Florida State Fires Mike Norvell After Clemson Loss, With a $50.3 Million Buyout Due

Florida State fired head football coach Mike Norvell on Sunday, November 1, 2026, ending his run in charge one day after the Seminoles lost 36-24 to Clemson. University president Richard McCullough announced the decision. "We have made the decision to change the leadership of our football program," McCullough said in the school's press release, as reported by the Tallahassee Democrat.

Norvell, 45, was told of the firing earlier on Sunday, before a regularly scheduled team meeting set for 3:30 p.m. local time, according to the Tallahassee Democrat and Deadspin. McCullough and interim athletic director Bruce Warwick addressed the decision with media on Sunday. ESPN's Andrea Adelson first reported the firing on Sunday afternoon, and theScore and Bleacher Report confirmed the move the same day.

A slide that started in 2024

The Clemson loss was Florida State's third in a row. The Seminoles fell to 3-5 on the season and 1-4 in the ACC, a record that left the program well short of the standard Norvell himself set three years ago. His best season came in 2023, when Florida State went 13-1 and won the ACC title. Since the start of the 2024 season, the Seminoles have gone 10-22.

Norvell finished with a 41-39 overall record across seven seasons at Florida State. The school hired him in December 2019 after he coached Memphis to a 38-16 record. The 2023 team raised expectations in Tallahassee, and the results since then moved in the other direction, season by season, until Saturday's loss at Clemson closed the tenure.

The buyout and the contract behind it

Florida State will owe Norvell a buyout of $50.3 million, according to figures reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel and carried by theScore. The amount equals 85 percent of the value remaining on his contract and is subject to offset and mitigation. Norvell signed an eight year, $84 million extension after the 2023 season, and that deal is the reason the cost of Sunday's decision is so high. The firing also came one day after the loss that sealed it, which means the school accepted that cost rather than wait for the remaining games to change the picture.

Changes across the staff

The change reached beyond the head coach. Florida State also fired defensive coordinator Tony White, who was in his second season with the program, as reported by Pete Nakos of On3 and carried by theScore. Safeties coach Evan Cooper was also fired, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Rick Stockstill, the school's director of offensive scouting since 2024 and the longtime former head coach at Middle Tennessee, will serve as interim head coach. On defense, linebackers coach Ernie Sims will serve as interim defensive coordinator, and assistant defensive backs coach Greg Moss will coach the safeties.

A national search, with a new athletic director still to come

Florida State will conduct a national search for its next head coach. The search starts in an athletic department that is already in transition. The school fired athletic director Michael Alford in September, and Bruce Warwick is serving as interim athletic director. Whoever takes the football job will inherit a roster built by Norvell, a fan base that watched a 13-1 season three years ago, and a program that has won 10 of its last 32 games.