Pete Thamel reveals where Mike Norvell stands on hot seat talk

For the first weekend in five weeks, and just the fourth weekend out of eleven total this season, a head coach wasn’t fired anywhere in the FBS. However, that doesn’t mean that the coaching carousel is spinning any slower, with ESPN’s Pete Thamel continuing to keep his eyes on Tallahassee.

On the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ on Monday, Thamel was again asked who the next head coach to be fired would be. His answer was Florida State’s Mike Norvell, with the Seminoles falling back under .500 on Saturday as a 24-10 loss at Clemson dropped FSU to 1-5 this season, and 2-12 going back to last season too, against the ACC.

“Yeah, well, I would think, obviously, Mike Norvell is squarely in the crosshairs,” said Thamel. “You know, I think he’s 2-12 in the ACC in his last 14 games, right. So, yeah. So, that speaks for itself in that realm.

Thamel also noted, among “maybe one or two others”, names like Baylor’s Dave Aranda, Maryland’s Mike Locksley, and Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith. But, Norvell was the first name said and focused on.

Per reporting on Sunday, namely by On3’s Pete Nakos, Florida State was again considering the future of Norvell, yet he wasn’t fired by the end of the weekend by the Seminoles. That may be in part due to, if they do end up firing him, it costing them the second-largest buyout in the history of the sport of $58.4 million. Nakos has since reported further on the statuses of several coaches, including Norvell, on Tuesday morning.

That’s as Florida State sits at 4-5 (.444) overall this season, with their year having gotten off track again in conference play with all five losses being against their opponents so far in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They’re also on a streak of what’s now nine consecutive losses away from home going back to the Orange Bowl in 2023. The Seminoles are then 6-15 (.286) overall, and that mark of 2-12 against the ACC, over the past season and a half at FSU, and just 37-32 (.526) overall to this point of the sixth season of the tenure for Norvell.

Pending what happens in the next three games for the ‘Noles, Norvell may just at least finish this season before any decision is made. Still, whether it be him or another coach elsewhere, Thamel knows this carousel isn’t yet done, with eleven jobs already open around college football.

“We’re still going to have a few more busy Sundays before this is all said and done,” said Thamel

“It’s a fascinating (game of) chess, musical chairs – whatever you want to call it. I’ve never quite seen a carousel like this.”