Tramel's ScissorTales: Florida State AD using 'blueprint' from OU in rebuilding Seminoles

Michael Alford wasn’t around when Florida State football became one big mess.

Political infighting. Facility declines. Personnel problems. Coaching instability. You know. All the traditional afflictions of a dysfunctional program.

Alford didn’t create the mess, but the former Joe Castiglione lieutenant was asked to clean it up, first as chief executive officer of Seminole Boosters, Inc., Florida State athletics’ quite-influential fundraising organization, then as athletic director.

And it’s working. Florida State plays OU on Thursday in Orlando’s Cheez-It Bowl, and the 9-3 Seminoles are ranked 13^th nationally after four straight losing seasons.

Alford didn’t hire third-year FSU coach Mike Norvell, but they have shared roots, and it appears Seminole football is on the way back to relevancy.

“I’ve taken Joe’s blueprint and putting it here,” said Alford, OU’s associate athletic director from 2012-17. “I learned from the very best.”

More:Why Jovantae Barnes' lead role in OU's Cheez-It Bowl game is a 'dream come true'

Alford was Central Michigan’s AD from 2017-20, then he was hired to run Seminole Boosters, Inc. When FSU athletic David Coburn retired, Alford was named the replacement.

It wasn’t great times at Florida State. The Seminoles were the nation’s best program in the 1990s. Under Bobby Bowden, FSU finished in The Associated Press top five for 14 straight years, 1987-2000. The Seminoles won national titles in 1993 and 1999.

After Bowden’s program slipped in the 2000s and he ultimately retired, Jimbo Fisher revived the Seminoles; they won the 2013 title and made the 2014 College Football Playoff.

But Fisher wears on people. The Florida State program began to slip, and Fisher left Tallahassee for Texas A&M before the end of the 2017 season.

The Seminoles hired away Willie Taggart from Oregon, but Taggart was a rough fit, fell victim to the infighting and was fired midway through the 2018 season.

Florida State went 5-7 and 6-7 in Taggart’s two years, and Norvell fared little better, going 3-6 and 5-7 his first two years.

That was four straight losing seasons, 2018-21, putting the Seminoles in a rare club that among Power Five schools included only Kansas, Vanderbilt, Rutgers, Nebraska, Illinois and Arizona.

Alford doesn’t claim to know all the problems going on before his arrival. But he has read accounts (ESPN reported extensively on the Seminoles’ dysfunction) and he knows the general result.

More:Who has the Big 12's top football recruiting class for 2023? OU, Texas take familiar perch

A quick synopsis of the Florida State problems. The Seminole alumni base is relatively young – FSU was an all-female school from 1904-1947 – so its donor history is not deep-seeded. With Tallahassee in the Florida Panhandle, geography works against FSU in terms of donor involvement.

In the later Bowden years, the program slipped. Leadership waned. Fisher, who produced a 29-game winning streak in 2013-14, waged battles over budgets and discipline.

Associate AD Monk Bonasorte, who reportedly kept the personalities working together, died of brain cancer in 2016.

Taggart wasn’t supported from the outset, proved to be a squishy hire, and was fired being owed $22 million. Season tickets in 2019 fell to 30,831. Seminole Boosters and the athletic department seemed to be wrestling for control of football.

Meanwhile, Clemson rose to prominence in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“We dominated for a long time,” Alford said. “We were the standard. We let our facilities dip. We didn’t reinvest in the program.

“I go back to the alignment. Not being here during that time, you read, you here, you talk to people. Everybody has a version, but it was fractured, no doubt about it.”

But Florida State broke ground this month on a new football headquarters, did a locker-room makeover and is renovating Doak Campbell Stadium, trying to create more of a revenue generator. In other words, many of the things Castiglione and Bob Stoops engineered at OU.

And Norvell has come through by winning. The Seminoles opened the season with an upset of Louisiana State, and despite a three-game losing streak in mid-season, FSU in the Cheez-It Bowl has a chance to reach 10 wins, equaling the highest total since Fisher’s 2014 playoff team.

Norvell was hired away from the University of Memphis, where Alford’s father, Louie, had been an assistant coach under Rex Dockery in the early 1980s.

