Mike Norvell is excited about the upcoming football season.
Really excited.
We know this because the Florida State coach said as much – eight times, in fact – during his 10 minutes on the interview stage at the ACC’s recent Football Kickoff preseason media event in Charlotte.
Some of that excitement is the product of Norvell’s over-the-top motivational speaker-like personality. A good portion of the rest likely comes from the fact that he’s still in a position to coach the Seminoles after two straight disappointing campaigns.
For that, he can thank Nick Saban and an uncanny sense of timing.
Norvell was fortunate that the best season of his tenure in Tallahassee, in which his team became the first undefeated power conference champion ever to be left out of the College Football Playoff, coincided with Saban’s unexpected decision to walk away from coaching in January 2024. That confluence, combined with rumors identifying Norvell as a leading candidate to replace Saban at Alabama, resulted in a contract extension that included a buyout so prohibitive that he became too expensive to fire when things went South.
At least to this point. But the clock might now be ticking. Considering the expectations set by an administration that filed suit a few years ago to try and leave the ACC because its members believed that FSU was too good for the conference, even a reported $51 million price tag might not be enough to save Norvell’s job if the Seminoles stumble to a losing record again this season.
From the sound of things, Norvell knows it.
“The time is now. The time is today,” he said. “The willingness to show up, be the best that we can be … if that’s what we’ll continue to do, I’ve got a lot of confidence in the results showing up.”
Showing up and striving for the best is certainly a good start. But as the Seminoles proved a year ago, a good start doesn’t account for much when you don’t follow it up with a strong finish.
After bursting out of the gate with an impressive 31-17 upset of Alabama – the team that helped Norvell hit the coaching equivalent of a PowerBall jackpot – and successive routs of East Texas A&M and Kent State, FSU proceeded to lose seven of its final nine games to finish out of the bowl picture.
The fact that four of those losses came by a touchdown or less gives Norvell confidence that his program is close to turning the corner and back in the direction that helped it win 19 straight games between 2023-25.
“This past season we showed glimpses of playing at a very high level – big wins, some great moments, but we also had some disappointing results in some close games and opportunities we did not capitalize on,” Norvell said. “It’s not about me giving a great speech, trying to say things. It’s about showing up and being willing to do it. That’s the focus of this coaching staff, this football team.That’s my focus, pouring everything I have into them, into this staff, into the opportunity we have in the ’26 season.
“I know what it looks like because we’ve done it. I know the steps. I know what we need to do to get back to that level. I’m very confident about what it’s going to be.”
Not everyone is as excited as Norvell about FSU’s prospects. The Seminoles were only picked to finish 11th out of 17 teams in the ACC’s preseason poll, although they did get three first place votes.
While there’s some high-end talent on hand – especially at wide receiver, where all-conference selection Duce Robinson returns after a 1,000-yard season, and on a defense restocked by a large contingent of transfers – questions still remain at the most important position on the field.
Norvell swung and missed with his first two quarterback pickups off the portal since Jordan Travis suffered his program-altering injury late in the 2023 regular season. His latest reclamation project, Ashton Daniels, is just as risky a pickup as DJ Uiagalelei and Thomas Castellano before him.
Daniels had plenty of natural ability, but he struggled with inconsistency and interceptions during his three seasons with bad teams at Stanford and only broke into the lineup for the final four games at Auburn last season, losing all three of his starts. Even if he finally realizes his full potential, the Seminoles will have their hands full negotiating their way through a schedule that sandwiches a rematch with Alabama in Tuscaloosa and early tests against ACC contenders SMU, Virginia, Louisville, Miami and Clemson around a pair of cupcakes to begin the season.
“We understand the expectation. There’s no person or place that has higher expectations than we have being part of this program, making sure we’re doing things the right way, the Florida State way, competing for championships, in all things that we do. That is our expectation as we go into this season with a very talented roster and a great coaching staff that we’ve been able to assemble.”