Florida State paid $1.3 million for Saturday’s game at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee against No. 25 Memphis, the former school of Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell.
The result was a 20-12 loss that dropped the Seminoles to 0-3 for the second time in the last five seasons.
Florida State is the first team ranked in the preseason top 10 poll to start 0-3 in a non-COVID year since Texas A&M did so in 1988. Penn State, ranked 7th in both polls, began the 2020 COVID-shortened season losing its first five games.
Norvell spent four seasons at Memphis compiling a 38-16 record and was hired by Florida State in December 2019, taking over for the fired Willie Taggert after guiding the Tigers to four straight postseason appearances, including the Cotton Bowl.
The Memphis game contract was executed six months after Norvell’s hiring, and the $1.3 million payment must be made on or before Feb. 15, 2025.
Mike Norvell buyout
Florida State, which is 0-3 for the second time under Norvell, is invested for the time being. At present, firing him would result in the school paying him $65 million not to coach or 85% of his base salary and supplemental pay over the remainder of a contract set to expire on Dec. 31, 2031.
The amount would be subject to Norvell’s duty to find another job with the income from that position offsetting what FSU would owe him.
‘I know what it takes to win games, I know what it takes for a team to go out there and be able to execute and play at a high level. We all have to do a better job of what we are doing throughout the course of the week,’ Norvell told reporters after Saturday’s loss.
‘We can’t continue to come into games and see things that are absolutely not a part of who we are show up.’
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