FSU Football Staff Updates: Tony White officially named DC; Shannon leaving staff

One day after Florida State signed 18 new high school and junior college players, the Florida State coaching staff also continued to take shape for the 2025 season.

First and foremost, FSU officially announced that Tony White will be the Seminoles’ next defensive coordinator. He was hired away from Nebraska, as Warchant and other media outlets reported earlier this week.

Warchant also has learned from multiple sources that linebackers coach Randy Shannon is not expected to be part of the Florida State coaching staff moving forward. An FSU spokesman would not confirm that Thursday afternoon, however, and said the university has no further staff updates to share at the present time.

As Warchant reported Wednesday, the Seminoles are expected to introduce Terrance Knighton as the team’s new defensive line coach in the coming days. He will come to Florida State with White from Nebraska, where they have worked together the last two years.

In conjunction with that move, longtime FSU defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins will transition to a new role with the team, the university announced on Thursday.

Other staff changes are expected in the coming days and weeks.

Stay connected to Warchant.com for continuing coverage.

Here is the official release from Florida State on White’s hiring:

Florida State has hired Tony White as the football program’s next defensive coordinator, head coach Mike Norvell announced Thursday.

White, a two-time Broyles Award nominee for the nation’s best assistant coach, has produced a top-25 defense in each of the last four seasons at two different schools and held opponents to 20 or fewer points 25 times, including 15 times in 24 games over the past two seasons. From 2021-24, White’s defense held its opponent to less than 100 rushing yards in 25 games and 15 times held the opponent to less than 75 rushing yards. His recruiting acumen has been recognized with three Recruiter of the Year awards.

“I’m excited to bring Tony White into the Nole Family in such an important role on our staff,” Norvell said. “His aggressive, innovative defensive scheme provides opportunities for playmakers to shine and is extremely difficult on opposing offenses. Tony has a proven track record coordinating elite defenses against some of the best competition in the country, and I’m looking forward to his impact on our return to the Florida State standard.”

White comes to Florida State after two seasons as the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Nebraska. He made an immediate impact on the Huskers in his first season by directing the program’s best defensive season since joining the Big Ten more than a decade earlier. Nebraska allowed only 92.9 rushing yards per game, the eighth-best rushing defense in the country in 2023 and the best at Nebraska this century, while also ranking 11th nationally in total defense and 13th in scoring defense.

In 2024, he followed that up with another top-20 defensive performance as the Huskers ranked 14th in rushing defense, 19th in total defense and 20th in scoring defense. Nebraska held five opponents to 10 or fewer points and six opponents to fewer than 300 yards of total offense, including limiting Ohio State to 285 yards when the Buckeyes entered the game averaging more than 500 yards of total offense. The Huskers allowed only six rushing touchdowns, the third-fewest in the nation, and held 10 opponents without a rushing touchdown, including all seven at home. Nebraska was the first team nationally since 2021 to not allow a rushing touchdown at home and kept all its home opponents out of the end zone on the ground for the first time since 1939.

“I’m excited about this opportunity to join Coach Norvell and the Florida State football program,” White said. “Florida State is an elite institution both academically and athletically with a historic football program that has produced some of the best teams in the sport. My family and I are looking forward to being able to add to that tradition with Coach Norvell, a person and leader I respect for the success he’s had and the way he does it.”

White was the defensive coordinator at Syracuse from 2020-22, where he tutored four Freshman All-Americans and 13 All-ACC selections. The Orange were one of 12 teams to rank in the top 25 nationally in total defense in both 2021 and 2022 after the 2021 team improved 93 spots to 19th in the national total defense rankings. The 2022 team allowed 184.8 passing yards per game to rank 14th in the country while also ranking 21st nationally in total defense and helping Syracuse reach a bowl game for the first time since 2018.

Before his time at Syracuse, White was Arizona State’s defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach in 2018 and 2019. He helped the Sun Devils to a dramatic improvement in pass defense and aggressive play, as the 2019 team’s average of 5.54 passes defended per game was No. 7 in the country and its 13 interceptions were the country’s 25th-highest total. White served as the interim defensive coordinator in the Sun Bowl when Arizona State forced six takeaways, including an interception return touchdown for the game-winning points, and recorded 10 tackles for loss.

White coached cornerbacks at San Diego State from 2009-17 and added recruiting coordinator duties for his final six years, helping the Aztecs win three conference championships and play in eight bowl games. San Diego State led the country with 26 interceptions in 2016 one season after grabbing 23 interceptions to rank second nationally. The 2014 and 2015 teams both ranked in the top 10 in the country in pass efficiency defense, posting the nation’s No. 3 mark in 2014 and No. 10 in 2015. In 2017, the Aztecs had the nation’s 15th-best pass defense, allowing only 178.7 passing yards per game.

His tenure at San Diego State included eight all-conference honors from his cornerbacks, led by 2015 and 2016 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Damontae Kazee. Kazee, the first cornerback to win the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year honor twice, was also a second-team All-American in 2015 and is in his eighth season in the NFL in 2024 after being selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2017 NFL Draft. White was named Mountain West Recruiter of the Year twice by Scout.com and the nation’s best non-P5 recruiter by Rivals in 2014.

White spent the 2008 season as the linebackers coach at New Mexico, helping the Lobos rank 26th nationally in rushing defense behind two all-conference linebackers, after spending the 2007 season as a graduate assistant at UCLA. White began his coaching career in 2006 as the head coach at St. Genevieve High School in California and led the Valiants to a 3-1 league record in his only season at the helm.

White earned his bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA in 2002. He was a three-year starter at linebacker and a team captain in 2000, helping the Bruins win 30 games and appear in the Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Sun Bowl during his four years. White and his wife, Angela, have one son, Anthony III, and one daughter, Ava.

Tony White Coaching History
2025-              Florida State Defensive Coordinator
2023-24          Nebraska Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
2022               Syracuse Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach
2020-21          Syracuse Defensive Coordinator
2018-19          Arizona State Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach
2011-17          San Diego State Cornerbacks Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
2009-10          San Diego State Cornerbacks Coach
2008               New Mexico Linebackers Coach
2007               UCLA Graduate Assistant
2006               St. Genevieve High School (Calif.) Head Coach

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