Through Florida State football's stunning struggles this season, FSU director of athletics Michael Alford has largely remained quiet publicly.

Four days after the Seminoles' 52-3 loss at Notre Dame which dropped them 1-9 on the season and three days after FSU offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans were dismissed by head coach Mike Norvell, Alford addressed a group of Seminole Boosters members on a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday evening.

"None of us anticipated or are very happy about where we are. But we are where we are. More importantly, what are we doing to address it?" Alford said. "I can tell you that coach Norvell and I speak weekly. You've heard me for numerous years speak about the daily communication that we have, the shared vision, the partnership that we have...

"We have a shared vision and we're going to work together to get this corrected. How we got here, there's a lot of different factors that we won't get into. But regardless of that, we should be better. We should not be in this situation. We shared a lot of our respective experiences from being at places or different programs where you had a year like this and what it takes to get out and to get better. That's going to help me in assisting him and he's found it very useful as well. The strength of our relationship and our collective commitment can't be more steadfast on what we're going to do to fix this."

Alford has seen first-hand from their frequent conversations how this season's stunning falloff from Norvell's wildly-successful 2023 team has weighed on him.

However, he's remained exceedingly confident in the FSU coach's ability to quickly help the Seminoles return to their 2022/2023 form when they had a combined 23-4 record under Norvell.

"I can tell you this hurts him a lot. It wears on him. But what I've been so impressed about, his energy has not wavered..." Alford said. "This is very personal to him. What makes him such a great leader is how personal it is...None of us wanted to be here, but I can tell you with coach Norvell, what makes him such a great coach, what makes him the national coach of the year last year, what makes people in the (NFL) reaching out him, you see the numerous head coaches reaching out to him, offering encouragement especially going through this time and this year, it makes us excited for the future. Because I know the man we have. I know the man that is leading this program, I know the care he has for our student-athletes and I know what one hell of a football coach he is on top of it. We're going to be getting this program back steered in the right way and it's going to happen very quickly."

Alford also talked during Wednesday night's town hall, amongst quite a few other topics, about the first few days of FSU's search to replace both coordinators after that announcement was made Sunday evening.

The FSU AD basically confirmed what Norvell has said about what it would take to make in-season changes to the FSU coaching staff. It was about doing what is best for the members of the FSU football roster.

"We meet every Sunday after games, Coach and I do, and we go through that week, go through the future, try to project where we're going to have to make some decision and really put that into a timeline. Making sure too that we are doing the right thing by the student-athlete," Alford said. "That is the No. 1 criteria that he and I use. What is best for those young men at this moment? Forget everybody else, what is best for those young men and what do we feel is best for them, not only to prepare them to go out and compete at their highest level but also emotionally. What are we doing to make sure they're in a good spot and we're taking care of them at that time? The core of any decision is with the student-athlete in mind. That's something that he and I take to heart being former student-athletes."

As for the search for a new OC and new DC, Alford seems excited, albeit unsurprised, that there has been immediate heavy interest from quite a few prominent names in the college football world.

"The names, I can't give them of course. Let me say the interest of people reaching out to us has been overwhelming," Alford said. "You would recognize a lot of the names."

That heavy interest within days of the jobs coming open confirms to Alford that Norvell is the right man for the job and that FSU is still a coveted place to work in today's college football environment.

"It shows the belief in coach Norvell. The people that have reached out to me or others, they know this program is going to be back. I've talked to numerous head coaches across the country, talked to administrators, talked to commissioners, everyone says you're going to be right back. That's our anticipation," Alford said. "The amount of interest to be a part of this program, a part of this university and community has been overwhelming. Especially by the type of people and the resumes they bring with them to be a part of this program. It speaks to the tradition of Florida State, it speaks to what our donor base has been able to build here throughout the years and it makes us really excited for the future and some of the changes we're anticipating making moving forward."

Updates: What Michael Alford, Stephen Ponder said in town hall meeting

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