[Mr KLC]

Memphis coach Mike Norvell has been a hot commodity during the coaching silly season, and he appears to be in line to nab one of the biggest jobs on the market. ESPN reported late Friday night that the 38-year-old Norvell has emerged as the top candidate at Florida State. The report states that an announcement could come as early as Sunday.

Norvell is 37-15 in four season at the helm of the Tigers, and has won three straight AAC West division championships. Behind a high-octane offense that features freak athletes at running back, Norvell's Tigers have cruised to an 11-1 season this year and could earn the Group of Five spot in a New Year's Six bowl with a win over the Bearcats this afternoon.

Florida State fired coach Willie Taggart after a 9-12 record and a 6-9 ACC record in one-plus seasons at the helm the final straw came on Nov. 2 when the Seminoles lost to rival Miami (FL) 27-10 in Tallahassee. That dropped them to 4-5 on the season. Taggart was dismissed the next day.

[Sam Odom]

Good Hire

[cincinnatikid513]

Florida State’s long, winding coaching search has reportedly come to an end.
According to multiple outlets, FSU is expected to hire Memphis head coach Mike Norvell as its next head coach. The school announced Saturday that it would hold a press conference on Sunday at noon to “formally introduce its next head football coach,” but did not identify Norvell in a press release.
Norvell, 38, has been the head coach at Memphis since 2016 and has a 37-15 overall record at the school. He guided the Tigers to three straight AAC West division titles, including a 10-win campaign in 2017 and an 11-win mark this year. Memphis, ranked No. 17 in the most-recent College Football Playoff rankings, is playing Cincinnati in the AAC title game on Saturday and would likely lock up a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game with a win.
Norvell, who took over at Memphis when Justin Fuente left for Virginia Tech, has helped guide the program to new heights. When Fuente left, the Tigers won 19 games over his last two years after winning 18 in the previous five seasons combined. Norvell, previously the offensive coordinator at Arizona State, continued with that level of success and now the Tigers have won at least eight games in six consecutive seasons.
Under Norvell, the Tigers have consistently been one of the top offensive teams in the country. Entering Saturday’s AAC title game, the Tigers were No. 8 nationally in scoring offense (41.5 points per game) and No. 10 in total offense, averaging 483.5 yards per game
At Florida State, he inherits a program in the midst of a rare down stretch. After Jimbo Fisher left Tallahassee for Texas A&M, the school hired Willie Taggart away from Oregon. But school moved on from Taggart quickly, firing him after the ninth game of his second season. The Seminoles went 5-7 in Taggart’s first year, FSU’s first losing season since 1976, the first year under Bobby Bowden.
FSU fired Taggart after a loss to Miami that dropped the team’s record to 4-5. Overall, Taggart had a 9-12 record at the school. After he was fired, Odell Haggins served as interim coach and got the team to 6-6 and a bowl game.

wonder how much they are paying him

[LT Profits]

Best coach FSU has had in ages.

[seaborneq]

FSU has truly fallen if the Memphis coach is the best candidate. FSU used to be a premier job, now it's just another job. You are who you can hire. No one with a good power 5 job wanted to leave to coach at FSU.

[Plaza23]

This guy looks way older than 38.

[funnyb25]

Booyaaaaaaa

Check in...

This is a good hire finally

[jjgold]

Does
It matter

Too late

[pavyracer]

He can't recruit players. 90% of success is recruiting the best athletes and 10% is game planning.

[G Anon Dropout]

He can't recruit players. 90% of success is recruiting the best athletes and 10% is game planning.

He'll have a much better chance with elite players recruiting at FSU than he had at Memphis.

[LT Profits]

FSU has truly fallen if the Memphis coach is the best candidate. FSU used to be a premier job, now it's just another job. You are who you can hire. No one with a good power 5 job wanted to leave to coach at FSU.

Don't sell him short, he did a lot at Memphis with athletes not as good as what FSU has. Offensive gurus from Group of 5 schools usually have an opportunity to do well in Power 5 with more to work with, this is NOT a Charlie Strong case as he is mainly a defensive guy.

[LT Profits]

He can't recruit players. 90% of success is recruiting the best athletes and 10% is game planning.

Although Noles underachieved, they MIGHT have better athletes on the roster now than what Norvell had at Memphis, and they now have a coach that knows how to run an offense.

[Seattle Slew]

Florida State had enough talent on the roster to easily win nine games this year. Taggert was an incompetent a coach as I've ever seen on the Division I level. The game he called against Wake Forest was pathetic. A game FSU should have won by 10-plus points he loses outright. I'm sure there were others just as bad that I didn't see.

So this guy has a huge advantage coming in. He goes 9-3 next year and they'll be loving him, even though they might just be playing to their talent level. No-lose situation for this guy.

[seaborneq]

Don't sell him short, he did a lot at Memphis with athletes not as good as what FSU has. Offensive gurus from Group of 5 schools usually have an opportunity to do well in Power 5 with more to work with, this is NOT a Charlie Strong case as he is mainly a defensive guy.

Jimbo Fisher is supposed to be an offensive guru,
and Willie Taggart was hired from Oregon for his offensive background from USF, yet FSU has been outclassed on both sides of the ball the past 4-5 years. The talent may not be there for a quick turnaround of an offensive guru from Memphis. Now if Norvell just comes in and just makes sure everyone is on the same page, a 7-8 win season may be doable next year. I see THIS hire similar to Fuentes to Virginia tech. ALL the offensive fireworks from Memphis doesn't work as well in the ACC. Probably because of better opponents and coaching on the other side of the field. I still haven't seen the Memphis Fuentes at Virginia tech yet.