Florida State coach Mike Norvell responds to school's vote of confidence as questions about job security mount

Mike Norvell stood behind the podium Wednesday knowing exactly what awaited him: another round of questions about his job security and the future of Florida State football. But before reporters could ask a single one, the sixth-year coach delivered a five-minute statement recapping the 20-13 loss at Stanford last Saturday and made one thing clear: he's not running from accountability.

Florida State (3-4) hasn't won an ACC game in nine tries dating back to September 2024, and the current four-game skid has fueled rampant speculation about Norvell's future in Tallahassee. Athletic director Michael Alford publicly declared he is "fully committed" to helping Norvell and the 2025 Seminoles rebound, but noted that a full program review would take place at season's end. The show of confidence from Alford could have been viewed as reassurance, but Norvell saw it differently.

"The statement wasn't for me," Norvell said Wednesday. "Because I know every day that I show up I know what it's going to be and I know what it's going to look like. But I am grateful for the opportunity to be the head coach here at Florida State, and I'm not going to take that for granted. I'm also not going to sit there and just hinge everything on what messages are. I've got a job to do and I got to go do my job and we got to be better at it."

The struggles have been as confounding as they've been frustrating. After opening the season with a statement win over then-No. 8 Alabama and climbing as high as No. 7 in the AP Top 25, Florida State has dropped four straight, each by a single possession. The narrow losses -- at Virginia, Miami, Pittsburgh and at Stanford -- have demonstrated a team that can compete but can't quite finish.

Florida State's fall from the heights of 2023, when it was 13-0 as the ACC champion before being left out of the College Football Playoff, has been steep. Since then, the Seminoles are 5-15 overall with a combined 1-11 record against ACC opponents. 

"I know and understand the expectations," Norvell said. "And for all things, there's no higher expectation than what I have, and I know it's not been good enough. With every day that I get to come on this campus, to be a part of this program, I'm going to give all that I have. Over the last six years that's occurred.

"The results have not always been what I want it to be," he continued, "but when you go through all the different aspects of where we are and what it's looked like, we've got to get better, and I appreciate the belief of what that is and what that belief is for our future and what's ahead."

Florida State is off this week before hosting Wake Forest on Nov. 1, giving Norvell and his staff a brief window to try to regroup.