Alabama football nearly hired Mike Norvell from Florida State, which would have resulted in a different chain reaction in collegiate football.
It turns out that Alabama football was close to hiring Mike Norvell as the Crimson Tide’s next head coach, or that Florida State was concerned about losing its head coach to the Tide.
We all know that Alabama football hired Kalen DeBoer, which I believe was a terrific decision. He is an excellent offensive coach with a track record of winning and developing quarterbacks. In this day and age, that is what you desire.
Norvell would have been appealing, however. He has rebuilt Florida State football into a powerhouse, and if Jordan Travis hadn’t been injured last season, the Noles may have won the national championship. They’d have at least made the playoffs. But, like Michigan, they never lost a game while healthy.
They also responded swiftly enough to save Norvell, which was a blessing. The Noles had lost their previous big-time head coach, Jimbo Fisher, and were desperate not to let it happen again, though the backup plan if Norvell went wasn’t awful either.
Lane Kiffin would have been Florida State’s primary target.
Many people thought Lane Kiffin was on Alabama football’s radar, but Florida State was interested in hiring him if Norvell departed. He was going to be “prime candidate”
“In fact, in the wee hours of that Friday morning, the fear among Florida State officials was that Norvell was close to trading his FSU garnet for Alabama crimson,” Low stated in an email. “Sources told ESPN that Florida State was poised to move quickly if that happened and that Kiffin would be a prime candidate.”
I’m not sure whether Kiffin will leave the SEC for the ACC, but Ole Miss isn’t Alabama, Georgia, or LSU. It’s a middle-of-the-road job in the SEC, and while Ole Miss can make the 12-team playoff, it’s unclear whether they can win a national championship.
You can do it at Florida State. At least in the ancient days. Now that the ACC has been weakened, we don’t know whether the Noles can, but I’d bank on Florida State winning a national championship before Ole Miss, which is why, if Norvell departed, I believe Kiffin would be the Seminoles’ head coach right now.
It’s crazy how things could have turned out. Instead, Washington, Arizona, and San Jose State were caught up in the aftermath of Nick Saban’s retirement.
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