Congratulations, Seminoles fans, part one of your master plan to return to the pantheon of college football has been completed.
For those unaware, Florida State fired their embattled athletic director, Michael Alford, earlier this week.
The reason that’s so significant is multifaceted, but his main transgression and the thing that ultimately lost him his job was the recent skid of the once-proud FSU football team.
And that all ties back to a decision Alford made back in 2024, when he gifted head coach Mike Norvell a massive contract extension with an almost absurd buyout.
The monetary numbers were questionable, even at a time when Norvell and the Noles were trending in the right direction, but since then, the program has taken a sharp downturn, punctuated by an 8-18 record since their ACC Championship winning season in 2023.
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So, now that Alford is sunk, the man he chose to anchor himself to has to be on the way out as well, right?
In theory, yes, but there’s still that pesky buyout number that keeps getting brought up.
And then there’s the other question that gets raised whenever schools even think about firing their current head coach: who can we hire?
There are a ton of quality names out there that the Seminoles should absolutely consider as their next head coach, but one of the only names I keep seeing tossed around by fans on social media is former Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher.
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I get it.
Things are brutal right now in Tallahassee, and Noles fans are just trying to cling onto something from the good old days, but I’m not so sure if Fisher is the answer.
Let’s start with his age.
Fisher turns 61 in October, and while plenty of great coaches have had phenomenal seasons well into their 60s and 70s, the former FSU and Texas A&M head man hasn’t donned a headset in three years, which might as well be dog years given how different the game of college football looks now.
Speaking of Texas A&M, Fisher’s last stop as a head coach with the Aggies left a lot to be desired.
While in College Station, Fisher compiled a 45-25 record, which is fine, but definitely not what he was hired to do.
His five and a half years as the Aggies’ head coach was marred by inconsistent offenses and power struggles, as his inability to hand over the controls on offense before it was too late is partially what led to his demise.
One of the reasons Fisher left the confines of Tallahassee – where he had won a national championship – for Texas A&M was (allegedly) the fact that Florida State would not meet his demands for more resourcing.
The Aggies are one of the most well-resourced football programs in America, and the fact that he was never able to even make an SEC Championship Game shouldn’t inspire confidence.
I doubt the Seminoles are in a position, financially speaking, to give Fisher the funds he needs to compete on the national stage, and even if they do, would he be able to wind back the clocks and have FSU looking like the mid 2010s version of themselves?
As I said earlier, I totally get it.
As a Gator fan, when things were coming to a merciful end with Billy Napier, I started to talk myself into the idea of Urban Meyer coming home and coaching Florida again.
But being realistic, that would have never worked.
Meyer flamed out at his final stop in Jacksonville and he was nearly a decade removed from coaching in college football.
Florida State needs to move forward, not backward.
Find a hot, up-and-coming coach that will thrust the Seminoles into the modern era of college football.
Just off the top of my head, a guy like Boise State’s Spencer Danielson would be a home run hire to get the Noles back to where they want to be.
But, of course, Florida State needs to find a new AD first.
Then, after that, they have to actually fire Norvell, a prospect that might not be as simple as just pulling the plug given his exorbitant buyout.
There are a lot of problems in Tallahassee right now, but there are plenty of solutions as well.
I’m not so sure hiring Jimbo Fisher is one of them.
