Mike Norvell, who in four seasons has taken Memphis‘ football program to unprecedented heights, is the leading candidate to become the next head coach at Florida State, sources told ESPN.
Norvell has guided Memphis (11-1) to its third straight appearance in the American Athletic Conference championship game. The Tigers take on Cincinnati on Saturday.
The transformation of Memphis’ program under Norvell has been stunning. The Tigers have won eight or more games for six straight seasons, and Norvell has been at the helm for the past four. For perspective, from 1974-2013, the Tigers had just two seasons of eight or more wins.
One of the youngest head coaches in the country when he took over at Memphis, Norvell, 38, would replace Willie Taggart at Florida State. Taggart was fired nine games into his second season at FSU earlier this year. He was 9-12 in 21 games as FSU’s coach.
Norvell is one of the most respected offensive minds in college football. Memphis has set multiple school records on offense and scored 30 or more points in 43 of the 53 games of his tenure.
Norvell was the offensive coordinator at Arizona State under Todd Graham before getting the Memphis job, and prior to that, worked under Graham at Pittsburgh as the co-offensive coordinator and at Tulsa as the passing game coordinator.