Lincoln Riley joins coaches facing major pressure in 2026
Mike Norvell, Luke Fickell and Lincoln Riley lead the list of coaches facing pressure entering the 2026 college football season.
Doak Campbell Stadium may have experienced a power outage for Florida State’s Labor Day game vs. SMU, but the crowd wasn’t lacking in energy for the Seminoles-Mustangs matchup.
Unfortunately for seventh-year coach Mike Norvell, much of it was directed at him.
Despite operating a limited broadcast due to the outage, ESPN mics clearly caught the home crowd fans booing their coach between “War Chants” throughout the game, seemingly aimed at his play-calling in what was an eventual 27-24 defeat to the 20th-ranked Mustangs.
Per reports from the stadium, fans even booed Norvell when he appeared on the stadium’s video board in a pre-recorded surprise announcement to FSU’s Marching Chiefs that they would perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Those frustrations culminated with Florida State fans chanting “Fire Norvell” as they exited the stadium.
FSU fans’ frustrations come amid a years-long skid for a Seminoles program that at one point seemed like a perennial College Football Playoff contender. After going 3-6 and 5-7 in his first two seasons in Tallahassee, respectively, Norvell led the Seminoles to records of 10-3 and 13-1 in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Since then, FSU has suffered two more losing seasons and an inauspicious start to the 2026 college football season, with a lackluster 34-17 win vs. New Mexico State in Week 0 and a Labor Day loss to the Mustangs, which dropped his record to 39-35 at Florida State.
The Seminoles have a bye in Week 2 before a Week 3 road trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Kalen DeBoer and No. 11 Alabama wait. Norvell and FSU stunned the Crimson Tide last year at home, but can they do it again on the road in 2026?
If not, surely more boos await Norvell – and not just from opposing crowds.