Before 2019, FSU coaching target Mike Norvell beat teams with a combined losing record
In the weeks since Florida State fired Willie Taggart, one name has gained steam to be the Seminoles next head coach.
According to multiple reports, Memphis head coach Mike Norvell is among the top targets to land the FSU gig.
Norvell was even trending on Twitter earlier this week after the Tallahassee Democrat reported the coaching search, which was originally expected to near its end at the beginning of the week, wasn’t going to wrap up until the weekend.
That generated speculation Norvell, who is coaching Memphis in this weekend’s American Athletic Conference championship, as a potential hire for the job.
Norvell’s time at Memphis has yielded a 14-1 record in November and 0-5 mark in December, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The outlet reported his eight wins in 2016 were against teams that went 41-57, 10 wins in 2017 against teams that went 48-76, eight wins in 2018 against teams going 30-66 and 11 wins this season against teams going 66-65.
In 2016, Mike Norvell's 8 wins came vs. teams that went a combined 41-57
In 2017, his 10 wins came vs. teams that went 48-76
In 2018, his 8 wins came vs. teams that went 30-66
This year, his 11 wins came vs. teams that are combined 66-65.https://t.co/zf4RitfuCM— Mark Giannotto (@mgiannotto) December 6, 2019
And he’s 0-4 against UCF.
But this season, Norvell has defeated teams with at least 10 wins on two occasions, which is something that hadn’t previously happened in his three previous seasons with Memphis.
The Tigers are also 11-1 with a third straight AAC title game appearance with a Cotton Bowl berth on the line, and can claim the program’s first outright conference title in 50 years, the Commerical Appeal reported.
Norvell is 37-15 overall and 0-3 in bowl games at Memphis.
Meanwhile, FSU’s decision to announce its next head coach sometime during the weekend at the earliest sparked debate whether it would be Norvell or possibly any assistants of other programs playing in conference title games this weekend.
Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Penn State’s James Franklin are also reportedly high on the candidate list for FSU, while Bob Stoops name was originally linked, but has since cooled with various reports indicating he is not returning to the college game.
Stoops is the head coach of the XFL franchise in Dallas.
FSU is 6-6 and bowl eligible. Odell Haggins is the Seminoles interim coach, and FSU players took to Twitter in November to voice their approval in making Haggins the head coach.
Haggins has only one loss in two stints — following Jimbo Fisher’s departure for Texas A&M and the current one after Taggart’s dismissal — as interim coach. That came last weekend to Florida. The Gators won 40-17 in Gainesville.
