The mood around the team is positive ahead of their first game. 1:45
As Mike Norvell prepares to open his third year as Florida State coach, he can't point to any of the challenges he has faced.
It's up to Florida State to win.
Saturday is the first day of the season for the Florida State football team. This is a critical year for Florida State and they have not had a winning record in a while. Since joining the league in 1992, Florida State has won 15 conference titles and three national titles to help it's brand and marketability. To prove it can still be Florida State, Florida State has to win.
The athletic director said it was important to get Florida State back to the top of college football. We have full faith in where it's going. We are setting it up for long-term success and not short-term success.
The last year has brought a lot of attention to the fact that Florida State has had four losing seasons in a row. The realignment of the SEC and Big Ten has a negative impact on the revenue generation of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The president of the University told the Chamber of Commerce that the school would be very aggressive in securing its future.
It's something I'm spending a lot of time on and we're getting a lot of help. We are trying to think about how we can stay competitive. Florida State is favored to win. We'll be very aggressive.
The financial picture inside the Florida State athletic department has been bad for a long time, but it may be starting to improve. He was hired because of his efforts to raise money. He has secured $45 million in capital construction gifts for improvements to Doak Campbell Stadium and is on track to have a football facility ready for use in December. The team unveiled a new locker room in March after hiring a larger support staff.
After the departures of Jimbo Fisher and Taggart, the team was in a state of disarray when Norvell arrived. Not only did he have a divided locker room and a roster filled with players who could not cut it on the Power 5 level, the athletic department had not invested in the football program the way that it needed.
During the first year under Norvell, the FSU went 3-6. It was the worst start to a season since 1976 when it started with an 0-4 record. It's easy to understand why the fan base was worried about what was happening to the program less than a decade after winning a national championship.
There were meetings to clear the air.
"You have certain groups and certain guys trying to stir up stuff, but the coaches aren't on the field, so it's the coaches fault," Robinson said. It's us, it's us.
A lot of people weren't doing their jobs according to nose tackle Fabien Lovett, who spoke during the meetings. If you don't do your job, that creates a problem here or a bomb on this play, or a touchdown on that play. It's all about what's happening. Every detail is important.
Despite a strong finish in the second half of the season, Florida State lost its regular-season finale to rival Florida with a bowl trip on the line.
On National Signing Day a few weeks later, Florida State lost its top recruit, and it was a rare flip from a power to an HBCU.
Florida State fans took to social media with their anger. It became difficult to ignore the negative vibes surrounding the program when one started a Twitter Space called "Fire Mike Norvell."
Norvell doesn't get carried away with all the things that are on the outside. Anyone that has been a part of the game has been through that many times. The game I remember was when I was an offensive coach. We had 17 points in the first half. We had a terrible last drive. I ran into the tunnel and an old lady told me to get out of Norvell's way.
It has been papered over with optimism for a new season, even though there might have been some outside negative vibes at the end of last year. Norvell begins to explain why he is so excited about his team.
The continuity is the first thing that comes to mind. Florida State's teams never had a chance to be built through recruiting. That led to fractured locker rooms, players recruited for one scheme playing in one that did not fit, inconsistent performances and a crisis in confidence showing up whenever adversity hit.
The power rankings before the season starts.
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