This Thanksgiving, I’m feeling grateful for something a little unexpected: not being a college football coach in 2025. This college football season has evidently devolved into a quest to be the last man standing, with 13 Division I coaches already fired. The moves in the 2025-26 carousel echo the sentiment of University of Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who said on the latest string of SEC firings, “That office you’re in, that’s not your office. You’re borrowing it.”
In a 2025 season with openings at the helm of nine Power Four programs, this remark has never been truer. In Division I football, you either win or you go home. Many coaches are paying that price, albeit with their multi-million dollar buyouts, but who’s counting?
Notable Carousel Moves
The 2025-26 college football carousel kicked off with firings at Kent State, Stanford, and Virginia Tech. Brent Pry’s ousting at VT marked the culmination of a year-long debate on whether he should continue as the leader of the Hokies. The team’s September loss to Old Dominion, which marked ODU’s first-ever road game win against a Power Four team, sealed the deal for Pry’s dismissal in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Two O-State teams said goodbye to coaches this fall. The apparent “man who can’t be moved” of college football, Mike Gundy, parted ways with Oklahoma State after 21 seasons with the Cowboys. Gundy was the second-longest-tenured Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head coach, just behind longtime Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who’s coached not one, not two, but 27 seasons in Iowa City. Oregon State’s Trent Bray was fired after going 0-7 in his second season as head coach, following a 1-6 bottom half of the 2024 season where the Beavers missed out on a bowl game.
Billy Napier, Brian Kelly, and James Franklin have all been sent packing from the University of Florida, LSU, and Penn State, respectively, all with a Powerball payout in hand. Multi-million dollar buyouts have seemingly become the norm in college football, because what other job would pay you tens of millions of dollars to not come to work?
Franklin is owed an estimated $50 million, with Napier owed $21 million and Kelly owed nearly $54 million. Kelly’s buyout hasn’t come without controversy, however, with an ongoing lawsuit between the former head coach and LSU claiming, potentially threatening, to reduce his payday. Kelly was fired after a 34-14 tenure in Baton Rouge, which was complete with… lots of rounds of golf?
Franklin got the boot after a trio of Big Ten losses to Oregon, a previously winless UCLA, and Northwestern. Napier left the swamp with a win against Mississippi State, which was seemingly not enough to save him following his less-than-impressive four seasons with the Gators. He ended his career in Gainesville, Florida with a losing 22-23 record, including a 3-12 record against longstanding rivals Georgia, LSU, Miami, Tennessee, and our very own Florida State Seminoles.
As if paying one Division I head coach salary was not enough, the University of Florida will be footing the bill for three coaches: Napier, former coach Dan Mullen, and whoever they land on as the next man in charge.
Is Coach Norvell Next?
The precarious state of Mike Norvell in Tallahassee, Florida, is yet another testament to the issue of job security in today’s college football. In a sense of false hope that may resonate with many a Florida State student, FSU started their season 3-0, highlighted by a triumphant home-opener against Alabama, and a field rush of students and fans alike who were just starting to believe that the perils of the 2024, 2-10 season, may actually be over.
The Seminoles’ double-overtime loss against Virginia started a downward slide of consecutive losses against Miami, Pittsburgh, and Stanford, which many fans claimed highlighted the squad’s defensive shortcomings and Norvell’s lack of command over his team.
The loss against a previously 2-4 Stanford team invoked calls for the end of the Norvell era in Tallahassee, with X users announcing his firing before he or FSU Athletic Director Michael Alford were even aware. Just two seasons removed from an ACC Championship, the Noles are crossing their fingers for a mere bowl eligibility, and their game against Wake Forest on Nov. 1 marked their first win against an ACC team in 406 days.
The Future of FSU Football
Rather than pay the nearly $59 million price tag to buy out Norvell, not including the buyouts that would be required for the brand-new staff he brought in this season, Alford has stated support for the coach, asserting that he’ll remain with the Seminoles through the end of the 2025 season, with a “comprehensive assessment” of the team’s staffing to follow.
Lingering hope from a shocking season-opening win against Alabama and financial strains at FSU (you’ve all seen the newly redone football facility) may be among the factors keeping Norvell in Tallahassee for the time being. So, while it may not be Norvell’s turn on the coaching carousel just yet, the fifth-year coach’s future in Tallahassee remains in limbo.
Will collecting more wins on the season, with a recent conference win against Virginia Tech and two more regular-season opportunities at NC State and Florida, be enough to secure Norvell one more season to turn things around? Will the Seminoles’ underwhelming track record under Norvell, coupled with coaching availabilities throughout the college football world, send the head coach packing?
At this point, all roads lead to late November. With a margin of error that’s slimming with each weekend, only time will tell if Norvell gets another turn on the coaching carousel, or if he’s thrown off completely.
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