Gus Malzahn is at Florida State because of his coaching connection to Mike Norvell, going back nearly two decades to Tulsa. But Malzahn’s connection to FSU is also clear, and it’s a visual that hangs up at the Moore Athletic Center near the new offensive coordinator’s office.
Malzahn sees it daily, not just a reminder of FSU’s championship history. But of Seminoles wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin going up for a pass over the middle from Jameis Winston, a game-winning touchdown that sealed the Seminoles’ 2013 national title victory over Auburn in the Rose Bowl.
“I've got to walk by the picture of the guy catching the ball as I go to the office every day,” said Malzahn, who was in his first year as Auburn’s head coach in 2013. “That was a real special game. There were a lot of great players on the field. It went down the very end. It was probably entertaining or a great game to watch. It was tough, obviously, to be on the losing side.”
Malzahn was also asked if Auburn had FSU’s signs in championship game, a point that Seminoles fans have long suspected. No, Malzahn insisted that the Tigers didn’t have the signs but admits that wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig had been on FSU’s staff and that the Auburn sideline was trying to pick them up.
Just over 10 years later, Malzahn is at FSU as the play-calling offensive coordinator with his coaching friend in Norvell.
Here are three takeaways from Malzahn’s introductory press conference on Wednesday:
Malzahn expressed a desire to be more coach, less CEO
The 59-year-old Malzahn has been mostly successful in a coaching career that began at the high school level in Arkansas (1992-2005) before landing college assistant coaching jobs at places like Arkansas, Tulsa and Auburn. Becoming a head coach is often the goal.
He's battled week in and week out in the SEC during a long run at Auburn (2013-20), a school that has not been one associated with coaching longevity. But when you defeat Nick Saban a few times and compete for titles, winning one in 2010 as an assistant and playing for one in 2013, it shows how Malzahn can coach and get the most out of his players.
But after two down seasons at UCF, where the Knights were 6-7 in 2023 and 4-8 in 2024 as the program made the leap from the AAC to the Big 12, Malzahn was at a crossroads. Officially, he resigned from UCF. There’s no buyout, a UCF spokesperson told the Osceola, and Malzahn walked away from a $5 million salary in 2025 to earn $1.5 million at FSU in the first year of a three-year deal.
That’s a big career pivot but also one that Malzahn said he was seeking due to the complexities of being a college head coach in the transfer portal era.
“The job description of a head college football coach has changed dramatically in the last two years with everything — transfer portal to collectives to agents and everything that goes with that,” Malzahn said. “I'm just an old school football coach. I love coaching football, and head coaches, it's hard to do that a lot.
“So that had something to do with it. And then the opportunity and being familiar with Mike and having so much respect for this university, coached against this university in the national championship, I know what this place is capable of doing.”
Malzahn left an uncertain future as UCF's head coach to join FSU and be a part of a turnaround. And while he's stated a desire to get back to his coaching roots, it's clear there were some stipulations of the move. He's going to be the play-caller, for example.
But Malzahn also helped bring a highly regarded offensive line coach in Herb Hand to FSU. And his recruiting connections over the last four years will help, notably bringing in UCF commit Jayvan Boggs and flipping him to FSU. It's plausible more UCF players, especially those on the offensive line, will seek to join Malzahn and Hand in Tallahassee.
Run and do so with physicality
Malzahn was part of a Tulsa staff that hired Norvell as a graduate assistant in 2007. They didn’t work together very long but have remained close through the years, both coaches have said.
Now Malzahn joins Norvell and tries to jump-start an offense that was among the worst in the FBS in 2024, averaging 15.4 points (131st out of 134 schools). It will start with common ground as Malzahn and Norvell value the run game as the foundation of the offense.
UCF’s rush offenses were consistently good, ranking in the top 10 in each of the three seasons with Malzahn as head coach as well as Herb Hand as offensive line coach. Hand has also joined Malzahn in Tallahassee.
The Knights were seventh in the FBS and first among Power 4 schools in rushing offense in 2024, averaging 248.1 yards per game.
“I'm a big believer you got to run the football downhill,” Malzahn said. “It makes everything better as far as pass protection, better on the quarterback, everything. … And we'll get that done.”
Physicality is also a critical element, something that was often missing at FSU in 2024 but Malzahn said needs to be a part of everything the team does on a practice field.
“I think it's a mindset,” Malzahn said. “I think if you're truly going to be that, it's got to be who you are. It can't just be talk about it. You do that on the practice field. You do that instilling in every one of your players, not just the linemen and all that. So really excited for that aspect.”
Similarity of scheme
Norvell has called plays as the head coach at Memphis and Florida State, often with success, while hiring offensive coordinators to help with the game plan. Because of that success, he’s had coordinators move on to bigger and better jobs — including Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State. Dillingham has worked at both Auburn for Malzahn and FSU for two years with Norvell.
Through the years, Norvell always called the plays. Now it’s Malzahn calling the plays. The play-caller will be new but the offensive scheme and desire to use tempo is similar, Malzahn said.
“Our foundation on offense is from the same family,” Malzahn said. “He's got his own wrinkles, and I've had my own wrinkles. But there is a lot more things that are in common. We still have the same terminology, the way we identify things like formations and player alignment, numbers.”
FSU will certainly have new pieces at just about every offensive position. Gone are productive starters like Lawrance Toafili and Ja’Khi Douglas. But it’s uncertain who will be the starting quarterback, who will start up front on the line or be playmakers at running back, tight end or receiver.
While there will be a desire to bring in new players to revitalize the offense, there could be advantages for returning, younger players looking to make an immediate impact. Malzahn said the offenses are similar and promised “it’s a really, really easy transition.”
Let's not fool ourselves: Nothing will be easy. But the scheme, terminology and tempo will be familiar.
“We're going to play fast,” Malzahn said. “I think that's the No. 1 thing. We're going to play fast.”
Follow The Osceola on Facebook
Follow The Osceola on Twitter
Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple
