By Sean Labar
Florida State entered the 2024 college football season with massive expectations and legitimate College Football Playoff aspirations.
Florida State’s (1-9) record paints the picture on just how short the 2024 Seminoles have fallen from preseason expectations. They are the only Power Four college football team in the country that hasn’t scored more than 21 points in a game this season and rank last among all 134 Division 1 college football teams with 13.3 points per game.
On defense, the Florida State is giving up more than 30 points per game.
Since taking over as the FSU head coach in 2020, Mike Norvell has improved each season, eventually leading the Seminoles to a (10-3) finish in 2022 and an impressive (13-1) record in 2023.
With success on both the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal, it’s easy to see why so many college football media members were high on the Seminoles coming into 2024, with many believing they would be contenders for the College Football Championship.
But Norvell’s team hasn’t just struggled, Florida State has been downright bad.
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The Seminoles are minus-14 in turnover differential following Saturday’s 52-3 drubbing against Notre Dame. The offense has committed 17 turnovers and the defense has only forced three. No opponent has turned the ball over multiple times in a single game this season and FSU hasn’t forced a turnover since a 42-16 loss to SMU back in September.
Florida State head coach Mike Norvell Fires Multiple Key Staff Members
With Norvell’s contract making it almost impossible for the Florida State brass to move on from the current head coach, something significant had to be done following Saturday’s embarrassing blowout loss against the Irish.
On Sunday, Norvell announced that offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans had been fired.
“I appreciate the work these three men have provided over the last five years with me at Florida State,” Norvell said in a statement. “They are all great men with families who also have poured into our program. We had many great moments together here, and I have never doubted their passion for our players and for Florida State. Unfortunately, we hav not upheld the Florida State standard with our results on the field this season. I did not make any of these decisions lightly, but I felt changes needed to be made to elevate our program back to where we all desire it to be.”
While these massive staff changes might keep fans happy for now, Norvell and the Seminoles will have to find a way to right the ship quickly in 2025. There’s no doubt he will be entering next season with the hottest seat of any coach in college football.
