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Florida State football coaches fired signals new era of college football recruiting
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- Florida State football coaches fired signals new era of college football recruiting
When a program as storied as Florida State football sits at 1-9 on the season, nobody's job is safe.
The Seminoles announced on Sunday night that they were moving on from offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller, and wide receivers coach Ron Dugans.
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The move is in response to an on-field product that has struggled beyond belief, and also in response to misses on the recruiting trail as well. The Seminoles have lost four commitments since October , including all three of their senior receiver commits.
But the timing of the firings is what is most noteworthy. The new college football early signing period has forced teams to rethink their timeline for coaching changes, and like most other schools in the country, FSU had to make a decision now in order to salvage their current class as it stands .
Why did Florida State fire coaches in early November?
Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins speaks to media on Dec. 27, 2023.
FSU moved on from Atkins, Fuller, and Dugans with less than a month to go until the start of the early signing period. The new date, which was moved up by nearly a month to Dec. 4, forces teams to make drastic changes much earlier in the season in order to protect and solidify classes before recruits put pen to paper.
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Schools are making those seismic changes in response. In the second week of November, there are already four coordinator vacancies in the state of Florida. UCF dismissed defensive coordinator Ted Roof two weeks ago , and FAU fired defensive coordinator Roc Bellatoni along with senior staffer/offensive line coach Ed Warriner on Sunday.
Four head coaches have already been dismissed across the country ( Rice , Kennesaw State , Southern Miss , and East Carolina ), and more will likely come as schools grapple with the new signing date. With three fewer weeks to work with, programs have to give themselves an opportunity to find and replace recruits that decommit after the coach that recruited them is let go.
If the Seminoles would've waited to shake up the coaching staff, recruits may have lost faith in the trajectory of the program or the staff's ability to coach them before signing day. Beginning the transition earlier allows Mike Norvell and company the ability to pitch recruits that change is coming, and they can be a part of it.
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With three new key vacancies (and almost certainly more coming), the Seminoles are signaling one of two things; either that they believe they can defend this class with the staff on hand, or that they will be heavily reliant on the transfer portal once again next season.
Florida State has some catching up to do in the receivers' room
Florida State coach Ron Dugans coaching up his receivers during indvidual drills during fall practice in the Jacksonville Jaguars facility on Aug. 7, 2024.
The Seminole's struggle to catch the ball have been well-documented , and their incoming class of receivers gave FSU fans a glimmer of hope for the 2025 season.
Florida football recruiting: Tracking commitments, flips from players before Signing Day
That hope evaporated by Oct. 27. First, Rock Hill (S.C.) four-star Malik Clark flipped to his hometown Gamecocks three days after the Noles were trounced by SMU. Lovejoy ( Texas ) three-star Daylan McCutcheon followed suit the following week, flipping to his hometown Longhorns after FSU fell to Clemson.
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The third and final receiver to decommit this cycle was Milton (Ga.) four-star CJ Wiley, who also stayed home after walking back his pledge to Dugans and Norvell. Wiley named the Bulldogs just over a week after decommitting on Oct. 27, the day after Miami cruised past FSU in Coral Gables.
Dugans, a receiver on the Seminoles' 1999 national championship team, has struggled to keep recruits before. The 2022 national cycle was filled with high-level receiving talent, and FSU had three commits at the position — including the nation's No. 1 player in Travis Hunter . They finished the cycle with zero wide receiver commits, and are in danger of doing the same this year.
Part of Dugans' undoing was the work of another former Seminole. Keon Coleman , who played under Dugans in 2023 and now for the Buffalo Bills , has reportedly told any and every recruit that would listen not to play for Dugans.
Florida State Seminoles wide receiver Keon Coleman (4) warms up in a shirt representing Peter Warrick before the game against the Syracuse Orange on Oct. 14, 2023 at Doak S. Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.
With former stars campaigning against him, current recruits losing faith and decommitting, and a lackluster on-field product, the writing was on the wall for Dugans. Now it's up to the remaining staff to revive the receivers' room before signing day — a tall task considering more changes are likely coming.
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What's next for Florida State football recruiting?
When elite programs struggle, rival schools can smell the blood in the water. So for now, the Seminoles will do what they can to defend their current class.
The crown jewel of the 2025 cycle has been FSU's offensive line commits. With Atkins out, the pressure is on to keep marquee recruits onboard. Solomon Thomas , the No. 2 player in the USA TODAY Florida Top 100, shut down his recruitment months ago. Atkins was heavily involved in his recruitment, and keeping him tethered to a class that already claims four-stars Mario Nash Jr. and Peyton Joseph is imperative.
Raines offensive tackle Solomon Thomas is pictured at high school football practice in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 6, 2024. [Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union]
Thomas expressed some disappointment in the decision to move on by FSU on social media on Monday: "Ngl yall messed up firing my coach."
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The Seminoles managed to flip Norland's twin edge rushers Mandrell and Darryll Desir from UCF a few hours before announcing Fuller's dismissal. The defense already holds commitments from four-stars Kevin Wynn (defensive lineman) and Zae Thomas (cornerback) for now, and keeping them from decommitting will be key for the next three weeks.
FSU has been linked to Cocoa standout receiver Jayvan Boggs, who is currently committed to UCF. The Knights have experienced their own coaching shakeups, along with the expected fallout in their recruiting class as a result. If flipping Boggs wasn't a priority before, it certainly is now.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football fires assistant coaches: Why it makes sense for recruiting
