Michael Alford releases statement denying candidacy for USC AD job

USC‘s athletic director job has been open since Mike Bohn suddenly resigned on May 21, citing health concerns as his reasoning. And while various other candidates have been rumored as potential replacements, Florida State athletic director Michael Alford made it clear on Sunday that he was not one of those canidates.

According to a Ehsan Kassim of the Tallahassee Democrat, Alford has recently made it clear that his eyes are not set at all on Los Angeles, and that he’s fully committed to his current position with Florida State.

“I am not now, not have I been, a candidate for the position at USC. Nor do I have any interest in any role other than my current position at Florida State,” Alford said. “I remain totally focused on the tremendous opportunities ahead of us here at FSU, and I remain committed to seeing those to completion.”

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, Alford was one of three candidates that were vetted by USC for the athletic director position, joining Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle and Florida Atlantic athletic director Brian White.

But despite only being in his role at Florida State since December 9, 2021, Alford seems to be committed to continuing his impressive, hot start with the Seminoles.

Alford previously spent 15 months as the president and CEO of Seminole Boosters, Inc. between 2020-2021 before serving as the university’s athletic director, and since starting the role has impressed.

He’s already made three high-profile hires and led the charge on the Seminoles’ imminent football facility upgrade (the Albert J. and Judith A. Dunlap Football Center), also strongly advocating for a change in the ACC’s revenue distribution model as the conference attempts to bridge the gap between in the SEC and Big Ten conferences.

Florida State Board of Trustees member reveals what was said during meeting about future in ACC

Last month, the Board of Trustees at Florida State raised eyebrows with its candid meeting about the Seminoles’ future in the ACC. One of the more notable comments came from former FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford, who said “it’s a matter of how and when” his alma mater leaves the conference as realignment dominoes fall.

As for what else was said during that meeting, Weatherford told Paul Finebaum the board understood the reality of the situation.

“Ultimately, the situation is pretty clear from our standpoint. … We, as a board, started really digging in and paying really close attention to the future of our conference — and frankly, the future of our ability to be competitive,” Weatherford said on The Paul Finebaum Show Friday.

Weatherford added, “We ultimately would love to stay in the ACC, and I want to make that clear. It would be great if we could remain in the ACC and have a media contract that was competitive and allowed us to compete on a level playing field as the Big Ten and the SEC. But that is just not the case with the way things are structured today. We are unapologetically looking at every option that we have, and are ultimately just trying to look out for the best interest of our university and our student athletes.”

On3’s Nick Shultz contributed to this report