Mike Norvell hot seat heats up with 4 brutal games ahead
Nine wins and 19 losses. That is Florida State’s record since the start of the 2024 season, and it is why the Mike Norvell hot seat is the dominant story in Tallahassee heading into October. The Seminoles are 2-2 after losses to SMU and Alabama, and their next four games, starting Saturday, Oct. 3, against Virginia, may decide whether Norvell coaches them in 2027.
On the Mike Norvell hot seat question, it is “not currently a foregone conclusion” that Norvell will be fired, CBS Sports’ Richard Johnson wrote on Oct. 1, but the coming stretch could leave the school with a decision to make.
Virginia, Louisville, Miami and Clemson in a 5-week span
- Saturday, Oct. 3: vs. Virginia (Florida State is a 2.5-point home underdog, per CBS Sports)
- Friday, Oct. 9: at Louisville
- Saturday, Oct. 17: at No. 4 Miami
- Oct. 24: open date
- Saturday, Oct. 31: vs. Clemson
Virginia won 46-38 in double overtime in Charlottesville last season, and Louisville is receiving votes in the latest AP poll. Miami is fourth in that poll. A 3-1 run would change the tone around the program. A 1-3 run would make the Mike Norvell hot seat talk impossible to ignore.
A $46.7 million buyout and a new power structure
Norvell’s buyout stands at $46.7 million, according to CBS Sports, and Bleacher Report put it at around $50 million depending on timing. That cost helped cool the Mike Norvell hot seat last November, when the school’s president, athletic director and trustees chose to retain him for 2026, CBS Sports reported at the time.
The people making the next call have changed. President Richard McCullough fired athletic director Michael Alford on Sept. 14 and named Bruce Warwick interim AD, Bay News 9 reported. Any coaching change would go through McCullough, the next athletic director and board of trustees chairman Peter Collins.
The Mike Norvell hot seat, by the numbers
Norvell is 40-36 in his seventh season at Florida State. His peak was 2023, when the Seminoles went 13-0 in the regular season, won the ACC title and were left out of the College Football Playoff. Quarterback Jordan Travis broke his leg that November, and the program has not been the same, as Bleacher Report noted in splitting his tenure into before and after the injury.
Since then, Florida State went 2-10 in 2024 and 5-7 in 2025 before this 2-2 start, according to ESPN’s results. Jimbo Fisher, Norvell’s predecessor, went 83-23 from 2010 to 2017 and won three ACC titles and the 2013 national championship.
Injuries have added to the Mike Norvell hot seat pressure. Running back Samuel Singleton Jr. is out for an extended period with a lower-body injury, linebacker Blake Nichelson is also out for an extended stretch, and safety Karson Hobbs and freshman linebackers Izayia Williams and Daylen Green have season-ending injuries, Sports Illustrated’s FSU site reported.
Would a Jimbo Fisher return make sense?
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Sept. 18 that Florida State had explored bringing Fisher back, and former players have lobbied school officials on his behalf, according to CBS Sports. CBS added that Fisher could take less than the market rate of at least $10 million for a top coach, freeing money for assistants and the roster.
History urges caution. A USA Today Sports analysis found that of 18 coaches since 1970 who returned to a Division I-A or FBS program for a second stint, only five improved on their first winning percentage. Fisher’s .783 mark would be hard to match, though the same study found that six of 11 qualifying coaches improved on the three seasons before their return.
For now, the Mike Norvell hot seat comes down to a simpler question: can he win the games in front of him? Total Apex Sports has tracked the pressure since last fall, from fans calling for a change after the NC State loss to the report that he would return in 2026. More is on the site’s college football page.