Florida State has fired Mike Norvell.
President Richard McCullough confirmed the move to ESPN's Andrea Adelson on Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Clemson beat the Seminoles 36-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium.
The school has since announced the decision.
Florida State is 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Against Clemson on Saturday night, Ashton Daniels threw for 350 yards and accounted for three touchdowns, but the Seminoles turned it over four times. Clemson didn't turn it over once.
Six days ago, McCullough wrote an open letter to frustrated Seminole fans saying the university was "methodically working on a plan" and that "meaningful, lasting change requires us to make the right moves in the right order, at the right time." Norvell's name wasn't in it. He's gone now, and Florida State still doesn't have a permanent athletic director. The school fired Michael Alford on September 14, and McCullough's letter said the search for his replacement would begin "soon."
Norvell finishes 41-39 in Tallahassee, 23-30 in ACC play.
Few coaches have had a wilder six-year run. Norvell took over a program that had slipped badly and went 3-6 in the 2020 COVID season and 5-7 in 2021. Then the Seminoles went 10-3 in 2022 and 13-0 in the 2023 regular season, beating #14 Louisville for the program's first ACC title since 2014. The CFP committee then made Florida State the first undefeated Power Five champion left out of the Playoff. Norvell swept the Bobby Dodd Trophy, the Bear Bryant National Coach of the Year award and ACC Coach of the Year honors.
A depleted Florida State roster lost 63-3 to Georgia in the Orange Bowl, then went 2-10 in 2024 and 5-7 in 2025. Counting this fall, the Seminoles are 10-22 since that ACC title game.
Before Tallahassee, Norvell went 38-15 in four seasons at Memphis, winning three straight AAC West titles and the 2019 AAC championship with a 29-24 win over Cincinnati. He took the Florida State job the next day, before the Tigers played Penn State in the Cotton Bowl.
He came up on the offensive side. Norvell worked at Tulsa alongside Gus Malzahn, then followed Todd Graham to Pitt as co-offensive coordinator in 2011 and to Arizona State, where he was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2012 to 2015 and added assistant head coach duties his last two years.
The money is massive. Norvell's contract runs through December 31, 2031, and according to contract details obtained by Pete Thamel and ESPN, firing him after the Clemson game costs Florida State $50.3 million. That would be the third-largest buyout in college football history, behind the $76.8 million Texas A&M owed Jimbo Fisher and the $54 million LSU owed Brian Kelly.
Norvell is owed 85% of his base and supplemental pay for the rest of the deal, payable in monthly installments or a lump sum. He's also required to mitigate. Any salary he earns at his next job comes off what Florida State owes, the same clause that cut James Franklin's Penn State buyout from $49 million to $9 million once he took the Virginia Tech job. The Tallahassee Democrat cited On3 estimates putting the full cost of turning over the staff at about $100 million.
That's a lot of money for a school that was openly worried about money. But the fan base was done, as evidenced by the plane that flew over Clemson's campus last week with a "Fire Mike Novell" banner, typo included, which ESPN reported Dabo Swinney called "shameful."
Director of scouting Rick Stockstill, the former head coach at Middle Tennessee, will serve as interim head coach.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.