FSU football is investing under Mike Norvell. Big time.

TALLAHASSEE — When the mighty SEC came calling for a Florida State football coach, Jimbo Fisher said yes. Mike Norvell said no. You can see a major reason behind their answers through the colors in and around Doak Campbell Stadium.

A red crane. Green cherry picker. Yellow bulldozer. White hard hats. Brown dirt — lots and lots of brown dirt.

“Those are big steps,” Norvell said this week as the Seminoles started spring practice. “They’re necessary steps.”

They’re necessary steps for FSU to continue its climb toward the top of college football, yes. But it’s also not hard to view them as necessary steps to keeping Norvell.

Fisher’s prolonged, awkward move from FSU to Texas A&M in 2017 came down to a lack of alignment between him and the program’s powerbrokers. Their priorities didn’t always mesh, especially when it came to the facilities arms race. Fisher wanted a standalone football complex immediately. FSU wasn’t ready yet.

“You can have the greatest coaches in the world, but if your administration doesn’t see things in the way you see things, and allow you to do things that way, nothing can be achieved,” Fisher said during his introductory news conference with the Aggies. “There’s a oneness to everything you to do be successful.”

Oneness doesn’t guarantee success, as Fisher’s unsuccessful 45-25 tenure showed. But his point was clear: FSU lacked that all-in togetherness.

Not anymore.

A statue of the late Bobby Bowden looks out on a pair of portable trailers and an active construction site. The standalone facility Fisher coveted — the Dunlap Football Center — is on its way. Granted, it took longer than expected; the Seminoles announced their plans to build it on the eve of Willie Taggart’s first game in 2018. But the progress is visible behind the temporary chain-link fence.

And…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fsu-football-investing-under-mike-184100545.html

Author : Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Publish date : 2024-03-21 18:41:00

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