A big domino fell Sunday in what’s expected to be a relatively light year on the coaching carousel. Florida State canned Willie Taggart after less than two seasons with the Seminoles. Taggart’s buyout is in the $18 million range, and with the deals of his staff, that means FSU will likely be on the hook for $20 million-plus. Expect the Seminoles to try and find a proven winner to replace Taggart.
This is a big job, but it does have some sizable challenges. One coach who I would’ve seen a viable option told me that when you fire a coach before two years are up, that means you have some problems, and that deterred him. Neither the school president nor athletic director are expected to be in place long-term. There’s also some dysfunction with booster structure. But that won’t keep some hot coaching names from being very interested.
One hot name to remember with this vacancy — and Arkansas, too, if it opts to make a move on its second-year head coach Chad Morris — is Memphis’ Mike Norvell. The 38-year-old’s stock keeps getting hotter, as it did over the weekend with the Tigers getting national primetime exposure and defeating what was an unbeaten SMU team. Norvell is a superb offensive coach. This year, despite losing stud RB Darrell Henderson to the NFL and having to replace three starting offensive linemen, the Tigers are No. 7 in the FBS in yards per play after ranking No. 4 each of the previous two seasons.
Norvell has shown he is a keen evaluator of talent and also has proven adept at replacing good assistant coaches each year. Norvell is 34-15 in his fourth year on the job. He played wide receiver for Central Arkansas, but FSU is a bigger job than Arkansas which also must compete in the absolutely stacked SEC West. FSU also has won national titles recently and has a much better recruiting base. Norvell making $2.6 million, which is good money for Group of 5 football, but his buyout is only about $500,000— the lowest of any prime candidate.
Kentucky’s Mark Stoops knows the state of Florida very, very well, having coached three seasons on the Miami staff and also three seasons at FSU before landing the Kentucky head coaching gig. He helped Jimbo Fisher rebuild the Seminoles’ program and beat Florida and Miami often while on staff. He’s done an excellent job in the SEC, recruiting really well and winning at a place where it’s tough to win football games. After going 2-10 in his first season, he’s elevated the program year by year. Kentucky went 10-3 last year and finished No. 11 in the polls, a remarkable feat for Wildcats football. Kentucky is 4-4 and has all sorts of QB issues, but it still shouldn’t finish worse than 7-5 with games remaining against Vanderbilt, Tennessee, UT Martin and Louisville (only the Vanderbilt game is on the road). Stoops’ buyout is less than $2 million, and he definitely figures to get a long look in this search.
P.J. Fleck has Minnesota at 8-0 since taking his Row the Boat mantra from Western Michigan to the Big Ten West three years ago. Fleck’s buyout is manageable. Word is the Gophers have stepped up some to try and ward off bigger programs from trying to swoop in to get him. Fleck has recruited well both at Western Michigan, where he went 13-1 in his fourth and final season in the MAC, and Minnesota. He certainly fits the program builder title, and the 38-year-old who spent one season on the Tampa Bay Bucs staff is as high energy as they come. The hunch here is that he’d seem a more viable option for this job than potentially at USC, but only if he were to be tempted to leave the Big Ten West.
Scott Satterfield has worked wonders in his debut season at Louisville after taking over a Cardinals program left in shambles by Bobby Petrino. Satterfield was 51-24 at Appalachian State and has the Cards at 5-2 one season after they won just two games and got blown off the field on a weekly basis. I think he’d be a good fit at Florida State. His buyout is in the $5 million range, which isn’t insignificant. Would he leave Louisville after just one season even for a bigger job? I’m not so sure. It doesn’t sound like something he would do, but it’s probably a call the FSU brass should make.
My hunch is Florida State looks for a proven head coach, but if it considers a coordinator, I suspect it would be one from the ACC at Clemson. Co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has recruited the area and is very well regarded. Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables has been very choosey when it comes to head coaching talk. He’s very happy with his situation and gets to coach his son Jake. But if FSU could woo him away, it would be landing a terrific defensive mind and recruiter. Plus, they’d be weakening the mighty Tigers.
OK, now for the wild card option: Washington State’s Mike Leach is a wizard offensively. He’s quirky as heck, but he wins wherever he goes. And he has done so in remote outposts such as Lubbock and Pullman, so he’d have access to way more talent than he’s ever dreamed of having. In fact, he’d inherit a lot more right now if he got this job than what he’s had at previous stops. Leach, a former assistant at Valdosta State some 90 minutes up the road from Tallahassee, almost left Washington State in 2017 for the Tennessee job. He wanted it, but the Vols blew up the deal when they fired AD John Currie. Leach went on to lead the Cougars to their first 11-win season the next year. Would FSU want to bring on the Air Raid and Leach? We’ll see.
