The Florida State Seminoles made the decision to keep coach Mike Norvell for the 2026 season, to the surprise of some people. With his seat reportedly getting hotter over the last couple of seasons, the school decided to remain with its coach. Let’s take a deeper dive into why one college football analyst believes they made that decision.
Greg McElroy Discusses Why Florida State Kept Mike Norvell
On the most recent episode of the Always College Football podcast, former quarterback and ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy discussed why he believes the Florida State Seminoles retained coach Mike Norvell for the 2026 season.
“The buyout for Mike Norvell was entirely too prohibitive. That’s what it came down to. They can say it’s about football. They can say, ‘Oh, we just need to make some changes, we need to do this, we need to do that,’ when in reality he’s owed $72 million, and his buyout is expecting to pay about 85% of that remaining value. And his contract runs all the way through 2031.”
McElroy would continue to just explain how it is too expensive to just write a check and send Mike Norvell packing. However, he still believes Norvell is a good coach.
“You can’t just cut a $65 million check to fire the guy. So I think Mike Norvell is still a good coach. He’s won a lot of games. But they do need to take a good, hard look at their processes with putting together a roster that won’t implode with the first sign of adversity, because that’s what happened in 2024, that’s what happened in 2025. Finding a mentally tough team that can weather the storm, I think will be beneficial down the road.”
Norvell is going to be remaining with the program, but it will be interesting to see how the program is able to step up in 2026 and beyond.
Leave a Comment
Share your thoughts and join the discussion