New Florida State AD Jeff Purinton inherits coaching search with Jimbo Fisher already making moves

The Florida State Seminoles named Jeff Purinton its athletic director on Monday, and the former Bobby Bowden-era staffer’s first major task is a football coaching search that one former Seminoles head coach is already working hard to win.

USA TODAY Sports’ John Brice reported Tuesday that Jimbo Fisher is pushing hard for the job and has been calling potential staffers, even as Florida State has barely started the process of replacing Mike Norvell.

“Anyone telling you much has happened at Florida State in their coaching search is full of it. They just hired Purinton as AD. Nothing of consequence has happened yet,” a college executive told Brice.

Fisher went 83-23 in eight seasons in Tallahassee and won the 2013 national championship, then left for the Texas A&M Aggies in December 2017 before Florida State had finished its season. Texas A&M fired him in November 2023, and he has not coached since.

Fisher is pitching a return to a fan base that watched him leave a struggling team before its season ended, and he is doing it before the school has settled on what it wants in its next coach.

Who else is in Florida State’s coaching search?

Brice listed Georgia Bulldogs defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann among the names to watch, along with sitting head coaches PJ Fleck of the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Eli Drinkwitz of the Missouri Tigers. Manny Diaz, a Florida State alum who previously coached the Miami Hurricanes, was described as facing an uphill climb. Schumann would mark a break from tradition, since Florida State last hired a coach with a purely defensive background when it brought in Larry Jones in 1971, Brice noted.

The notable name missing is Wake Forest Demon Deacons coach Jake Dickert. Two coaching agents told Brice that Wake Forest writes non-compete clauses into its coaches’ contracts that cover fellow ACC schools.

“That’s a real thing, because it’s cost some guys,” one of the agents said.

Florida State fired Norvell on Nov. 1, a day after a 36-24 home loss to the Clemson Tigers dropped the Seminoles to 3-5. He finished 41-39 in six-plus seasons, and the school owes him a buyout of roughly $47 million, which carries offset language if he takes another job.

Interim coach Rick Stockstill won his debut on Saturday, a 31-24 victory at the Boston College Eagles that moved Florida State to 4-5. The Seminoles need two wins in their final three games to become bowl eligible.

Purinton, a two-time Florida State graduate, joined the school’s athletics communications office as an undergraduate in 1994 and later spent 15 years at Alabama before leading Arkansas State’s athletic department. His first hire as Florida State’s athletic director will settle how much of the Fisher era the program wants back.

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