By Sean Labar
Deion Sanders has transitioned from one of the most electrifying players in the NFL to one of the hottest head coaches in college football seamlessly.
With three games left in the regular season, “Coach Prime” has the Colorado Buffaloes in contention for the College Football Playoff with a (7-2) record. Sanders inherited a Colorado program last season that had won just a single game in 2022, and while the Buffaloes only won four games in 2023, they suddenly became one of the most polarizing stories in all of college football.
Coach Prime tapped into the transfer portal this offseason, overhauled the roster, and just like that, Colorado has a legitimate shot of making the College Football Playoff.
On the other side of the country, Mike Norvell and the Florida State Seminoles — where Sanders dominated under head coach Bobby Bowden in the late 80’s — are falling off a cliff.
Norvell looked like he had Florida State trending in the right direction, and after a (13-1) finish last season, the Seminoles entered the 2024 campaign with legitimate national championship aspirations.
But with three games left in the college football regular season, Norvell’s team has been beyond bad. The Seminoles currently have a (1-9) overall record. They rank dead last of the 134 FBS college football teams with 13.3 points per game. On the defensive side of the ball, they can’t stop the run or pass, and have forced just three turnovers on the season.
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On Sunday, Norvell cleaned house, firing both coordinators and other key assistants. While it seems like the FSU brass is preparing to give Norvell another season to right the ship, one ESPN analyst believes there’s a scenario where Sanders comes back to Tallahassee and takes over as the Florida State head coach.
Paul Finebaum Believes Deion Sanders Could Replace Mike Norvell As Florida State HC
ESPN SEC analyst Paul Finebaum joined the Matt Barrie Show on Monday and didn’t hold back on his thoughts about Norvell at Florida State.
“It is the biggest fall-off in college football history,” Finebaum said
“I mean Michigan, they lost their head coach. Three to five losses were projected. Three would’ve been great, four likely, five disappointing. But Florida State was a top ten team when the season began, there’s no excuse for that. Mike Norvell has literally lost all of the goodwill he had from a year ago. It’s gone.”
Finebaum went on to bring up a scenario where Florida State moves on from Mike Norvell and replaces him with Deion Sanders.
“We’ve both watched a lot of schools bring back their favorite son. Deion couldn’t get a phone call from Florida State a couple of years ago, but in fairness, what had he done? Now, I mean, he’s one of the hottest coaches in the country. A lot of people were wrong, but that doesn’t matter. That’s who Deion is, he proves people wrong. He’s also arguably the most famous football player to ever step foot in that stadium, and that’s including a lot of people, by the way.”
The ESPN SEC analyst went on to note while Norvell has a massive buyout, the Florida State brass may cough up that chunk of cash for Sanders.
“It’s inconceivable, or is it, that Florida State would say, ‘Deion, we want you back. Mike Norvell, we’re sorry. We think you’re a great guy. Here’s your buyout. Catch you later.’ Florida State, a year ago, was talking to all the Wall Street banks about buying their way out of the ACC. They have no credibility now. They need an infusion, more than any program in this country.”
As of now it seems like the FSU brass is sticking with Norvell for 2024, but if Deion reached out to his agent and expressed interest in the job, it would be interesting to see if that would change things.
