From our former athletic director Wayne Hogan
FOOTBALL Ok. Here’s two cents from a career college sports aficionado (or hack, whichever you prefer) Twenty years at Florida State, including a stint as athletic director. Twenty more years at Georgia Tech and Montana. All of that means my opinion is probably no better than Dagwood Bumstead’s. But here goes.
Mike Norvell started rebuilding a horribly fractured FSU football program in 2020 on the heels of the Willie Taggart debacle. Norvell was masterful in methodically building a new foundation for FSU football. He said all the right things, did all the right things. It’s like the guy who was asked “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: “One bite at a time!”
Norvell’s Seminoles slowly began to take on a persona that mirrored their coach. That first season wasn’t easy and finished with a 5-7 record. But everyone in the program believed with all their hearts that better days were just ahead. Norvell had instilled that belief. Engrained it. Stay the course. Always do the right thing, even if no one’s looking. Work hard, be confident, believe in each other and believe in the guidance of your leader, the head coach.
The buy-in was palpable by mid-season 2022 when the Noles ripped off six consecutive wins, including victories over Miami, Florida and Oklahoma. By 2023 the Foundation was rock-solid. Players had changed, coaches had changed, but Norvell was the constant. His doctrine was engrained. This was a program built to withstand anything. Well, almost anything.
FSU was a program that had returned to glory by 2023. Despite tremendous adversity (Jordan Travis) and slings and arrows flying, Norvell’s, and now the Seminole’s, resolve was unshaken. The vision was laser focused.
Until…
The one and only thing that could wash away 3-plus years of meticulous, steadfast forged steel development inexplicably occurred. Actually, it was two things that occurred. A series of unfortunate events, as it were. First was “The Snub.” Enough has been written and spoken about that and I do not intend to rehash the lunacy and asininity (that’s actually a word) of that foolishness.
And, while “The Snub” was certainly the incendiary substance that touched off the firestorm it, in and of itself, did not topple Norvell’s rock-hard Foundation. What happened next certainly did.
Norvell’s players, so immersed in the new-found Nole belief system, began to jump ship. Those laser focused stars simply flinched in the face of such an indignity as “The Snub.” Florida State fans came unglued. The hue and cry was heard from coast to coast. First, the nation shared FSU’s disdain for the system Then the nation went back to normal life. Then the nation became annoyed with FSU’s continuing bellyaching. Then the nation chuckled at the train wreck that was the Orange Bowl.
Meanwhile, poor Mike Norvell watched as his magnificent program-building handiwork washed away like sands in a Hurricane. Nobody’s fault, it’s just that a program built on trust and confidence, all-for-one, one-for-all, can’t sustain defections from the ranks. Especially mass defections. It also can’t sustain itself in the midst of a grudge-holding, paranoid (justified or not) fanbase.
As we turned the page to 2024, something other than the players had changed. Fans were still booing Kirk Herbstreit and the Noles were inexplicably pushed around by Georgia Tech and Boston College. Norvell himself seems a tad jittery. This isn’t the culture of the last 22 months or so. Fortunately, at only age 43ish, Norvell has a strong enough back and a relentless resolve to build it again. I’m convinced he will do that. FSU fans need to re-focus, too. Forget about Herbstreit, ESPN, the refs, the ACC and all that outside stuff that doesn’t mean a hill of beans. I was at FSU during a time when our program was loved and admired coast-to-coast. You can get there again, Noles. Let’s get the chip off our shoulders and watch a true coaching virtuoso bring it back all over again. This second fortification effort will be amazing to watch.
