We aren't the only program retaining a failed head coach that nobody really wants around any longer

18IsTheMan · Mar 12, 2026

FSU is in the same predicament with football. Norvell is clearly circling the drain but has been retained b/c of a ridiculous buyout. They simply can't afford to fire him. Two years in a row. You can be assured FSU desperately wants to move on from Norvell and turn the program around. They simply can't afford to. And, as counterintuitive as it may be, it could actually end up being worse overall to fire a failed head coach like Norvell or Paris. It puts us/them in a financial bind when hiring the next coach.

The similarity to our situation is that the current AD inherited the situation from the previous AD under whom Norvell was hired.

Buyouts are very clearly stupid, but it's just the way of doing business.

Lurker123 · Mar 12, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
FSU is in the same predicament with football. Norvell is clearly circling the drain but has been retained b/c of a ridiculous buyout. They simply can't afford to fire him. Two years in a row. You can be assured FSU desperately wants to move on from Norvell and turn the program around. They simply can't afford to. And, as counterintuitive as it may be, it could actually end up being worse overall to fire a failed head coach like Norvell or Paris. It puts us/them in a financial bind when hiring the next coach.

The similarity to our situation is that the current AD inherited the situation from the previous AD under whom Norvell was hired.

Buyouts are very clearly stupid, but it's just the way of doing business.

If I recall correctly, FSU made comments about diverting the buyout money to increase the NIL to a "competitive level", just like we are doing.

18IsTheMan · Mar 12, 2026

Lurker123 said:
If I recall correctly, FSU made comments about diverting the buyout money to increase the NIL to a "competitive level", just like we are doing.

And the result was what you'd expect

RL09 · Mar 14, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
FSU is in the same predicament with football. Norvell is clearly circling the drain but has been retained b/c of a ridiculous buyout. They simply can't afford to fire him. Two years in a row. You can be assured FSU desperately wants to move on from Norvell and turn the program around. They simply can't afford to. And, as counterintuitive as it may be, it could actually end up being worse overall to fire a failed head coach like Norvell or Paris. It puts us/them in a financial bind when hiring the next coach.

The similarity to our situation is that the current AD inherited the situation from the previous AD under whom Norvell was hired.

Buyouts are very clearly stupid, but it's just the way of doing business.

Lamont Paris deserves to be fired due his job performance, it's such a shame the previous AD made such a tactical error with the buyout. I would not expect much difference next season either.

Lurker123 · Mar 14, 2026

RL09 said:
Lamont Paris deserves to be fired due his job performance, it's such a shame the previous AD made such a tactical error with the buyout. I would not expect much difference next season either.

It is interesting how the buyout seems to come up so much as a hurdle when we're discussing our coaching positions.

It's almost like we didn't negotiate well for a time there.

CreekSnake · Mar 14, 2026

If your coach has a good year then give him/her a raise but don’t extend the contract .It’s these out years that kill you.I am at the point where if a coach leaves because somebody offers him a better deal that’s preferable to getting stuck with these outrageous contracts.Go ahead.

sclawman77 · Mar 14, 2026

I was going to say: which sport? Headline applies to every mens major sport.

sclawman77 · Mar 14, 2026

CreekSnake said:
If your coach has a good year then give him/her a raise but don’t extend the contract .It’s these out years that kill you.I am at the point where if a coach leaves because somebody offers him a better deal that’s preferable to getting stuck with these outrageous contracts.Go ahead.

We never have a coach leave for a better deal. They either retire or get fired.

KingWard · Mar 14, 2026

This is going to be more and more common. With all the rising revenue demands, it is becoming unacceptably costly to pay people millions of dollars not to work. Schools are going to have to eat their mistakes.

RL09 · Mar 14, 2026

Lurker123 said:
It is interesting how the buyout seems to come up so much as a hurdle when we're discussing our coaching positions.

It's almost like we didn't negotiate well for a time there.

from my memory, the buyouts started with Ray Tanner when hiring Will Muschamp.

