On Sunday afternoon, Florida State made the decision that seemed to be one that was in the making for a long time, firing head football coach Mike Norvell. The move came after a loss on Saturday night at home to Clemson.
However, you could make the case that the timing was odd. The Seminoles entered the game 3-4 and coming off a bye week. If you were going to fire him before the end of the season, you would have thought that they would have done it before FSU’s bye week.
Anyway, they gave him one more shot against Dabo Swinney and the Tigers, but after falling to 3-5 and with a frustrated fanbase, the school decided to part ways with Norvell. Now the question is: where does the school go from here to find the next head coach? Greg McElroy, on his latest Always College Football podcast, pointed the finger at one person to begin the search with.
Florida State Urged To Call Manny Diaz to Begin Coaching Search
Before all is said and done, there are going to be a lot of names linked to the job. However, McElroy believes that first phone call needs to be made to Duke’s Manny Diaz.
“I think the first call you make in this scenario is to Manny Diaz,” said McElroy. “He’s an alum, he’s a defensive head coach, he’s spent a lot of time in the (ACC). He’s familiar with the league, he can recruit and we have already seen him be very comfortable winning and punching above his weight class at Duke in this new era of college football.”
Diaz led Duke to an improbable ACC Championship last December. Making the title game thanks to a tiebreaker. They finished tied at 6-2 in the conference with Miami, Georgia Tech, SMU, and Pittsburgh, but emerged from the tiebreaker despite being 7-5 overall.
They faced Virginia in the Championship Game and prevailed in overtime. However, they were left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff field. Miami, instead, was the ACC representative. They advanced to the National Championship Game before falling to Indiana.
Florida State Needs To Nail the Next Hire in Tallahassee
To say that this next hire is a pivotal one for Florida State would be an understatement. The Seminoles need to win three of their final four games under an interim coach to become bowl-eligible. If not, it’ll be the third straight season they will miss playing a game beyond Thanksgiving Weekend.
For a program with championship expectations, not even making a bowl game is a big blow. There are going to be several names linked to the job, and some of the candidates will be good ones. Whoever is tabbed the next head coach will have a battle in-state with Florida and a rising Miami program for recruits.
However, the ACC is maybe the third toughest Power 4 Conference behind the Big Ten and SEC. It won’t take long in the current state of college football to quickly turn things around and become a CFP contender in the ACC. That could be enticing for some coaches at other programs.
College Football Analyst Links Current ACC Head Coach To Florida State Opening