alarm on Ohio State After Texas Loss More news: Ole Miss AD Says Lane Kiffin Worked Behind the Scenes to ‘Hurt’ the Program The issue is that if Florida State were to fire Norvell right now, he'd be owed around $45.6 million.
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