Mike Norvell reveals what he learned from 2024 season, how to prevent repeat

The 2024 season ended up being a disaster for the Florida State Seminoles and head coach Mike Norvell. After winning double-digit games for two years in a row, the Seminoles went just 2-10, collapsing to the bottom of the ACC.

Now, Norvell’s focus moving forward is learning from the 2024 season and finding a way to prevent repeating it in 2025.

“There were layers to events that happened throughout the course of this season,” Mike Norvell said. “It’s every area of the program has to improve, has to be better when it comes to all elements of our development, continuing to challenge the mindset, continuing to make sure that we are executing doing the things and being able to translate through the course of the game the things that we emphasize throughout practice, fall camp, the off-season because we did not do a good enough job of that. It’s the coach’s responsibility, it’s a player’s choice.”

One notable move that Mike Norvell already made in the off-season was to turn over a chunk of the coaching staff. That includes hiring Gus Malzahn to be the team’s new offensive coordinator as the Seminoles work to rebuild their offense.

“When it comes to the accountability of the actions that show up on the field, obviously we did not do a good enough job as a coaching staff, and there is joint accountability in all of that. I’m solely responsible for all things, right, that happens within this program,” Norvell said.

“But everybody that is within the program has to make that same choice. They have though make the same decision. Just as I told the team as we move forward, I want it all from every single person that’s in that locker room, that’s a part of this team, people joining this team because we did do a good enough job of taking the things that we work and emphasize and push as values and standards within this program to not show up well enough on game days throughout this season.”

For Florida State, the 2-10 season was the worst for the program since 1974 when the Seminoles went 1-10 under Darrell Mudra. That was before Bobby Bowden came and built the program into a power in college football.

The previous worst drop-off for the Seminoles after winning a conference championship game the year prior was in 2015 when the Seminoles went from 13-1 the year prior to 10-3, meaning they won three fewer total games. In 2024, they dropped from 13-1 to 2-10. Now, Mike Norvell has the offseason to correct that step backward.