After tonight’s performance, it is hard to argue that Mike Norvell has not mentally checked out of Florida State football. The Seminoles are sitting at 4-5, and it somehow feels even worse than when they bottomed out at 2-10 because this time they spent millions on the portal, hired Gus Malzahn to run the offense. Most importantly, they opened the season beating Alabama like this was going to be their 2023 redemption arc. Now fast forward to Week 11, and the excitement in Tallahassee is gone, and Mike Norvell looks mentally defeated.

On November 8th, Mike Norvell made his way to the post-conference room following their third straight road loss. The former Memphis HC looked visibly shaken and opened up about how they are not able to execute the practice field to the actual field and missed opportunity ruined the well-prepped execution: “Both teams came out and played hard; it was a fast and physical game..unfortunately, we had too many missed opportunities. Looking back throughout it, that first drive, defensively, we missed a lot of tackles. We were a little sloppy in some of our fits…I thought our defense settled in as the game got going.” What makes this intriguing is that before this match, Clemson scored 80 points in their last 2 games. But held a team which won by 35 points against 5-2 Wake Forest.

Mike Norvell didn’t hold back on the offensive struggles: “Offensively, really struggled to get things started, sustained. We just weren’t good enough. We had five-plus drops, which is very uncharacteristic of what this team has done…We were not good on our conversion downs. Things that we had been really good at over the course of the year did not show up tonight.”

Clemson snapped its six-game home losing streak today. Plus, they didn’t need to score than 6 points in the second half to win the game comfortably. All thanks to the Florida State offense. Starting with QB, Tommy Castellanos had many chances to score early but made mistakes. On their second drive, Castellanos fumbled near the goal line and Clemson recovered. Randy Pittman and Ousmane Kromah also dropped important passes.

Castellanos later missed a wide-open Squirrel White for a long touchdown. The Seminoles finally scored late in the first half with a 10-play, 75-yard drive, ending with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Lawayne McCoy, helped by a big fourth-down run by Castellanos. In the second half, Florida State could not keep up. Clemson’s defense, led by Barrett Carter and Nate Wiggins, stopped the Seminoles from scoring a touchdown and allowed only a field goal. Florida State’s early mistakes were too much to overcome.

Norvell insisted he saw no warning signs in practice and fully expected FSU to deliver: “I was excited for what I expected to see tonight. There was nothing that came out of the practice that gave me pause of what would show up. I felt that the guys were going to go out there and showcase us, and like I said, there were opportunities, but we weren’t good enough tonight.”

Mike Norvell’s buyout

Several major college football coaches have recently been fired after tough losses, including James Franklin at Penn State, Brian Kelly at LSU, and Hugh Freeze at Auburn. Even Florida let go of Billy Napier after a win. Now all the attention has turned to Florida State’s Mike Norvell.

If FSU were to fire Norvell now, the school would owe him close to $59 million, according to his contract. The agreement says he must receive 85% of his base salary and bonuses for the rest of the contract. This year his base salary is $5.4 million, though he took a one-year pay cut before the season. FSU would also owe him part of that reduction if they terminate his deal. His buyout would be the second-largest in college football history, behind only Jimbo Fisher’s $76.8 million payout from Texas A&M in 2023.

However, FSU likely would not have to pay the full amount. Norvell’s contract requires him to look for another coaching job right away, and any new salary he earns would reduce what FSU owes. ESPN’s Andrea Adelson also reported that firing Norvell and his staff, including coordinators Gus Malzahn and Tony White, could cost the school about $72 million total. Norvell’s contract runs through 2031, and if FSU does part ways with him, the buyout can be paid either in a lump sum or through monthly payments until the contract ends.