The nightmare for Florida State fans may be long from over, but the primary reason for the last 2 ½ years of frustration is now gone. Head coach Mike Norvell was fired on Sunday afternoon, leaving one of the once most prominent programs looking for a head coach effective immediately. The next part of the process is the most important. Florida State can’t afford to not get this hire right considering their financial situation and foothold lost in their own state over the last several years.
There are several names on the short list, but here are a few with SEC ties that will certainly be mentioned as well.
Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri
Drinkwitz is one of the first names that Florida State will most likely call during this process. Say what you want about him as a troll, or his record against ranked opponents, but Drinkwitz is a good coach. What’s most impressive about his time in Missouri isn’t even the 51-31 record as a head coach, it’s the buy-in he’s been able to get from boosters and donors to increase Missouri’s resources and improve facilities. Luring him away from Missouri would be tough, considering he just signed a contract extension in December, but buying him out of said contract would only cost FSU $4 million. The biggest obstacle is matching his $10.75 million salary that he’s currently getting in Columbia.
Blake Baker, LSU
Expect Baker’s name to be involved in every short list at any opening this offseason, and with good reason. Baker has been a phenomenal defensive coordinator everywhere he’s been, but he’s really come into his own in Baton Rouge. He garnered interest from some Group of Six schools, but ultimately returned for another year at LSU. He will have his pick of places to land his first head coaching role, and Florida State would be stupid to not come calling. The biggest obstacle here is would Baker want to deal with that mess in Tallahassee instead of staying in his current role or waiting for a less chaotic, and toxic situation, to open up. Make no mistake about it, the current state of Florida State football is both of those things too.
Glenn Schumann, Georgia
Schumann grew up in Valdosta which is close to the Florida/Georgia line and less than 100 miles from Florida State’s campus. There is no one with better tutelage during his assistant coaching tenure than Schumann. He was on staff under Nick Saban and has served as the defensive coordinator for the last several years at Georgia under Kirby Smart. He’s interviewed for Power Four jobs in the past, but nothing stuck. He’s taking a similar approach to his current boss Smart who turned down Auburn and South Carolina before getting the job in Athens. Schumann knows how to recruit and build a championship program from what he’s been a part of. Could he orchestrate and lead one on his own is the bigger question.
Jimbo Fisher, Sirius XM
No seriously. There is already smoke with this connection and Fisher has even mentioned he’d be open to the possibility of returning if it was the right timing. The way Fisher left FSU fractured a lot of relationships in that athletics administration building, but the nostalgia of winning with him as the head coach outweighs a lot of the negatives and pride that would get in the way. He still has a home in Tallahassee, is very familiar with the program, and knows how to rebuild that program. They could also most likely get him at a discounted rate given what he’s still making from Texas A&M and this retread would get him back into coaching.
Kalen DeBoer, Alabama
I’m kidding. But, fully expect a tweet from Tim Brando predicting that in the next 24-48 hours.