This is a big job, but it does have some sizable challenges. One coach who I would’ve seen a viable option told me that when you fire a coach before two years are up, that means you have some problems, and that deterred him. Neither the school president nor athletic director are expected to be in place long-term. There’s also some dysfunction with booster structure. But that won’t keep some hot coaching names from being very interested.
One hot name to remember with this vacancy — and Arkansas, too, if it opts to make a move on its second-year head coach Chad Morris — is Memphis’ Mike Norvell. The 38-year-old’s stock keeps getting hotter, as it did over the weekend with the Tigers getting national primetime exposure and defeating what was an unbeaten SMU team. Norvell is a superb offensive coach. This year, despite losing stud RB Darrell Henderson to the NFL and having to replace three starting offensive linemen, the Tigers are No. 7 in the FBS in yards per play after ranking No. 4 each of the previous two seasons.
Norvell has shown he is a keen evaluator of talent and also has proven adept at replacing good assistant coaches each year. Norvell is 34-15 in his fourth year on the job. He played wide receiver for Central Arkansas, but FSU is a bigger job than Arkansas which also must compete in the absolutely stacked SEC West. FSU also has won national titles recently and has a much better recruiting base. Norvell making $2.6 million, which is good money for Group of 5 football, but his buyout is only about $500,000— the lowest of any prime candidate.
Kentucky’s Mark Stoops knows the state of Florida very, very well, having coached three seasons on the Miami staff and also three seasons at FSU before landing the Kentucky head coaching gig. He helped Jimbo Fisher rebuild the Seminoles’ program and beat Florida and Miami often while on staff. He’s done an excellent job in the SEC, recruiting really well and winning at a place where it’s tough to win football games. After going 2-10 in his first season, he’s elevated the program year by year. Kentucky went 10-3 last year and finished No. 11 in the polls, a remarkable feat for Wildcats football. Kentucky is 4-4 and has all sorts of QB issues, but it still shouldn’t finish worse than 7-5 with games remaining against Vanderbilt, Tennessee, UT Martin and Louisville (only the Vanderbilt game is on the road). Stoops’ buyout is less than $2 million, and he definitely figures to get a long look in this search.
P.J. Fleck has Minnesota at 8-0 since taking his Row the Boat mantra from Western Michigan to the Big Ten West three years ago. Fleck’s buyout is manageable. Word is the Gophers have stepped up some to try and ward off bigger programs from trying to swoop in to get him. Fleck has recruited well both at Western Michigan, where he went 13-1 in his fourth and final season in the MAC, and Minnesota. He certainly fits the program builder title, and the 38-year-old who spent one season on the Tampa Bay Bucs staff is as high energy as they come. The hunch here is that he’d seem a more viable option for this job than potentially at USC, but only if he were to be tempted to leave the Big Ten West.
Scott Satterfield has worked wonders in his debut season at Louisville after taking over a Cardinals program left in shambles by Bobby Petrino. Satterfield was 51-24 at Appalachian State and has the Cards at 5-2 one season after they won just two games and got blown off the field on a weekly basis. I think he’d be a good fit at Florida State. His buyout is in the $5 million range, which isn’t insignificant. Would he leave Louisville after just one season even for a bigger job? I’m not so sure. It doesn’t sound like something he would do, but it’s probably a call the FSU brass should make.
My hunch is Florida State looks for a proven head coach, but if it considers a coordinator, I suspect it would be one from the ACC at Clemson. Co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has recruited the area and is very well regarded. Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables has been very choosey when it comes to head coaching talk. He’s very happy with his situation and gets to coach his son Jake. But if FSU could woo him away, it would be landing a terrific defensive mind and recruiter. Plus, they’d be weakening the mighty Tigers.
OK, now for the wild card option: Washington State’s Mike Leach is a wizard offensively. He’s quirky as heck, but he wins wherever he goes. And he has done so in remote outposts such as Lubbock and Pullman, so he’d have access to way more talent than he’s ever dreamed of having. In fact, he’d inherit a lot more right now if he got this job than what he’s had at previous stops. Leach, a former assistant at Valdosta State some 90 minutes up the road from Tallahassee, almost left Washington State in 2017 for the Tennessee job. He wanted it, but the Vols blew up the deal when they fired AD John Currie. Leach went on to lead the Cougars to their first 11-win season the next year. Would FSU want to bring on the Air Raid and Leach? We’ll see.
