EmailPrintFlorida State fired Mike Norvell on Sunday, school president Richard McCullough told ESPN, ending his tenure as head coach after the program slid from an ACC championship to the bottom of the conference.Director of scouting Rick Stockstill, who was head coach at Middle Tennessee for 18 seasons, will serve as interim coach.Norvell went 41-39 in his seven seasons with the Seminoles. The high point came in 2023, when Florida State won the ACC with a 13-0 record. But with star quarterback Jordan Travis injured, the College Football Playoff selection committee left the Seminoles out of the four-team playoff that season, a blow from which the program has been unable to recover.Florida State is 10-23 since -- including 3-5 this season.Pressure had been building on Norvell since 2024, when Florida State followed up its championship year in the ACC with a 2-10 mark. The Florida State administration, hoping to avoid paying his $50 plus million buyout, gave him one more shot after going 5-7 last year -- providing more resources for the roster and revamping the personnel department in an effort to help.Even after firing athletic director Michael Alford in September, the administration had hoped it would be able to keep Norvell with a good season. But the situation grew untenable as fan frustration boiled over.Last week, before Florida State played Clemson on Saturday, McCullough sent a letter to the Seminoles community saying he understood its frustration."We are not asking you to ignore the results," he wrote. "We are committed to changing them. And we are not asking you to believe that everything is fine. We know it isn't."Before kickoff against the Tigers, a banner flew over Doak Campbell Stadium that urged the administration to fire Norvell and board chairman Peter Collins, who has taken a larger role in the decision-making process with athletics. Though Florida State entered as a six-point favorite, it lost 36-24 and played the fourth quarter in front of a mostly empty stadium.Afterward, Norvell said he still believed in the team -- a message he has repeated since its downslide began in 2024."Even with all the other bullcrap that we've had to deal with, these guys fight for each other," Norvell said. "Are they pissed off? Yes. Are they angry, sad, mad? All of it? Yes. So am I. There's people that don't want to see you be successful. That's part of it. It's really about what you do with the opportunity that's given, and are you willing to block all the other crap out and just go and be focused on your improvement and allowing your best to show up?"If we can consistently do that as a football team, program, players, coaches, everybody involved, then we will rise up, and I absolutely believe that's going to occur."The problem over the last three seasons has been an inability to get those consistent performances. Florida State opened last season with a 31-17 win over Alabama, only to lose to Virginia in double overtime to open ACC play. That led to four straight losses, ending with a 20-13 defeat at Stanford that served as the low point.This season, Florida State handled Virginia 38-7 to start October and move to 3-2, only to follow that up with an embarrassing road loss to Louisville and then losses to Miami and Clemson.In all, Norvell had five losing seasons as head coach. His two winning seasons -- in 2022 and 2023 -- came at a time when the Seminoles figured out a successful transfer portal formula, bringing in players with proven production at smaller schools and multiple seasons of eligibility to build a foundation.Travis, a holdover from the previous staff, found his groove as Norvell harnessed his potential as a dual-threat quarterback. His development followed the team's development, and their rise seemed to signal that Florida State had finally gotten the program back to a place where it could compete for championships.But the playoff snub left lasting scars. Florida State faced Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl after more than 20 players either opted out or entered the transfer portal. Those who were left behind lost 63-3. With Travis and nine other players gone to the NFL, the 2024 team had a void in leadership, poor quarterback play and struggled through decimating injuries.Though the Seminoles spent more on their roster than most in the ACC, they still found themselves losing games they were favored to win. Since 2024, Florida State is just 4-17 in conference play, with losses to Stanford and Boston College and the first loss in school history to Duke. Its last regular-season road win came at Florida on Nov. 25, 2023.