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“We just kind of hit it off,” Alford said of Norvell said. “He supports my vision of what we need to do, not only in his program, but across the board. But I support his vision. The communication between the two of us could not be better.”

All is not bliss at Florida State. The budget remains a concern. The facility upgrades are in the planning or early stages. Norvell has had one good year.

But this Florida State football season feels much different than any in a long time in Tallahassee.

“We both got here three years ago,” Alford said. “To see what he’s done, and the team he inherited to where we are now, has been really impressive to watch.”

Alford calls Norvell a combination of Pete Carroll (Alford worked at Southern Cal), with his energy levels and people skills, and Bob Stoops, with his proper priorities and culture building.

“There had been quite a bit of change at Florida State over the years,” Norvell said. “It was important that we set those values and really establish an understanding for our players and what to expect, because there had been different leaders. With every leader, there's going to be different languages and different expectations.

“So trying to establish just that overall mindset of the willingness to work, being able to push to that standard of being your best day-in and day-out, and being able to do that in all aspects.”

Now Alford said the Seminoles pass the eye test. They look and act like those grand old Bowden teams that won so much for so long.

Florida State isn’t back. Not to the level of Clemson and not to the level Florida State once inhabited. But the Seminoles look on the way back.

More:How big was 'foundational player' Jackson Arnold's role in building OU's recruiting class?

Wisconsin football primer

OSU plays Wisconsin in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Tuesday night. The Cowboys and Badgers never have met in football, so this will be new blood for both programs.

To get you up to speed on the Badgers’ pedigree, here’s a primer on Wisconsin football history.

Arch-rival: Minnesota and Wisconsin play for the Paul Bunyan Axe. The rivalry is the most-played in Division I-A, 132 games. Wisconsin leads the series 62-60-8.

Tradition: Music plays a huge role in Badger festivities. First, “On, Wisconsin” is perhaps the most iconic fight song in America. As many as 2,900 high schools and colleges use the “On Wisconsin” melody for their fight songs. The Badgers have claimed the Budweiser jingle and sing “When you say Wisconsin, you’ve said it all.” And House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” famous around Oklahoma for the 2008 OU-Texas Tech game, is a Camp Randall Stadium staple.

Best player: Take your pick between Heisman Trophy winners Alan Ameche (1954) and Ron Dayne (1999). Ameche left school as the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher (3,345 yards). Forty-five years later, Dayne did the same (7,125 yards).

Best team: The 1998 Badgers went 11-1 and won the Rose Bowl. Dayne rushed for 1,525 yards. Tom Burke led the NCAA with 22 sacks, and Jamar Fletcher had six interceptions. Michigan beat the Badgers 27-10, keeping Wisconsin from a perfect record, but the Badgers waxed UCLA 38-31 in the Rose Bowl and finished No. 6 in the nation.

Best quarterback: In 2011, Russell Wilson transferred to Wisconsin from North Carolina State and quarterbacked the Badgers to a Big Ten championship.

NFL legacy: The Badgers have been producing National Football League stars for a long time. Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster (1974-90), pass-rush phenom J.J. Watt (2011-22), defensive back Troy Vincent 1992-2006), offensive tackle Joe Thomas (2007-17).

Best coach: Barry Alvarez coached the Badgers for 18 seasons, with a record of 118-75-4. Alvarez inherited a program that was 6-27 the previous three years. Wisconsin’s athletic deficit was $2.1 million, big money for 1990. But by 1993, Wisconsin was in the Rose Bowl, and Alvarez built a foundation that has lasted long after his coaching tenure.

Other coaches: Bret Bielema, who left for Arkansas after the 2012 season, went 68-24. Paul Chryst, fired this October, went 67-26. Dave McClain was an underrated coach, going 46-42-3 from 1978-85. Harry Stuhldreher coached Wisconsin from 1936-48, to a record of 46-62-6. Maybe you remember the name. Stuhldreher was a Notre Dame quarterback from 1922-24 and one of Knute Rockne’s legendary Four Horsemen.

