It's no secret that Florida State football is looking to rebound after back-to-back losing seasons, with a 2-10 and 5-7 record now attached to Mike Norvell and this program forever. Indeed, a strange outcome for a program that went 13-1 just a few years ago. With all of the talk about whether Norvell should still have his job, coaching rankings by Chris Vannini of The Athletic have tried to make sense of not only him, but all 138 FBS coaches. From Kirby Smart and Curt Cignetti to the newcomers, everyone is trying to prove they belong. Norvell finished in the fifth team, titled the "up and down" tier, along with names like Charlotte's Tim Albin (the 49ers finished 1-11 and 0-8 in the American in Albin's first season) and Syracuse's Fran Brown, who had a similarly devastating collapse from 2024 to 2025, falling to 3-9 after going 10-3 the year before. Vannini spends a fair bit discussing what to make of Norvell, and this is what he had to say:
Florida State’s Mike Norvell drops after his fourth losing season out of six in Tallahassee. The undefeated 2023 regular season at FSU and 2019 conference title at Memphis keep him from dropping lower, though he enters 2026 on one of the hottest seats in college football.
FSU opens its 2026 season against the New Mexico State Aggies on Aug. 29. Fans can catch the game on the CW Network at 7 p.m. ET. Contact/Follow us @FSUWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of FSU news, notes, and opinions. Jacob Smith is a contributor for FSU Wire, part of the USA TODAY Network. You can also follow Jacob on X at @jsmith_sports. This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: See where Mike Norvell ranks in The Athletic's coaching tiers