After the Clemson loss, Florida State Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell’s job security took center stage. Whispers had Florida State pulling the triggers on Norvell and calling up Oregon OC Will Stein. But with everything suddenly on hold, a college football analyst tried to school the Seminoles. He used the Arkansas Razorbacks blueprint to remind Florida State. 

On the November 20th episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, Cole Cubelic was invited. “If you have your guy now, you should have never fired your coach,” said the analyst. “If you didn’t at least have a list of names in that drawer that you knew you could attack, and you knew you could get to your place, if you can’t do that, don’t fire your coach. Give it another year. Wait until you have that list generated.”

Arkansas fired Sam Pittman after a soul-crushing loss to Notre Dame that dropped the Razorbacks’ record to 2-3 on the season in September. The timeline’s still fuzzy, but AD Hunter Yurachek has clearly tightened the search, shrinking his list after personally chatting with more than 20 coaches.

That should serve as a wake-up call for Norvell’s crew: if you don’t have a plan, your search can scatter in every direction. 

Here comes another key consideration that Florida State needs to keep in mind if it wants to move on from Norvell.

“Second would be you better have a good fallback plan because there’s a lot of these that do not go according to your wish list or your desires,” said Cubelic.

Former Florida Gators coach Dan Mullen had quickly shut down the buzz linking him to the Arkansas job. Of the 20 candidates, only a select few are actually in the running for Pittman’s spot. The only coach Yurachek has officially recognized is interim head coach Bobby Petrino, who got the nod back in September.

The Norvell chatter isn’t slowing down at FSU. Sports Illustrated reported on October 31 that the program couldn’t juggle firing him, paying the $54-$59 million buyout, hiring a new coach, and funding a competitive 2026 roster. The genuine concern isn’t the buyout. It’s whether boosters can foot the bill to build a roster capable of contending next season if Norvell remains.

Stein turned the Ducks’ offense into a juggernaut since 2023. But FSU might hesitate to hire another Oregon coach after the fiasco with Norvell’s predecessor, Willie Taggart. Franklin’s plan failed because Norvell is currently dedicated to Florida State. This led him to open up about his jump to Virginia Tech. 

James Franklin exposed his CFB suitors amidst FSU’s Mike Norvell hold

After being released from his head coaching role, Franklin appeared at the Old Dominion–Troy matchup. David Teel reported, “Prior to kickoff here at ODU, I asked James Franklin about his interest in #Hokies. He was friendly, polite, and declined [to] comment.”

This was clearly a result of his ambition to replace Norvell in Tallahassee. It did not take Franklin long to receive a reality check. Florida State had no intention of immediately pulling the trigger for Norvell. Given Virginia Tech’s strong push, he could no longer delay the commitment.

On the Virginia Tech Sports Network radio broadcast, he said, “Number one, it was obvious that they had a plan, and you’d be amazed how many of these places didn’t have a plan. The other thing I would say is they were aggressive.”

College football insider Josh Pate reported James Franklin passed on Arkansas. With him off the board, Pete Nakos of On3 noted the Hogs are eyeing P.J. Fleck and Pat Fitzgerald. Franklin slipped through the net, and with all the turmoil in Tallahassee, FSU should probably ride it out and hold on to Mike Norvell a bit longer.