Florida State is making significant changes to its coaching staff as a disastrous 2024 season thankfully draws to a close.
Coach Mike Norvell announced Sunday that offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans had been fired. Their firings come a day after the Seminoles fell to 1-9 with a 52-3 loss at No. 10 Notre Dame.
“I appreciate the work these three men have given me over the past five years at Florida State,” Norvell said in a statement. “They are all great men with families who have also contributed to our program. We had a lot of great times together here and I have never doubted his passion for our players and Florida State. Unfortunately, we have not maintained the state of Florida standard with our results on the field this season. “I didn’t make any of these decisions lightly, but I felt changes were necessary to get our program to where we all want it to be.”
Notre Dame had 453 yards on just 62 plays in the blowout victory. The Irish scored 31 points in the second half after taking a 21-3 lead into halftime.
Florida State’s record says it all about how well the team has played this season, but it also somehow doesn’t describe how bad the Seminoles have been. They are the only high-level college football team in the country that has not scored more than 21 points in a game this season and rank last among the 134 FBS teams with 13.3 points per game.
The defense is allowing nearly 30 points per game and opposing offenses are averaging 5.8 yards per play.
The Seminoles also have a turnover differential of -14. The offense has committed 17 turnovers and the defense has only forced three. No opponent has turned the ball over multiple times in a single game this season and FSU hasn’t forced a turnover since a 42-16 loss to SMU. That game was on September 28.
Changing coordinators at this point in the season is a bit like rearranging the sun loungers on the Titanic. FSU’s season is a lost cause. But it also gives Norvell an advantage in finding assistants for the 2025 season, even if the jobs don’t have the shine they did a year ago. The Seminoles are experiencing the worst season-to-season collapse in the history of modern college football just months after Norvell signed an eight-year contract extension worth $84 million.
A year ago, FSU was 13-0 and won the ACC before missing the College Football Playoff largely due to QB Jordan Travis’ season-ending injury. The team added DJ Uiagalelei through the transfer portal to replace Travis, but Uiagalelei played extremely poorly before suffering a hand injury.
Their replacements have not been better. Brock Glenn and Luke Kromenhoek completed less than 44% of their passes and threw four touchdown passes and seven interceptions.