FSU Football Announces Interim Head Coach After Mike Norvell Firing

The Florida State Seminoles fired seventh-year head coach Mike Norvell with four games remaining in the 2026 season.

With the Seminoles sitting at 3-5 and losers of three straight, there is still an outside chance of rallying to make a bowl game. Regardless, fans are simply excited for something new, and this program will look a lot different over the final month of the regular season and the foreseeable future as more changes are made.

When Florida State made coaching changes in 2017 and 2019, Odell Haggins stepped into the interim role, picking up the pieces to get the program to a bowl game during both runs.

The Seminoles will be led by a different face to conclude 2026, but one that still has strong ties to the university.

FSU Names Rick Stockstill Interim Head Coach

In the same announcement where Florida State canned Norvell, FSU President Richard McCullough announced that Rick Stockstill is being elevated to interim head coach.

"We are confident in Rick Stockstill's ability to provide steady leadership during this transition," McCullough wrote.

Stockstill has been on staff as Director of Scouting (offense) since being hired by the Seminoles in 2024. He played quarterback for FSU under Bobby Bowden from 1977-81, and was inducted into the university's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.

Prior to his time at Florida State, Stockstill was the head coach at Middle Tennessee State for 18 years. He went 113-111 during his tenure with the Blue Raiders, guiding the program to ten bowl games. Back in 2022, MTSU beat No. 25 Miami 45-31, its first-ever win against a ranked opponent.

Stockstill coached six NFL Draft picks and nine All-Americans at Middle Tennessee State. He also worked as an assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman, UCF, Clemson, East Carolina, and South Carolina.

During his playing career, Stockstill was a captain at FSU in 1981, the same year the Seminoles won at No. 7 Ohio State. He finished his time in garnet and gold with 260 completions, 2,834 passing yards, and 26 touchdowns. Stockstill graduated from Florida State in 1982.

Coincidentally, this is a similar stretch to when Florida State fired Willie Taggart in 2019. The first game of the post-Taggart era was on the road against Boston College.

Less than a week after moving on from Norvell, the Seminoles will face the Eagles in Chestnut Hill on Saturday, November 7. Maybe Stockstill will have a few tricks up his sleeve, like Haggins did with Jordan Travis.

Add us as a preferred source on Google