Report: Florida State expressing serious interest in new athletic director

Florida State University has a “mutual and serious” interest in Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra to fill the same position, according to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde. The report also suggests a resolution could come as early as Monday.

Florida State recently parted ways with athletic director David Coburn, who held the position since 2019. A new school president, Richard McCullough opted to go in a new direction just months after his predecessor promoted Coburn to Vice President.

According to Forde, relations between Vince Tyra and Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi are “strained” to the point that many will consider a Florida State move a “mutual” split. The University of Louisville board also scheduled a meeting for Monday to discuss personnel.

The current ACC landscape

In addition to the Louisville news, Forde discussed the interesting landscape of ACC athletics and the rumors moves which could reshape the conference.

“ACC could be looking at two intra-league AD changes almost simultaneously, with Clemson’s Dan Radakovich seriously involved at Miami,” Forde tweeted in the thread of reports.

In addition to multiple potential athletic director moves on the horizon, the ACC has multiple football coaching positions open. After Virginia Tech hired its next coach, Virginia and Duke continue the search. Although Miami still has Manny Diaz under contract, they are reportedly in talks with Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal.

Mike Norvell on Florida State recruiting

“Mike Norvell [was] asked about importance of recruiting,” explained Noles247’s Brendan Sonnone on Twitter. “Calls it lifeblood of a program and requires constant evaluation. ‘Really excited about the guys we’ve been able to bring here,’ as well as future classes. Says there’s a ‘lot of momentum’ and excitement about what FSU is doing.”

Norvell’s comments come in stark contrast to those made in a strange press conference by former Florida head coach Dan Mullen during the final weeks of his tenure. In Mullen’s weekly press conference, the Florida head coach made a reference to recruiting that might not sit well with Gators fans.

“We’re in the season now,” Mullen said, when asked about Florida’s recruiting process. “We’ll do recruiting after the season — when it gets to recruiting time we can talk about recruiting.”

According to On3’s Nick de la Torre, Mullen’s ill-advised comment, which suggests that Florida is not recruiting much mid-season, led to another strange moment. Florida ended its weekly press conference shortly thereafter.

“Dan Mullen’s press conference ends abruptly, no players made available. I was in line to ask a question, not called on,” de la Torre tweeted. “Not sure what’s going on at UF.”