Florida State football: 5 realistic candidates to replace Mike Norvell

3. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota head coach

Into his fifth season as Golden Gophers’ head coach now, Fleck has a 27-20 record with two bowl wins (15-20 in the Big Ten). That includes an Outback Bowl win over Auburn to cap his most successful season at the U of M (11-2 in 2019). Once a virtual lock to appear in a marquee bowl game every year, Florida State’s last two bowl appearances have been in the Independence Bowl and the Sun Bowl. Over the same four-plus seasons, the Seminoles are 21-28 (12-20 in a weaker conference).

Fleck seems content to stay and keep building it at Minnesota. A really high-end job becoming available could change that though, as it would for a lot of coaches. Notre Dame was once seen as a possibility, but Brian Kelly doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for a while. In some respect (and as a nod to how bad things have dissolved in Tallahassee), Florida State could be seen as a lateral move for Fleck.

All of the above said, Florida State has to leave no realistic stones unturned if they move to replace Norvell. Until an answer is gotten from Fleck or someone of his ilk (as in, coaching a mid-tier Power 5 conference team–maybe multiple someones of that ilk), an at this point hypothetical coaching search won’t be fully fleshed out.