RL09 · Mar 14, 2026

KingWard said:
This is going to be more and more common. With all the rising revenue demands, it is becoming unacceptably costly to pay people millions of dollars not to work. Schools are going to have to eat their mistakes.

I believe the Muschamp was paid $13.5 million not to work here when he was dismissed from USC

KingWard · Mar 15, 2026

RL09 said:
I believe the Muschamp was paid $13.5 million not to work here when he was dismissed from USC

But players get paid a lot more now.

RL09 · Mar 15, 2026

KingWard said:
But players get paid a lot more now.

true

Piscis · Mar 16, 2026

CreekSnake said:
If your coach has a good year then give him/her a raise but don’t extend the contract .It’s these out years that kill you.I am at the point where if a coach leaves because somebody offers him a better deal that’s preferable to getting stuck with these outrageous contracts.Go ahead.

All a coach has to do at SC is to have one good season that exceeds expectations. The coach is immediately given a HUGE raise and an extension that effectively sets that coach for life financially. I cannot remember a coach of a major sport that has ever been rumored to be the target of another team wanting to hire him away from SC. Beamer absolutely blindly stumbled to an 8 win season in '22 and his pay was more than doubled. This was in spite of the fact that his name wasn't mentioned anywhere in any coaching searches.

We mortals can only dream of a job where occasional flashes of competence result in huge pay increases.

atl-cock · Mar 17, 2026

I always thought that economists and meteorologists were the only professionals who could "get it wrong" and still keep their jobs.....

BriceIsBest · Mar 17, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
FSU is in the same predicament with football. Norvell is clearly circling the drain but has been retained b/c of a ridiculous buyout. They simply can't afford to fire him. Two years in a row. You can be assured FSU desperately wants to move on from Norvell and turn the program around. They simply can't afford to. And, as counterintuitive as it may be, it could actually end up being worse overall to fire a failed head coach like Norvell or Paris. It puts us/them in a financial bind when hiring the next coach.

The similarity to our situation is that the current AD inherited the situation from the previous AD under whom Norvell was hired.

Buyouts are very clearly stupid, but it's just the way of doing business.

FSU is in horrible financial shape as well… We aren’t

GCJerryUSC · Mar 22, 2026

RL09 said:
Lamont Paris deserves to be fired due his job performance, it's such a shame the previous AD made such a tactical error with the buyout. I would not expect much difference next season either.

You would think he would have learned something after the Musflop predicament.

Harvard Gamecock · Mar 23, 2026

BriceIsBest said:
FSU is in horrible financial shape as well… We aren’t

Serious question.
Do we really know that to be true ?

Harvard Gamecock · Mar 24, 2026

sclawman77 said:
We never have a coach leave for a better deal. They either retire or get fired.

atl-cock · Mar 24, 2026

Harvard Gamecock said:

Staley would have been the first.

Ideally, we should be a top job, and those who leave retire (not get fired).

18IsTheMan · Mar 24, 2026

sclawman77 said:
We never have a coach leave for a better deal. They either retire or get fired.

In football, I think Sparky Woods is our only head coach to ever go on to be a head coach again. He was head coach at VMI a few years after getting fired here.

Edit: per Wiki, Marvin Bass went on to be head coach of the Montreal Beavers and Birmingham Vulcans.

atl-cock · Mar 24, 2026

18IsTheMan said:
In football, I think Sparky Woods is our only head coach to ever go on to be a head coach again. He was head coach at VMI a few years after getting fired here.

Edit: per Wiki, Marvin Bass went on to be head coach of the Montreal Beavers and Birmingham Vulcans.

I thought it was the Montréal Alouettes. Beavers was the nickname then?

18IsTheMan · Mar 24, 2026

atl-cock said:
I thought it was the Montréal Alouettes. Beavers was the nickname then?

Per Wiki. Could be wrong, though.

We aren't the only program retaining a failed head coach that nobody really wants around any longer

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