Florida State football rumors: Jimbo Fisher buzz getting louder, and even viral haters are on board
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On December 1, 2017, Jimbo Fisher resigned as the head coach of Florida State Football in order to take over at Texas A&M. Since then, two different men have held the head coaching position. One of those is current head coach Mike Norvell, who is on the hot seat at Florida State.
While at Florida State, Fisher went 83-23, won the conference three times, and won the 2013 BCS National Championship. Still, their final season under Jimbo did not go well, and the way he left upset some fans. Two of those fans, Mike Tomkiewicz and John Stevens, had viral moments with Fisher before he left, calling him out, according to Matt Baker of The Athletic.
“Both were on the receiving end of viral moments as Fisher neared his exit for Texas A&M in 2017. Tomkiewicz was escorted out of Fisher’s radio show for asking the coach who demanded loyalty to the program, where his loyalty was. And after Stevens called out from the stands for Fisher to get new assistants following a home loss to Louisville, Fisher snapped at him by saying he should get on the field and say it to his face. The exchanges became lasting symbols of one of the most contentious exits made by any coach not named Lane Kiffin,” Baker wrote.
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Willie Taggart replaced Fisher, and the team went 11-14 in two seasons. Mike Norvell came in. After a 3-6 season in 2020 and a 5-7 season in 2021, Norvell had the Seminoles moving in the right direction. In 2022, the team went 10-2, and then won the ACC Championship in 2023. Despite being 13-0, the team was left out of the College Football Playoff due to their starting quarterback being injured. They lost the Orange Bowl, and since then it’s been a disaster. FSU is just 9-19 since the Orange Bowl loss.
Now, fans are pining for the days of old, as buzz grows around the school that Florida State may replace Norvell with Fisher. As the buzz grows, the two fans who had the most viral hate for Fisher are on board with his return.
“I just see it getting worse,” Stevens said, echoing the sense of feeling trapped being endured by fans.
“Time adds perspective,” Tomkiewicz said. “Time heals wounds.”
Tomkiewicz, who is an attorney in Tallahassee, Florida, ran into Fisher years after the viral event. He was taking his child trick-or-treating, and one ofthe houses just so happened to have Fisher handing out candy. The coach had moved back to Tallahassee after being let go by Texas A&M. Fisher recognized his former antagonist, and they began talking about FSU.
“He was very supportive,” Tomkiewicz said. “He didn’t say anything negative about Norvell. He came across as being like a Noles fan in a sense.”
He is not the only fan who has had great encounters with the former coach. Each time he has been working with the media and returned to Florida State in recent years, fans have chanted his name. Maybe time has healed wounds, but fans also need to understand that going back to glory days does not always work out.
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