After a 2-10 season in 2024, Florida State head coach Mike Norvell turned to an old friend in former Auburn and UCF head coach Gus Malzahn to take over play-calling duties and turn around the offense.
What Will Mike Norvell Do Now That Gus Malzahn Has Announced His Retirement?
The Seminoles’ offense improved significantly in 2025, but they still finished 5-7. After Norvell somewhat surprisingly kept his job, it looked like Malzahn would be back as well.
That, however, is not the case.
Although it appeared Malzahn would be back in 2025, on Monday it was announced that he would retire from coaching after just one year as the Seminoles’ offensive coordinator, according to Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports.
“After 35 years, it’s time for me to step away from coaching,” Malzahn said in a statement. “I am excited to spend more time with my family and focus on the next chapter of my life. I want to thank Coach Norvell for giving me the opportunity to coach at such a prestigious program. I will continue to follow Florida State, and I believe great things are ahead for the program under Coach Norvell’s leadership and for the offense under Tim Harris.”
Malzahn has been a coach for 35 seasons, initially starting as an offensive coordinator at Hughes High School in Arkansas in 1991. He soon became head of Hughes and Shiloh Christian in Arkansas before famously taking over at Springdale High School.
After stints at Arkansas and Tulsa (where he met Norvell), he became Auburn’s offensive coordinator in 2009, helping lead the Tigers to the 2010 National Title behind Cam Newton.
After one season as the head coach at Arkansas State in 2012, he returned to Auburn as the head coach in 2013. He led the Tigers to the national title game in his first season, where they were defeated by Florida State 34-31 in a classic that wound up being the last ever BCS title game.
Malzahn remained at Auburn until 2020, when he was fired and took over as UCF head coach from 2021 to 2024.
Malzahn won most of the national coaching awards in 2023. He has a career record of 105-62 in college, including a 68-35Â mark at Auburn.
One of the last things Malzahn did was help the Seminoles to find their presumed starting quarterback in 2026 in former Auburn and Stanford signal-caller Ashton Daniels. Daniels actually earned a higher PFSN CFB QB Impact score (76.0) than Jackson Arnold (75.7) did for the Tigers last season, but he still graded out as a C, ranking 106th in the nation.
With Malzahn leaving after the transfer portal had closed and most of the hysteria of the offseason was over, the Seminoles decided to go with an internal hire.
Tim Harris, Jr. to Take Over for Gus Malzahn
Coinciding with the announcement about Malzahn, the Seminoles promoted Tim Harris, Jr., to offensive coordinator.
Mike Norvell has promoted Tim Harris to offensive coordinator.
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) February 2, 2026
Harris was the wide receivers coach for the Seminoles in 2025, and despite their overall struggles, the unit was one of the most improved on the team.
“I believe great things are ahead for the program under Coach Norvell’s leadership and for the offense under Tim Harris,” Malzahn said.
Harris was FIU’s offensive coordinator in 2020 and the co-offensive coordinator at UCF under Malzahn from 2021 to 2022.
“I want to thank Coach Malzahn for his effort and dedication to our program over the last 14 months,” Norvell said. “He did a wonderful job coordinating our offense and calling plays in 2025, and he has set a strong foundation for us to continue building on in 2026 behind the coordination of Tim Harris and the multiple other assistant coaches who are returning. Coach Harris has a complete understanding of the offensive scheme, and his ability to effectively share that knowledge with his players will continue to be a benefit for our offense.”
Many expect this to mean Norvell will return to calling plays, as he did until Malzahn’s hire, but details have not been provided.
This is obviously just another tough blow to a Florida State program that has seemingly done nothing but receive them since they were snubbed from the playoff despite a perfect regular season and ACC Championship in 2023.
It seems like the writing is on the wall for Norvell and his staff, and unless he, Harris, and the rest of the staff can turn things around quickly in 2026, they will almost all be looking for a new home soon.
The Seminoles will kick off the 2026 football season by hosting New Mexico State in week 0 on August 29, 2026.
