Is Florida State Preparing To Fire Mike Norvell?
Is Florida State Preparing To Fire Mike Norvell?
When Florida State pushed Notre Dame to the limit in their Week 1 showdown, head coach Mike Norvell received immense praise. There was lots of hype and excitement. The reaction was understandable. The Fighting Irish are a very legit squad this year and almost beating them is no small feat.
That said, when the Seminoles fell in embarrassing fashion to FCS program Jacksonville State this past weekend, the pendulum swung in the other direction. Yes, the loss happened on a last-second Hail Mary – but the fact that it came against such an inferior foe and on Florida State’s home field was unforgivable.
In the aftermath reports came out that the locker room was in a bad place after what happened on Saturday.
“Received a text from a great source that said the locker room is and I quote ‘In Shambles’ I really hope not,” tweeted out former team wide receiver P.K. Sam.
Almost immediately speculation started regarding whether Norvell is on his way out.
Norvell grossly misevaluated his personnel and didn’t respect his opponent and got burned for it. If FSU weren’t in current circumstances ($$$, lame duck AD), the coaching job Saturday would be enough to get Norvell fired.
— Landon Lee (@cchllandon) September 14, 2021
Yeah, @Coach_Norvell lost me. Shit makes no sense. They stuck in Memphis and shit. Nobody fired after that loss shows me he has no clue of our prestigious football program. Lost to a team who didn’t score no points the previous week. I guess an empty stadium will make shit shake https://t.co/77k7GTztJP
— 😭🍢TellItLikeItIsNole🍢😭 (@zumundanole) September 14, 2021
And Willie got fired cause he was trash and Norvell is about to follow him because he is trash
— MyNameIsJeff (@thejbratc) September 14, 2021
After his team’s embarrassing defeat this weekend, Norvell struck a defiant tone.
“This football team’s not going to quit. We have to build and get better and we’re going to,” he said, per the Orlando Sentinel. “This will be something that we look back to. Nobody wants to have the experience. We want to have the feelings, but it’s our opportunity to respond to it and it’s our opportunity to go get better.”
That said, he did admit that his players were “sick to their stomach” over what transpired.
“They were sick to their freaking stomach about what happened Saturday night,” Norvell acknowledged. “But you go back out and you go to work.”
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 14, 2021
Here are the facts: FSU has had three losing seasons in a row and are 0-2 this season. Two years into Norvell’s run with the Seminoles, things aren’t exactly looking up. Next week the squad is taking on a 2-0 Wake Forest group on the road and is a 6.5-point underdog. 0-3 feels inevitable at this juncture.
Whenever Florida State lands in the headlines these days, it’s for something negative.
Will Norvell be fired soon? Probably not. Financial realities make the prospect of that difficult. But would he have been, if money wasn’t an issue? Probably.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
