Paul Finebaum Names $84 Million College Football Coach Getting Fired This Weekend

It’s never too early to get a line on which college football coaches are about to lose their jobs, and looking around the country one name definitely does stick out right now.

And going into this weekend’s game at Alabama, one prominent voice believes what will transpire on the field is almost certain to get him fired.

Good luck, Mike Norvell: the Seminoles head coach’s job is potentially on the line on Saturday in a critical road test against the Crimson Tide, but Paul Finebaum doesn’t think Norvell will be on Florida State’s payroll by Sunday.

Talk About a Hot Seat

“I don’t think he gets on the plane to go back to Tallahassee,” Finebaum said, via On3 Sports.

He added: “[Norvell] is that disliked by his fan base. They hate Mike Norvell so badly this week, they fired his boss, Mike Alford, the athletic director. We’ve seen this movie before. You get rid of the athletic director.”

Seminoles in Freefall

Paul Finebaum Names $84 Million Head Coach Who Will Be Fired This Week — USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

It’s no secret that Norvell is on the top of just about every list of head coaches across college football who are seemingly about to get the ax, and it’s not surprising when looking at Florida State’s results on the field the last two-plus years.

Just three years ago, Norvell had the Seminoles go undefeated in the regular season and win the ACC Championship, only to be controversially left out of the College Football Playoff in favor of one-loss SEC champion Alabama, their opponent this week.

Since then, the Seminoles have won just 8 games, lost another 18 overall, and came out on the right side of only 3 matchups against ACC competition, losing 14 others.

Starting Over in September?

Firing a head coach this early into the season is risky business, with most of the season still to play all while leading a very public effort to find new leadership. But finding candidates shouldn’t be difficult at a program of FSU’s caliber.

Who could replace Norvell on the sideline? Seminoles fans just might recognize him.

“I’ll tell you the name people are whispering to be the next head coach: the one that left about 12 years ago. Jimbo Fisher. He won a national championship at FSU in 2013,” Finebaum said of Florida State’s most recent successful coach.

Fisher hasn’t been shy about saying he wants back in somewhere, with multiple other coaches saying recently that he has expressed a desire to lead a program again.

But a return to Florida State? The idea of his taking less money may sound appealing to the school, but such a reunion is still very much in the realm of rumor and gossip.

But Really, Will Norvell Get Fired?

By firing Alford, Florida State has shown it’s willing to make a big move in a leadership position, clearly sending a message that they don’t approve of critical aspects of his decision making, chief among which was giving Norvell a giant, $84 million extension.

But it just might be that extension that continues to give the school pause and not pull the trigger even with a bad loss to Alabama.

Firing Norvell now would put the school on the hook for a buyout of $48 million to $51 million, one of the largest in college football history, and a less than ideal situation for an athletic department already in tons of debt.

A bad showing against the Tide would make it even more difficult for Florida State to justify keeping Norvell on its sideline, but that doesn’t mean he would be fired, either.

It would, however, add another prominent loss that will play a part in what looks like an inevitable decision.

(On3)

Add us as a preferred source on Google