Paul Finebaum questions fit between Mike Norvell, Gus Malzahn at FSU

The Florida State Seminoles needed to shake things up after last year’s 2-10 disaster of a season. So, head coach Mike Norvell turned over the coaching staff, which included bringing in Gus Malzahn to be the next offensive coordinator at FSU.

Malzahn has long since been a well-respected head coach and offensive mind. That includes a long tenure at Auburn and, most recently, leading UCF into the Big 12. Despite that resume, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum shared on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, he doesn’t see the fit between Malzahn and Norvell.

“I’m really interested in what you just alluded to,” Paul Finebaum said. “You can only listen to the rumor mills so long, but there’s something about Gus Malzahn and Mike Norvell that I don’t get. I understand why he was hired because he’s a very smart, innovative at times, predictable at others, offensive coordinator.”

There are some notable connections and similarities between Malzahn and Norvell. Both come from an offensive background, and at one point, Norvell was an assistant at Tulsa when Malzahn was the assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator there. On top of that, both have called plays as a head coach, giving up those responsibilities at times. That’s what Norvell is doing now at FSU, as he turns the play card over to Malzahn, who is excited to focus on that after leaving his head coaching job at UCF.

“But I just do not see these guys on the same page for very long,” Finebaum said. “That I think is perhaps the issue or could be the issue for Florida State.”

FSU is going to be tested right away, playing host to Alabama in Week 1. There is a challenge there for the Crimson Tide too, as they don’t know exactly what the Seminoles will look like on offense. At the same time, Finebaum isn’t overly concerned.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the game starts off slow for Alabama. I don’t think Alabama needs to do anything spectacular other than just get out of there. Whatever the game looks like, it will be overanalyzed. A big win or a field goal at the end,” Finebaum said. “But I do feel very confident Alabama is going to win and this game will be forgotten quickly, as long as that is the outcome.”

Regardless of how the difficult opener goes, FSU needs the offense to click this season. After it bottomed out in 2024, getting better production from that side of the ball would go a long way to getting the Seminoles back to a bowl or even being competitive within the ACC. To do that, though, Malzahn and Norvell do need to be on the same page.