Fan fest: That first Alvarez Rose Bowl team might have set a bowl record for fan travel. An estimated 70,000 Wisconsin fans flocked to Pasadena for the game against UCLA. Tailback Brent Moss rushed for 158 yards, quarterback Darell Bevell uncorked a 79-yard touchdown and the Wisconsin defense held off the Bruins, who reached the 18-yard line before time ran out.

Biggest game: In 1942, sixth-ranked Wisconsin, 5-0-1, played No. 1 Ohio State, 5-0, coached by Paul Brown, in front of 45,000 fans at Camp Randall. Over 200 radio stations carried the game, which was broadcast to troops in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and South America. The British Broadcasting Company carried the game to England, Ireland, Australia and India. Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch scored a late touchdown to ensure Wisconsin’s 17-7 victory.

Nickname: The Badgers name comes from the 1800s, when Wisconsin lead miners burrowed tunnels into hillsides for shelter. People said they “lived like badgers.” Wisconsin became known as the Badger State.

Big 12 history: The Badgers are 17-10-1 vs. teams currently in the Big 12. Wisconsin is 7-0 vs. Iowa State, 4-0 vs. West Virginia, 4-2 vs. Kansas, 2-2 vs. Kansas State, 0-2 vs. OU, 0-1-1 vs. Texas Christian and 0-1 vs. Texas. Against schools that were in the Big Six/Seven/Eight/12 at the time, the Badgers are 18-10-1.

Glory days: Well, from 1896-1901, the Badgers went 51-6-1 and outscored opponents 1,622-110. But since William McKinley won the White House, the best Wisconsin era was 1993-2000, when Alvarez led the Badgers to three Rose Bowl victories.

Forgettable times: From 1964-73, Wisconsin had 10 straight losing seasons, back-to-back winless seasons, an 18-game losing streak and a record of 27-70-5.

Championships: Wisconsin has won 14 conference titles, eight outright. The outright championships came in 1896, 1897, 1912, 1959, 1962, 1999, 2011 and 2012.

Bowl record: The Badgers are 18-15 in bowls, including 3-7 in the Rose Bowl, 1-0 in the Cotton Bowl and 1-0 in the Orange Bowl.

Conference affiliations: Wisconsin was a charter member of the Western Conference, which formed in 1896 and became the Big Ten.

Stadium: Camp Randall. Opened in 1917, on the site of the field that has been home of the Badgers since 1895 and during the Civil War was the site of Camp Randall, a Union training camp and eventual prison camp for Confederate soldiers. Camp Randall Stadium has grown from a capacity of 7,000 in 1917 to 80,321 today.

Enrollment: 49,886.

Notable alumni: Aviator Charles Lindbergh, baseball commissioner Bud Selig, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, historian Stephen Ambrose; astronaut Jim Lovell; horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas; former vice president Dick Cheney.

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How have OU 5-star recruits fared?

The Peyton Bowen flip gives Brent Venables three five-star players in his 2023 OU recruiting class. What does that do for the Sooners? It gives OU three five-star players in their 2023 recruiting class.

A five-star ranking does not guarantee success and does not guarantee that success will come at OU.

Of the Sooners’ 28 five-star recruits this century, I count five who were great players and finished their college careers at OU, plus Caleb Williams, who quarterbacked the 2021 Sooners down the stretch, and now has won the 2022 Heisman Trophy for Southern Cal.

I count four more players I’d classify as good players who stayed, with three more good players who transferred.

So that’s nine good or great players who stuck with the Sooners; 32.1%.

Three more players stayed that I classified as “solid.” Contributors who helped win games but weren’t always starters even late in their career.

So that’s 12 out of 28 that stuck around and could play. Less than 50 percent. Buyer beware.

Here’s how I group the OU 5-star recruits:

Great players who stayed

^ Adrian Peterson, 2004: Maybe you’ve heard of him. A tailback for the ages, both with the Sooners and the Minnesota Vikings. Headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

^ Tommie Harris, 2001: A nose guard dang near as good as Tony Casillas. An epic Sooner player.

^ Gerald McCoy, 2006: Almost on the level of Harris. A tremendous defensive tackle. I’m spitballing here, but probably one of the top 25 players in OU history.

