Mike Norvell is absolutely under pressure as he heads into his seventh season as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles.
Sure, he does boast an overall winning record at FSU with 38 wins compared to 34 losses. He also had an incredible 13-0 regular season in 2023 that the Seminoles believed should have gotten them into the College Football Playoff.
They didn’t make the CFP, though, because they lost star quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending left-leg injury in mid-November. The CFP committee decided that even though Florida State was 13-0, the loss of Travis was enough to keep the Seminoles out.
FSU went on to lose the Orange Bowl against the Georgia Bulldogs, 63-3.
Perhaps we’ll look back on that moment, or even Travis’ injury, as the beginning of the end for Norvell in Tallahassee.
For now, though, Norvell heads into 2026 with the chance to save his job after going 2-10 in 2024 and 5-7 last season.
He’s got to win. He has to do it if he has any hope of staying in Tallahassee.
According to CBS Sports analyst Danny Kanell, who played at Florida State, there is a bar that Norvell will have to reach to come back in 2027. It’s not the high bar of the usual expectations for Florida State, but it would show that Norvell has things back on track.
Kanell also doesn’t think Norvell is feeling any pressure because the expectations are clear.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure whatsoever on Mike Norvell, because I think he knows exactly what he has to do,” Kanell recently said. “If they don’t get to eight wins he’s fired.”
