As uncertainty reigns supreme in college athletics right now, we'll try to sort through some of the madness and speculation with a new edition of the Warchant 3-2-1
We'll offer up three observations, two questions and one prediction about college sports realignment, the future for Florida State athletics, and possible outcomes for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
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Three Observations
1 -- FSU has been preparing for this inevitability
While the aftershocks from USC and UCLA bolting from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten are still rumbling across the college football landscape, the only surprises to anyone who has been following this saga closely were the timing and the specifics.
Few could have predicted it would be the two Los Angeles schools joining the mostly Midwest conference, but I think most everyone involved -- from college administrators to media to observant fans -- knew at some point there would be more major reshuffling of schools. Especially once Oklahoma and Texas announced they were heading to the Southeastern Conference last summer.
Whether it was going to be one massive college sports league or two or three super-conferences, the transformation that had been whispered about for years was clearly about to become a reality. The only questions were when and how.
Florida State's administration was obviously of that mindset when the university changed the leadership of its athletics department late last year and started pouring much greater resources into the football program.
The first sign was speeding up the retirement of former A.D. David Coburn, who originally was expected to stay on through the end of the academic year. Coburn, of course, was put in place to help get the department's finances in order, which he did, but he was not necessarily the person you'd want in charge of a school looking to start investing heavily into athletics.
Enter Michael Alford, an administrator with a strong fundraising background and a desire to make big things happen. Since Alford took over in December, he has received the blessing and guidance of FSU's new top-level administration -- President Richard McCullough and Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Collins -- to increase staffing and spending almost across the board.
Some of the Seminoles' recent changes are obvious -- from the renovations of the weight room and locker room to the planned remaking of Doak Campbell Stadium -- while others are below the surface, including the hiring of many new additional support staff members and bumping up certain salaries to keep assistant coaches in place.
None of that happened by accident.
While some fans might still be in wait-and-see mode with Mike Norvell and his staff, understandably so, I believe FSU's new administration made a conscious decision to provide Norvell with every resource he needed. Not just to help him be successful in the short-term, but to make sure the program was in as strong a position as possible when the college landscape eventually shifted again.
Whether that happened in 2022, 2025 or beyond.
There is no denying Florida State's rich tradition of success in football and other sports. But the messy divorce between Jimbo Fisher and the Seminoles -- thanks in large part to a dysfunctional relationship between the athletics department, Fisher and Seminole Boosters -- left the school looking amateurish to some, and uncommitted to others.
I still think FSU would have been a very attractive property for other conferences even if the Seminoles didn't get their house in order. But now that they have -- with a university president, BOT chair, athletics director and new head of Seminole Boosters (Stephen Ponder) -- all working in unison, the Seminoles are much better-positioned for whatever the future holds.
2 -- Being proactive is good; panic is bad
As you can tell from all the wild media reports from around the country this week, college administrators are scrambling to figure out their next steps following the latest Big Ten act of aggression.
The Pac-12 is looking for new schools to poach. The Big 12 is doing the same. Those two leagues could end up merging. The ACC -- and the rest of the free world -- are courting Notre Dame. And several ACC schools are meeting with their attorneys to figure out if there's an economically viable path out of the long-term Grant of Rights.