^ DeMarco Murray, 2006: Now on Venables’ staff recruiting some of these 5-stars. Murray is one of the most underrated Sooners of all time. He stayed on campus five years(!) and was a tailback who could do it all and did. Then he was a great pro.

^ Joe Mixon, 2014: Sort of a poor man’s DeMarco. His career was overshadowed by his freshman-year suspension for slugging an OU coed on Campus Corner.

More:National Signing Day tracker: OU football recruits, announcements, 2023 class ranking

Great players who transferred

^ Caleb Williams, 2021: OU fans won’t claim him as a Heisman winner and shouldn’t, but man, what a thrilling ballplayer.

Good players who stayed

^ Marcus Walker, 2004: Cornerback who broke into the starting lineup late in his true freshman season, then had a good career for three more years.

^ Wes Sims, 2000: A mainstay on some really good OU offensive lines from 2002-04.

^ JaMarkus McFarland, 2009: Solid defensive tackle who played four seasons and had 81 tackles with 7½ sacks.

^ Zach Latimer, 2002: Solid linebacker who started in 2005 and 2006, with 168 tackles and six sacks those two years.

Good players who transferred

^ Spencer Rattler, 2019: All-Big 12 quarterback in 2020 and owner of a 15-2 record as the OU starter. Transferred to South Carolina and had an uneven 2022 season but finished it off by knocking both Tennessee and Clemson out of the College Football Playoff hunt. The biggest reason Rattler got beat out by Caleb Williams in October 2021 had nothing to do with Rattler. It was Caleb Williams.

^ Brendan Radley-Hiles, 2019: Much-scrutinized safety wasn’t a star but was a solid player. I never understood all the rancor from OU fans over Radley-Hiles. He was ahead of the curve in Sooner 5-star history. Transferred to Washington.

^ Mario Williams, 2021: Wide receiver who had 35 catches for 380 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman, then followed Lincoln Riley to USC. With the Trojans this season, Williams has 34 catches for 596 yards and five TDs.

Solid players who stayed

^ Caleb Kelly, 2015: Rare six-year player who battled injuries but was a solid contributor when healthy and a team leader.

^ DeMarcus Granger, 2005: Quite promising defensive tackle who was really good as a redshirt freshman in 2006, but he was sent home from the Fiesta Bowl that season due to a shoplifting incident. Injuries plagued Granger the rest of his career.

^ R.J. Washington, 2008: Defensive end who never lived up to his billing but got progressively better and had 6½ sacks over his final two years, 2011 and 2012.

Solid players who transferred

^ Jadon Haselwood, 2019: Maybe Haselwood belongs in the “good” category. He led OU in catches in 2021, with 39, for 399 yards and six TDs. Injuries plagued Haselwood at OU. He transferred to Arkansas and had 59 catches this season.

^ Keith Ford, 2013: Hard-running tailback who gained 526 yards on 94 carries his first two years, then transferred to Texas A&M and had rushing seasons of 669 and 548 yards.

^ Rhett Bomar, 2004: A promising quarterback who started the final 11 games of 2005, going 8-3 in those games, with 10 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. Then Bomar was dismissed from the squad in summer 2006 after involvement in the Big Red Sports & Imports scandal. He transferred to Sam Houston State, played well there and had a cup of coffee in the National Football League.

^ Theo Wease, 2019: Solid receiver who had 64 career catches for 1,044 yards and 10 touchdowns over four seasons. Has transferred to Missouri.

^ Brandon Williams, 2011: Tailback who rushed for 219 yards as a freshman but transferred to Texas A&M. Rushed for 651 yards over three Aggie seasons.

Played little and stayed

^ Brey Walker, 2018: Offensive lineman who has made a couple of starts but hasn’t played much.

Played little and transferred

^ Tony Cade, 2003: Hard-hitting safety played little in two years, then transferred to Nevada-Las Vegas.

^ Jermie Calhoun, 2008: In three OU seasons, Calhoun rushed for 242 yards in 16 games, then transferred to Angelo State.

^ Mo Dampeer, 2003: Defensive tackle spent two years at OU but never got in shape and rarely played. Eventually surfaced at Northwest Missouri State.

