Is Mike Norvell really the best Florida State can do?

Mike Norvell has the Memphis Tigers poised to make the New Year’s Six out of the Group of 5, but he might be the Florida State Seminoles’ next head coach.

After failing to get Bob Stoops to come out of retirement, and seeing other candidates get extensions to stay at their current jobs, Florida State is reportedly set to name Memphis’ Mike Norvell, 38, as the next head coach of the Seminoles.

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and Mark Schlabach reported on Friday night that Norvell is the leading candidate to be the next head coach in Tallahassee, replacing Willie Taggart at Florida State, who was fired in November. Norvell is 37-14 in four seasons at Memphis and 24-8 in the American.

Norvell will be coaching Memphis in the AAC Championship Game for the third straight year on Saturday with a win likely clinching a big in the Cotton Bowl.

Norvell took over a solid program from Justin Fuente, who left for the Virginia Tech Hokies gig after Frank Beamer’s retirement. Norvell had been on Todd Graham’s coaching staff with the Arizona State Sun Devils and both the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane before that. Memphis has had a great offense the entire time Norvell has been there. The Tigers have the No. 8 scoring offense this year, scoring an average of 41.5 points per game.

Norvell is young and has only four years of experience at the Group of 5 level, but has the offensive know-how to turn Florida State around. Winning at Memphis is not easy to do. However, the Florida State program he’d be inheriting is in a much worse place than the one he got in Memphis after Fuente left for Blacksburg four years ago.

Florida State had to move on from Taggart and probably had immediate buyer’s remorse after hiring him away from Oregon two years ago. If Norvell can do what he did in four years at Memphis in Tallahassee, he could have the Seminoles back to contending for ACC Atlantic titles in the next couple of years. The Clemson Tigers loom large, but he’s being hired to beat Clemson.

After firing Taggart, Florida State was initially linked to wanting former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops who seemingly issued several statements saying he wasn’t interested. FSU then reportedly turned their attention to Iowa State’s Matt Campbell but he got a contract extension and a raise to stay in Ames. Then, it was Penn State’s James Franklin who was rumored to be the top target, but he also got an extension to stick in Happy Valley. With Franklin’s extension coming down on Friday afternoon and the report of Norvell coming out later in the day, it’s clear Florida State didn’t get their first, second or third choice.

Then again, it won’t matter what number choice Norvell was if he can lead Florida State to double-digit wins each season and being competitive with Clemson.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.