Offensive Coordinators
1-Tino Sunseri - Indiana - OC/QB Coach - After speaking with him last week, he is number one on my board. He checks all the boxes. Potential to be a head coach (YES), has worked under great coaches (YES), can recruit at a high level (YES). He played the position (YES). Tino was quite impressive on our podcast last week. He is very organized and has been there before. He coached at FSU (Jimbo), coached at Alabama (Saban), coach under good coaches (Pruitt/Sark). He has gone down to the FCS level (James Madison) and been productive. Now he has had success at Indiana. He does not need to be the GUY....Just let him be Co-OC. I feel from my conversations with him, Tino would take the job.
2-Brennan Marion -UNLV - I have Tino number 1. Number 2 on the list is Marion. Some will say he has a gimmick offense. No, the guy created an offense because UNLV has stunk. You have to get creative when the program you are going to has never won. He got there and they won. He checks the boxes....Can he become a HC (YES),. Has he coached in the NFL (YES-Dolphins), has he coached every position on offense (YES). Has he coached and developed talent (YES) Jordan Addison says hello. The guy is a winner and a great coach. He would excel at recruiting at FSU.
3-Joe Craddock -Tulane - Tulane has the 5th rated scoring offense in the country. This after losing their head coach to Houston and their QB (Michael Pratt) to the NFL. Tulane is 9th in rushing offense. 88th in passing offense. His freshman QB (Drian Mensah) has 18 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. I think Craddock is a very good coach. He has coached in the SEC. I think this is important for a G5 coach. WHY - Because when he is recruiting he knows what SEC players look like. Unlike (Atkins and Fuller) who neither coached at this level before. I don't like the fact he does not have many if any ties to South Florida or Florida in general.
4-Charlie Weis Jr- Ole Miss- Will he become a HC (Check). does he develop QB' (Dort, FAU QB). Weis has been with Lane for a while so his next move may be head coach. Not sure about his recruiting. He has had nothing but Transfer QB's. He has yet to develop his own QB. He comes from the Kiffin coaching tree. Doubt he would come but needs to be on the list.
Wide Receiver Coaches
Lonnie Galloway - North Carolina - Lonnie coached Joshua Downs who is now in the NFL. He also had Antoine Green a former FSU commit who had over 40 catches for close to 800 yards and 7 touchdowns. He developed Tez Walker. He has recruited the state of Florida for over a decade now.
Garrick McGee- Louisville - He has coached in the SEC -(YES). He has been an offensive coordinator in the past. He resurrected Ja'Corey Brooks career around. Brooks has 57 catches for 945 yards and 8 touchdowns. Chris Bell will also end up in the NFL. He has developed both portal and high school kids. Watch Louisville and their receivers are quite impressive.
Offensive LIne Coaches
Matt Applebaum - Boston College -First met Matt at University of Miami when Al Golden was there. He was installing part of the offense for the week. He owned the room. Very impressive and at the time was only a GA. I knew then he would be a good coach. He got hired by the Dolphins and worked for the Redskins as well. He is a very good coach. He also knows what talent looks like. I feel he would recruit at a high level at FSU.
Garin Justice-SMU- OL Coach- He would need a bigger role but Justice would be my top choice as OL coach. He has had success at Miami and also at SMU. He went from FSU and actually was a head coach at a D2 program and they went unbeaten. He has had success everywhere he has gone. He was a player for Trickett at WVU. He was a GA at FSU. He would be a home run hire.
QB Coach/ TE Coach
1-Chip Long - Southern Miss - I have no idea what has happened with Chip. Notre Dame was 24th in scoring offense his first season in South Bend. 13th in 2019. I don't think Norvell can hire him as an OC as Southern Miss was 131st in scoring offense this season. He would be the equivalent of Randy Sanders at FSU. A guy Norvell can trust and will help develop the QB's. He knows Norvell offense. As a QB coach, I would not have a problem with him.
2-James Coley - Georgia - Coached in the SEC (Yes), knows what SEC talent looks like (YES), can recruit at a high level (YES). I think Coley would be a great fit with coach Norvell. He was the one that stood on the table against Jimbo and said these guys can and can’t play here. Coley does not mind going head to head for top talent not only in Florida but nationwide. He landed guys like Nick O’Leary, Josue Matias, Lamarcus Joyner, Hopkins (Kicker from Texas). He had a great run at FSU and would be a great addition to the program. He can coach tight ends or QB's. He has a very good eye for QB talent. He found Brad Kaaya out in Cali when no one knew who the kid was.
3) Nunzio Campanile - Syracuse - Kyle McCord under his watch has 3476 yards, 24 touchdowns. Nunzio is a well-known coach in the Northeast. He coached at one of the top private schools in NJ. He is someone that could end up a head coach down the road. He has all the chops to be a very good head coach if FSU were to hire him.
Defensive Coordinators
1. Ryan Walters -Purdue - Head Coach Purdue- One thing that does not help a coach who is losing is your biggest rival with a new coach is 10-0. Indiana winning is probably going to cost Walters his job. When Purdue gets run out of the building against Indiana in two weeks, Walters will most likely be gone. At Illinois as a DC they had the number one scoring defense, the number one passing defense. They led the country in turnovers and interceptions. His teams play aggressive on defense. He checks the boxes (can and was a head coach). He can recruit. He is very well respected amongst his peers. My number one reason why I like him outside of being able to coach and recruit...Mike needs someone who can take pressure off him. Give the defense over to someone that knows what the heck they are doing.
2-Tom Allen - Penn State DC- Penn State is number 7 in yards per play. They are ranked number 6 in scoring defense. Allen can flat out coach defense. We had Allen on our podcast awhile back and I wanted to run through a wall for him. That energy feeds into his players. The guy has coached defense at a high level. He was a head coach. He checks a ton of boxes. He likes to recruit the state of Florida. He is a very good developer of talent. He knows what TALENT looks like. Once again, he takes pressure off Mike Norvell on one side of the football.
3-Tyler Santucci - Georgia Tech DC - Tyler has quickly moved up the ranks. He checks the boxes...Future HC (Yes), coached in the SEC (YES-Texas A&M). He also coached under Manny Diaz and now at GT. I like that he has coached under two different head coaches (Elko/Diaz) that have different schemes. He is not going to be married to one scheme. Tyler like Adam Fuller come from the Elko tree. It is a plus that you bring in a coach who the players already know the terminology of what the coach is teaching. There will be less to learn. He is the only coach to be able to shut down Miami and Cam Ward this year. If you go after Tyler odds are you take him off the market from Miami landing him if they go into a different direction on defense. Tyler is a very good coach.
4-Chris Hampton - Oregon Co-DC- Don't know enough about him personally to say he will be a head coaching candidate down the road. He is 38, which is still young. He is from the Lanning coaching tree. You would be taking a chance on a guy who coaches for a successful coach but has never really run his own defense at the P4 level. He was the DC at Tulane one year and their numbers were not great. He may be someone you bring in to be co-DC and groom him to take over if you land a bigger name.
Sleeper Name
Ephraim Banda- Cleveland Browns Safeties Coach - He was the DC at Miami under Manny Diaz. He is someone that checks the future head coach box. He relates to players. He runs a system that is going to be aggressive and get after other offenses. He is someone that enjoys recruited the state of Florida.
