Florida State coach Mike Norvell has gotten a hefty pay raise.
The school announced Wednesday that Norvell had signed a contract extension through the 2029 season that has an average value of just over $8 million. Norvell’s original contract with the school averaged $4.4 million per season and he had signed a one-year extension with the school after the 2021 season.
“Coach Norvell has re-established a culture that the entire Seminole Family can appreciate,” Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said in a statement. “We are proud of the way Coach Norvell, his staff and his team represent Florida State University on and off the field. Under Coach Norvell’s leadership we have experienced the highest grade-point average in program history multiple times, an unprecedented impact in our community and drastic improvement on the football field through him establishing a foundation of unwavering standards in all areas. I’m happy that we are going to continue climbing with Coach Norvell for years to come.”
The significant increase for Norvell comes after Florida State went 10-3 in 2022 and beat Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl. It was the first 10-win season for the Seminoles since FSU was 10-3 in 2016 under Jumbo Fisher and the first winning season for the program since 2017. That was Fisher’s final year at the school and he resigned to head to Texas A&M when the team was 5-6 before the Seminoles went 2-0 under interim coach Odell Haggins.
Florida State finished the season at No. 11 in the AP Top 25 and was the highest-ranked team from the ACC. ACC champion Clemson was at No. 13 after losing to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. After winning 10 games in 2022, Norvell’s career record with the team is now at 18-16 through three seasons.
Norvell’s new annual salary places him only behind Clemson’s Dabo Swinney among ACC coaches and FSU and Clemson will be the favorites in the ACC in 2023. FSU is going to be a popular preseason top 10 pick. The Seminoles return players like QB Jordan Travis and edge rusher Jared Verse and added Miami defensive lineman Darrell Jackson and South Carolina edge rusher Gilbert Edmond in the transfer portal.
The Seminoles have won four ACC title games and five Atlantic Division titles since the game’s inception in 2005 but haven’t won an ACC title game since 2014. That drought has corresponded with Clemson’s rise as the Tigers have been the Atlantic representative in six of the last seven title games featuring division winners.
But the Atlantic Division is no more in 2023 with the ACC’s move to disband its division format. That means Florida State and Clemson are eligible to meet in the title game if they finish in the top two spots in the conference.
