Florida State is quickly learning that keeping a struggling head coach can cost far more than firing him. The Seminoles fell 27-24 to No. 19 SMU on Monday night, dropping a winnable game despite forcing four turnovers. FSU converted an embarrassing 2-for-15 on third down before watching the Mustangs kick the game-winner with 21 seconds on the clock. Now, Mike Norvell’s hot seat is turning into a full-blown inferno. 

On Yahoo Sports’ College Football Enquirer, the possibility of replacing Mike Norvell came up alongside an intriguing name. Memphis’ head coach, Charles Huff.

“This may not hold, but it looks pretty good right now,” Steven Godfrey said. “You call Memphis, you swap them, and Bob’s your uncle… He’d show up with 14 Memphis players, and he would attack the portal… 2-0 Memphis about to play Boise State. Just theoretical.”

The idea isn’t absurd. Charles Huff is in his first season at Memphis after coaching Southern Miss in 2025. He signed a five-year, $10 million agreement after taking the job in December 2025. Before that, he spent four seasons at Marshall, where his teams never missed a bowl and won a conference championship. He also has stops on his resume at Alabama, Mississippi State, and Penn State.

What makes a G6 leader like Huff so hot in today’s market isn’t just winning games; it’s surviving the roster wild west. Top programs want proven portal evaluators who can rebuild on the fly without wasting three years.

Huff isn’t just any G6 coach. He learned the recruiting blueprint under Nick Saban at Alabama and brought Saquon Barkley to Penn State. He knows how to talent-scout at elite levels, and in the modern NIL era, that immediate roster-building muscle is worth every bit of a major payout.

Memphis is hardly an unfamiliar launching pad for Florida State. Mike Norvell went 38-15 there before taking the Seminoles job. Charles Huff also knows the modern roster game. The Tigers added 71 players through the latest cycle, with 18 of them having previously played for Huff at Southern Miss. There is, however, a giant number sitting between Florida State and a coaching change.

Firing Mike Norvell would not be a cheap move for Florida State. If the school cuts him loose on Dec. 1, 2026, it would reportedly still owe him around $46.7 million. That makes the decision bigger than just deciding whether Charles Huff is the right guy. But they need to act fast, as Andy Staples said, “in case Clemson opens because that’s a factor too.”

That isn’t just internet media speculation anymore. Clemson insiders and national college football writers agree that if the school administration plans to move on from Dabo, the clock is ticking right now. Following that brutal 51-10 beatdown against LSU, Swinney’s buyout sits at $57 million for the 2026 season.

If Clemson waits until after National Signing Day or drags this into next year, that buyout figure actually jumps to $60 million, effectively trapping the program. That strict financial window is why industry analysts expect Clemson to make a definitive decision before the season wraps up, potentially putting two of the biggest jobs in the ACC on the market at the exact same moment.

That’s why Florida State may not want to drift through the season. Monday’s loss was strange from the start. A stadium power outage delayed kickoff by nearly two hours and knocked out the scoreboard, PA system, and helmet communication. Then FSU watched a winnable game disappear. There were a lot of chances, but not enough answers. 

Florida State has Alabama next after a bye, followed by Central Arkansas, Virginia, and Louisville. If those games go badly, the question will be how quickly the Seminoles act because they lost an interested candidate last season because they refused to part ways with Mike Norvell. 

As Godfrey pointed out, “The reason why James Franklin didn’t say yes to Virginia Tech until he did was he was waiting out the Florida State job.”

If Florida State decides Mike Norvell isn’t taking them where they need to go, waiting too long could mean watching another attractive candidate disappear.