^ Chris Patterson, 2004: Linebacker never qualified academically. Ended up at junior college and Kansas State.

^ Trey Metoyer, 2011: Wide receiver went to a military academy out of high school, then caught 17 passes for the 2012 Sooners. But he twice was charged with indecent exposure and eventually was dismissed from the team.

^ Trejan Bridges, 2019: Had nine catches over two seasons, then was dismissed from the team after being charged with armed robbery. Has landed at East Los Angeles Junior College.

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: How did looming SEC move affect OU football in recruiting?

The List: NBA projections

The Thunder is tied for the 21^st-best record in the 30-team NBA. The Thunder’s point differential is tied for the NBA’s 21^st-best. So OKC’s record is quite an accurate measurement of how the Thunder has played.

The analytics crowd has proven that the best predictor of future performance is not win-loss record, but point differential.

With that in mind, which teams have a record the least indicative of how they’ve played (point differential)? Here are the nine teams that figure to move up or down in the standings, based on how they’ve played.

1. Nuggets: Denver is tied with Memphis for the Western Conference’s best record, 19-11, which ties for fourth in the NBA. But the Nuggets are 12^th in point differential. Expect Denver to dip.

2. Raptors: Toronto is tied with the Thunder at 14-18, but the Raptors are 15^th in point differential, so that record should improve.

3. Mavericks: Dallas is 16-16, one of five teams tied for 15^th in record. But the Mavs are 11^th in point differential. Dallas’ record should improve.

4. Clippers: The Clips are an outlier, because so many of their best players don’t play that often. Still, LA is 10^th in record, 19-14, and 16^th in point differential. So expect a big jump from the Clippers, and if the injuries clear up a little bit, an even bigger jump.

5. Suns: Phoenix, 19-13, is sixth in record but third in point differential. The Suns have not fallen far and will improve.

6. Bucks: Milwaukee is 22-9, the league’s best record, but the Bucks are just sixth in point differential. Milwaukee might not hold onto that No. 1 slot.

7. Netropolitans: Brooklyn is 20-12, the NBA’s sixth-best record, despite the 10^th-best point differential. The Nets figure to drop a little.

8. Knickerbockers: The surprising Knicks are 18-14, the 12th-best record, but they have the No. 8 point differential. New York might start winning more.

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Barry Alvarez built Wisconsin Badgers into a college football power

Mailbag: Barry Alvarez

My Thursday ScissorTale on Wisconsin icon Barry Alvarez drew some reader response.

Paul: “Very interesting article on Alvarez. But keep in mind that Alvarez is also the stubborn jerk who killed baseball at UW and refused to bring it back even when well-heeled alumni agreed to pay for it! This leaves UW as the only Big Ten school without baseball! Can you say Mickey Mouse. I love college football, but after attending the College World Series a couple of years ago, I couldn't believe that UW didn't have baseball!”

Tramel: I’ll cut Alvarez some slack. I can understand a Big Ten program without baseball. That is not counter-intuitive to me.

The financial demands on an athletic director are immense. You’ve got to feed the Wisconsin football machine, which pays for all else, and you’ve got Title IX demands.

Alvarez was not a spendthrift. Remember, as athletic director, Alvarez lost his football coach, Bret Bielema, to Arkansas, over the salaries of assistant coaches.

Baseball in the north is a tough sell. The season starts in February. Conference play begins in March. In Wisconsin and Minnesota and Michigan, it’s not even guaranteed to be warm in April.

I covered a 1997 OSU-Michigan basketball game in mid-March, part of the National Invitation Tournament. We strolled around campus during the day and stumbled upon a Michigan baseball and softball game. The Wolverines had a really cool, vintage baseball stadium. Old-fashioned grandstand. I’ll bet it was 40 degrees. Not fit for man nor beast to be playing baseball.

I’d say the question is not why did Wisconsin drop baseball. I’d say the question is, why haven’t other Big Ten schools dropped baseball?

Baseball is not some kind of badge of honor. Most of the Southeastern Conference schools don’t wrestle. Why should all the Big Ten schools play baseball?

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today. 

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Florida State football on rise with former OU aide leading Seminoles