Mike Norvell signs contract extension at FSU; Texas video appears to show Steve Sarkisian isn't heading to Alabama
You can rule Florida State coach Mike Norvell out of the Alabama running. Ross Dellenger reported Friday that Norvell signed a contract extension with the school after FSU went 13-0 in 2023.
Mike Norvell and Florida State have agreed to a new eight-year contract that will pay him more than $10 million a year, sources tell @YahooSports.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 12, 2024
Florida State was infamously left out of the College Football Playoff in 2023, despite its undefeated season, in favor of Alabama and Texas after QB Jordan Travis suffered a broken leg in the next-to-last game of the regular season. FSU's offensive struggles without Travis in its final two wins of the season over Florida and Louisville were apparently enough for the committee to keep FSU out of the top four.
Steve Sarkisian appears to be staying in Austin
The Texas football program posted a short video of Sarkisian to social media Friday, with the caption “Just getting started,” and Sarkisian subsequently tweeted the “Horns up” emoji. Sarkisian was mentioned as a candidate to replace Alabama coach Nick Saban after Saban announced his retirement Wednesday.
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) January 12, 2024
While the social media posts didn't explicitly say that Sarkisian was staying in Austin, like Oregon coach Dan Lanning’s post Thursday did about staying with the Ducks, they seem to be a pretty good indication that Sarkisian isn’t going to be Alabama’s next coach, even if you can never say never in the world of college football.
Sarkisian is a former offensive coordinator at Alabama, and he led Texas to its first College Football Playoff appearance in 2023. The Longhorns went 12-2 — and beat Alabama in Week 2 — as they won the Big 12 in their final season in the conference before joining the SEC. Sarkisian has also been the head coach at Washington and USC.
Texas' post came after Seattle radio station 93.3 KJR tweeted that Washington coach Kalen DeBoer would not be making his scheduled Friday morning appearance. The station said in a subsequent post that DeBoer was unavailable because he was meeting with Washington athletic director Troy Dannen.
#Husky fans, we know you were looking forward to a visit with Coach DeBoer this morning.
Please understand that Coach DeBoer & UW Athletics are continuing to work towards a future we can all be excited about.
At this time, Coach will not be joining us this morning, but we will… pic.twitter.com/QlyhX5JZHp— 93.3 KJR (@933KJR) January 12, 2024
DeBoer was mentioned as a possible Saban successor along with Lanning and Sarkisian and was in line for a contract extension and a hefty raise before Saban’s retirement. Washington went undefeated this season before losing Monday's championship game to Michigan.
