Mike Norvell is heading into a make-or-break season at Florida State. And there’s no sugarcoating it – he’s on a hot seat. The Seminoles faced a terrible nightmare in 2024, going 2-10 and crashing to the bottom of the ACC in their worst campaign since joining the conference. This fall from grace had him shaking things up by adding a new OC and DC and making a huge roster haul. But will it be enough to save his job? 

To add to the misery of Mike Norvell, this year’s schedule isn’t doing him any favor. RJ Young didn’t mince words in his latest talk on FSU on The Number One College Football Show on February 16. “Ain’t nobody underperformed like the d–n Florida State underperformed last year,” he fired. “That was a rough fall and the only reason that I’m entertaining this is because Florida State got a d–n hard schedule.” And he’s right. FSU opens its season with a matchup against Kalen DeBoer’s Alabama at Doak Campbell Stadium. 

In addition to a challenging season opener against the Crimson Tide, the Seminoles will also have to take on Miami, Clemson, and Florida with two tricky road games against NC State and Stanford. If Norvell isn’t able to get things moving in the right direction fast, this season is locked in for another ugly scenario. He would’ve been fired, but it’s his $64M buyout that’s keeping him at Florida State.

“Mike Norvell who didn’t get fired because it would have cost a whole lot of money to get him up off of there but nobody’s having no fun in Tallahassee last year,” Young pointed out. “Mike Norvell is in the same Pitman seat which is to say he’s willing to hire the guy that they know will replace him if he messes this up in Guz Malzahn, his offensive coordinator.” 

With his job on the line, Norvell’s making huge changes beginning with stepping back from play-calling duties for the first time in his career to focus on the bigger picture. He brought in Guz Malzahn as the new OC, who could potentially take over his role, and Tony White to take over the defense. In addition, he’s also made a huge roster transformation and his optimism is high.

Mike Norvell is confident in his 2025 lineup

One of the reasons why Florida State suffered last season is because most of the transfer players failed to make an impact. The Seminoles lacked depth and they couldn’t recover. Following this heartbreak, Mike Norvell agreed to a restructured contract that would pay him $10 million in 2025 in the light of the Vision of Excellence campaign. Also to amp up his staff addition, he took another swing at the transfer portal landing 16 transfers and 21 high school recruits. 

“It’s got talent, it’s got size, it’s got speed,” Norvell boasted of his 37 new players. “And now we’ve got to go put it together… Put a football team on the field that’s going to represent this program the way that it deserves. It’s going to be a football team that’s going to pour everything they have and go perform with a relentless mindset and that unconquered spirit of what we desire and what we expect at Florida State.” The bottom line of this is that there’s no more room for excuses. 

Despite a tough schedule, FSU’s revamped coaching staff, and a roster full of fresh faces, Mike Norvell has one last shot to get this thing back on track. If he can’t, FSU might be ready to pay that buyout and find someone who can.