David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer December 30, 2023, 7:00 a.m. ET
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- ACC Reporter.
- Joined ESPN in 2012.
- Graduated from the University of Delaware.
DANIA BEACH, Fla. – There is a moment, really just a split second, when the weight of the College Playoff Committee's judgment affects the rest of the Florida State team as if it were an impenetrable wall of optimism and Enthusiasm That means Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell could finally collapse.
In the video from the team's Dec. 3 watch party, which aired on national television following the committee's most controversial decision in its 10-year history, Norvell sits in the center, surrounded by his players, including just one Couple of injured QB Jordan Travis feet away. The announcement is made. Moans echo through the room. Travis covers his face with a towel. The players turn to each other in disbelief. Norvell still is.
He taps his fingertips together. He tilts his head down. It is immediately clear that he was completely unprepared for this eventuality, and it is not hard to imagine a war of wills raging in his mind between the entirely reasonable anger that must have been his natural reaction and the measured determination that was has become his standard. He directed this program for four years.
This is the moment it should come – the outburst, the anger, the indignation, the barrage of epithets directed at a distant group of people that have upended his worldview, the worldview that he had sold this team for years, the one that had led Florida State to 19 straight wins and an undefeated season.
But Norvell catches himself.
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He says nothing. He turns around and looks at his players. He's still and still for almost 10 seconds, although it feels much longer.
And then he stands up and speaks to his players.
“These were the most challenging weeks as a coach I've ever had,” Norvell said 17 days later, the emotion still in his voice.
From that moment on, the challenge became greater. Nearly two dozen key players this season have opted out, entered the transfer portal or are out due to injury. Florida State will not be playing for a national championship, but will play against two-time defending champion Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl (4 p.m. ET on ESPN) with a third-string quarterback and a number of new faces at offensive skill positions. Furthermore, Florida State will take the next step — the final step of the 2023 season — knowing that the ethos that was the foundation of this year's 12-0 season was shattered in a single moment.
And yet, for those who remain at Florida State, the motivation to keep going came in those ten seconds of silence when Norvell decided to face the most difficult moment of his coaching career not with anger but with determination.
After the lowest point of his coaching career, Norvell reiterates what he has always preached.
“I didn’t see Mike bat an eyelid at all,” defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said.
He's still angry. He would always be angry, he said.
But before FSU's title hopes were dashed, Norvell began each day with a loud “Good morning!” and usually ended it the same way – with a tongue-in-cheek “Good morning!” at 11 p.m., a joke intended to illustrate how consistent he is.
Even though he's still seething over the committee's decision, every new day at FSU begins the same way.
“You get the 'Good morning!' because he’s the same Coach Norvell every day,” linebacker Kalen DeLoach said. “That’s him, 365 days a year.”
There are other quirks of the Norvell experience that have been repeated to the point of obsession at Florida State in recent years.
There's the “CLIMB” mantra – an acronym for Commitment, Little Things, Intensity, Mental Strength, Brotherhood – etched across a photo of a mountain peak that hangs in his office. It's about growth and progress, with the implication that today's improvement is more important than where yesterday ended.
There's the slogan he's used all season — “for years, actually,” offensive lineman Maurice Smith said –: “All we have is all we need.” In Florida State's early days, that was believed that Florida State was good enough to win despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary on the field, but that has evolved as the Seminoles have climbed higher and higher on their journey, and it still serves as one now Sign of defiance. It's less about convincing the guys in the locker room that they're enough and more about insisting to the outside world that something vital has been missed.
And there's the old saying that you control what you can control. There probably isn't a coach in the country who hasn't said it, but Norvell lives it. He wasn't outraged by the coronavirus restrictions that kept him from meeting with his team for most of his first seven months on the job, nor did he throw up his hands in disgust when FSU called a Hail Mary. Litter blew the loss to FCS Jacksonville State, and he even laughed off a viral “Fire Mike Norvell” social media campaign after losing top recruit Travis Hunter to Deion Sanders and Jackson State.
That's why his silence after the committee's announcement was so significant. It was as close as he'd ever come to letting his emotions take over, he said, but if he had, it would be proof that some things beyond his reach could still dictate his actions, and he refuses to allow this.
“There are options, and this offers choices,” Norvell said. “The thing we keep harping on with our guys on this journey is that this could be a defining moment for you. Focus on improving and becoming better than you were before. It is difficult. Many of them were injured. But I believe.” We will continue to expand our experience.”
This all seems like a convenient collection of gimmicks to bolster a struggling team after the low point of its season, except Norvell has been preaching the same things every day all season.
“Leadership is not about giving a speech,” Norvell said. “It's about what you do on the field and in meeting rooms and how you operate every single day. You can talk, but if your actions don’t back it up, no one will listen to you.”
IF BRADEN FISKE He first arrived at Florida State last spring, a highly regarded but unproven transfer from Western Michigan. He suffered from an injury and was unable to train fully. But every day before practice, his head coach sprinted across the entire field at FSU's indoor facility. Occasionally, other players joined in and pushed Norvell — 20 years her senior — into the end zone. Fiske thought he would give it a try.
“Fiske can run, man,” receiver Keon Coleman said. “He’s got these little legs that he gets going and – it’s funny.”
If Fiske's sprints were good for laughs, they also caused a stir. During those runs, people around FSU realized they could have a star in Fiske. But it was also when Fiske realized how much his coach at Florida State had truly changed.
“He never misses a race,” Fiske said. “I miss a few every now and then depending on how the hamstrings are feeling, but he never misses a race and that’s just the person he is and the coach he is.”
Fiske's racing days were over, he said. He now has a boot on his foot as he prepares for Saturday's Orange Bowl. But he's still playing, still focused on winning, and that's thanks in large part to his coach.
“There shouldn’t be a lack of motivation [Norvell] “It’s about walking through the building,” Fiske said. “People outside only see snippets, but when you're in the program and you're there every day, it's different. “It's different being around a guy like Coach Norvell. When I got here I was sure he was going to collapse. It never happens. He is the same man every day, no matter what is going on in his life or his program. That’s why we go where we want to go.”
It's hard to know exactly what this game means for Florida State right now. Is it the final chapter of the magical 2023 season? Is it the first chance to reverse the committee's decision and embark on something new? Is it a strange purgatory that is neither an end nor a beginning, but rather a placeholder, a routine exercise that exists on its own timeline?
The oddsmakers certainly don't think Florida State has much of a chance of winning. Norvell and AD Michael Alford have downplayed any interest in a de facto championship, even if the Seminoles do indeed claim victory in the Orange Bowl. And either way, when the calendar turns to 2024 and Norvell takes a look at what's left of his roster, he'll see little resemblance to the team in Charlotte with an ACC title and the insurance, enough to have done something to earn a little more, marched off the field.
“The worst part is this [watch party] “It was the last time this team – players, coaches, staff – all together in one environment,” Fiske said.
And that is the true meaning of Norvell's restraint in this moment. What the world will remember is the great disappointment on the faces of every player in the room, the sadness of it Travis' tweet in which he wished he had been injured sooner, and the resulting outrage from FSU officials, who were horrified at being passed over.
But Norvell hopes the men in this room will remember that in one of their final moments together as a team, their head coach was the same guy he had been in all the other moments they were together.
“We’re still at the beginning of our goal,” Norvell said. “This program has great days ahead. There’s still nothing back for the guys who played their last game here at Florida State, but at the end of the day we’re excited about our opportunity.”
“There will be times in life when things don't go right. What you've earned, you don't always get the reward for it. But you control your reaction – what you do with it, the attitude. “You bring something to the table – and that will define your identity.”