Florida State’s 2025 season has been a roller coaster of emotions that’s left fans and boosters questioning everything they thought they knew about Mike Norvell. The Seminoles are 3-2 after losses to Virginia (46-38) and Miami (35-24), and the vibes around Tallahassee are getting uglier by the week. This is the same program that went 13-1 and won the ACC Championship in 2023, only to collapse spectacularly to 2-10 in 2024 in what was one of the most shocking downfalls in college football history.

There was plenty of noise around the head coach at the start of the season, but he managed to silence his naysayers with an impressive 31-17 Week 1 victory over No. 8 Alabama. His transfer QB Thomas Castellanos looked good, and the Noles played like 2024 never existed. That momentum has completely evaporated with two straight losses in ACC play. 

The Virginia loss in particular was something that should not have happened. Giving up 46 points to an unranked opponent and blowing leads is a surefire way to ruin a perfectly good season. FSU now stands at a 1-9 record in its last 10 ACC games. And the conversations around Mike Norvell’s tenure have been reignited. There’s, of course, the $63 million buyout, but if the program decides to make the move, here are the five best options. 

Alex Golesh

Alex Golesh is the hottest name in college football that nobody outside of Tampa is talking about, and that needs to change immediately. The 40-year-old South Florida head coach is 18-13 in his third season with the Bulls and has become the first coach in program history to win bowl games in each of his first two years. Moreover, Golesh has been the cause of back-to-back upsets this year with stunning Boise State and No.13 Florida, who just defeated Texas.

Before Golesh, USF was a disaster of a program with a 4-29 record and no bowl game appearances since 2018. Golesh spent two years as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator before taking the USF job, and he’s known for his ability to develop quarterbacks and create explosive offenses.

Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin is 49-18 in six seasons at Ole Miss and currently has the Rebels sitting at 5-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country after a massive 24-19 win over LSU. He’s finally figured out how to sustain success after years of flame-outs at Tennessee, USC, and the Oakland Raiders, and he’s done it by embracing the NIL era better than almost anyone in college football.

Moreover, Kiffin is also a master recruiter. His portal class was ranked fourth in the nation. He is also among the few coaches who still treat football as an art form with his creative offensive schemes, even without an overwhelming talent advantage.

Chris Klieman

Chris Klieman has a 50-32 record at Kansas State through six seasons and has established the Wildcats as the winningest active program in the Big 12 Conference. Apart from the COVID-shortened year, Klieman has led Kansas State to either eight or more wins in five of his six years of tenure.

Klieman’s record against top-10 opponents is impressive, with five wins since 2019. He has the fourth-highest winning percentage at 74.5% among current FBS coaches who’ve led programs for at least 10 seasons, something FSU can use. Before Kansas State, he won three national championships at North Dakota State, going 69-6 with a ridiculous 39 wins over ranked opponents and a 43-3 home record. 

Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders is one of the biggest names in college football, and if FSU hires him, they’ll get an unfair recruiting advantage as the FSU brand will be one with the Sanders brand. FSU is Deion’s alma mater, and he was actually considered for the job before. Although Sanders is 15-16 overall at Colorado, those numbers don’t tell the entire story. Sanders has completely transformed Colorado’s national brand identity and made it relevant again.

The 2025 struggles can be explained by losing his son, Shedeur Sanders, and Travis Hunter to the NFL, and Colorado has faced one of the toughest schedules in the country through five weeks, with a combined opponent record of 15-1. The only issue that may prevent Prime Time from returning to the Noles is his health. He had a cancer surgery during the offseason, and if his post-game remarks after their TCU loss are anything to go by, Coach Prime has yet to fully recover. 

Gus Malzahn

Gus Malzahn is already at Florida State serving as the offensive coordinator in his first season with the program, which makes him the most realistic option if FSU decides to move on from Norvell. Malzahn has head coaching experience at Auburn, where he went 68-35 from 2013 to 2020, won an SEC Championship in 2013, and took the Tigers to two SEC title games and four New Year’s Six bowls.

Malzahn would probably be the best course of action if things go rough with Norvell’s tenure. If FSU does not want to break their bank by paying $63 million to fire Norvell and then pay yet another massive contract to an external candidate, promoting Malzahn is the best financial decision that could still produce results.

The harsh reality for Florida State fans is that Mike Norvell isn’t going anywhere, and the $63 million buyout is the iron-clad reason why. That number represents 85% of his remaining contract through December 31, 2031, and while it drops to $51 million after this season and continues to decrease annually, that’s still an astronomical amount of money for an athletic department to absorb.