Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Mike Norvell's Hot Seat: Who else needs WINS in 2025?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Is your team's head football coach going to get fired this season? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the Everydayers, and thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:33 He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Caines. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. Super Bowl 59 is here this Sunday, guys. There's no better way to make every play more exciting than with Fandual Sportsbook. New customers can bet just $5. And if you win, you'll score $200 and bonus bets. Download the app or head to fanduel.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:00:56 We'll take a look at the ACC Hoops weekend slate on this episode. For ACC football coaches, there are some that are not necessarily on the hot. seat that have a lot of pressure this year. But Kent and Gibbs, there are definitely some on the hot seat as we head into this 2025 football season. I mean, how hot do you think the seat is on Mike Norvell at Florida State? Because like how much, how much equity do you buy yourself after a 13 and start to the season in 2023? Then you go two and 10 in 2024. Norvel actually has more losing seasons than winning seasons in his five years, you've got to say that seat is hot, right? Oh, that seat is hot as fish grease. And here's why it's how this fish grease.

Starting point is 00:01:41 What is Florida State ceiling, Donald? What's their absolute ceiling? Maybe probably about eight wins, I would say. No, no. I'm saying, what is their ceiling as a program? As a program, you would say, the best that Florida State can possibly do is this. And this is what the history books show us. National championship.

Starting point is 00:02:01 National championship, correct? Sure. At the peak, at the apex of Norvelle's seasons, did he give you a national championship? No. Now, granted, we can make the argument he wasn't allowed to. We can make that argument. And it's a salient argument. I'm not mad at that. But here's the problem. Outside of Norville 2 and 10, what was Florida State's floor? What was their basement? I mean, I don't know. Their basement would probably be like third or fourth place in the ACC. That's what it should be for them. So, and I think that the worst that they ever were was what? Probably under Taggart when they were what, like five and four wins it.

Starting point is 00:02:45 Taggart never had a two-win season. No, no. Tagger never had to. And that was the worst Florida State in my lifetime. Correct me if I'm wrong, Donald. I don't think we've ever seen Florida State be worse than was under tagging. So. Outside of last year, sure.

Starting point is 00:03:00 Outside of last year. So you have not reached the ceiling. Your apex, your peak was not the ceiling and your floor was lower than the basement. You're damn right. The seat is hot. And when I tell you that seat is hot, I mean, that seat is hot

Starting point is 00:03:16 enough. You know, when you first a broil button on your stove by accident, you know, why does my stove look kind of funny? And you open it, no, oh, my face. Like, it's that. hot for Norville right now because again you have not you objectively despite the reasoning you objectively have not reached the peak but you have lowered the floor oh right Tallahassee ain't going to play that too much longer and it makes sense because one of the ways like

Starting point is 00:03:41 you would measure where a coach is on a hot seat it's not only results but expectations right and and as you outlined you know outside of Clemson and maybe Miami I mean no in Florida state you could argue maybe has even the highest expectations out of those three programs, depending on who you talk to, because some of the other coaches we're going to talk about who are on the hot seat heading in the next year, do not coach it programs where the expectations are as high as Florida State. So he's got to be up there, Norvelle. Now, for Mike Norvell, you could argue maybe the hottest seat in the entire ACC, what would be the magic number of wins this

Starting point is 00:04:18 year, Kenton, that would keep his job or at least keep him off the hot seat? Now, I asked Locked on Seminels host Brian Smith. I texted him earlier. And he said probably seven, at least seven wins is what keeps Mike Norvell's job for the following year. You know, obviously seven wins does not meet the Florida state standard. But coming off of two wins, you could understand why that number might be seven and not nine or ten.

Starting point is 00:04:47 Well, I think that there are two different numbers that we're talking about right now. The number that keeps his job, the number that cools his seat on. If he gets seven, If he gets seven, he comes back next year in the exact same position. Hey, show us something or you're going. Show us something. Show us life. Show us improvement or you're gone.

Starting point is 00:05:05 And the problem with that is this. If he wins seven this year, he can't win seven next year. If he wins seven in this upcoming season, he's going to need eight or nine. And you have to say, hey, we're trending in the right direction. And I have shown you all in the past that if you give me time, I can build and trend and get you to that apex or damn close to it. So with that in mind, I would definitely say seven saves his job. Nine plus gets the seat cooled down.

Starting point is 00:05:34 Nine plus people are like, all right, okay. Put the pitchforks away. Put the pitchforks away. We'll be all right with Norbert. I agree. I think if you get seven wins, you save your job, but you're on double secret probation, right? Anything better than that? You say nine, I say probably even eight would probably cool the seat off,

Starting point is 00:05:54 But we're on the same page with that one. And again, the expectations at Florida State make that seat extra hot. But there are a couple of other coaches, Kenton, who I think are on legit hot seats in the ACC heading into this year, both of the programs in Virginia. Tony Elliott at UVA, I mean, that team started four and one last year and still found a way not to be bowl eligible going five and seven last season. Elliott's previous two years at UVA were three wins apiece. I mean, just not good enough results. And I know UVA does not have the high expectations that Florida State does.

Starting point is 00:06:32 But if you're not even reaching bowl eligibility, I think his seat is super hot entering this year. You know, they fired Bronco Mendenhall for putting up similar and better results. So how long are they going to tolerate Tony Elliott? And then I would say Brent Pry with Virginia Tech, Kenton, I mean, the first year when he took over, you give him some grace. He went three and eight the first year. But then seven and six, the second year with bigger expectations for the third season in 2024 regressed and went six and seven this past year.

Starting point is 00:07:05 So I think his seat could get hot. Now, you know, with Virginia Tech, their coaching history, it's basically been three guys in the last 45 years, you know, having, you know, having a great one there for so many years in Frank Beamer and then, you know, they obviously Justin Fuente didn't give them Frank Beamer results. So he got fired, but they were pretty patient with Fuente. He got into the sixth year, Kenton. And before we talk about these Virginia coaches, I looked back at the Frank Beamer results over like 40 years in Blacksburg. His war, from 1992 on, because they were bad when he first took over. But from 92 on, his worst season was seven wins was Frank Beamer's worst season

Starting point is 00:07:48 there at Virginia Tech. So the standards used to be high there. We'll see how much more patience they give to Brent Pry. Here's the thing. Virginia Tech lay, both of these schools, Virginia and Virginia Tech, lay in hotbeds of talent. Like, nobody can deny that the DMV, the Newport News area, all that talent,

Starting point is 00:08:10 immense talent in that area. Can you build something attractive enough for that talent to come to? Can you build something attractive enough for that talent to come to? Can you build something attractive? enough to say, hey, Caleb Williams, you don't need to go all the way out to Norman, Oklahoma to do good things. Come on. Come on over. Come right on over to Blacksburg. It's fun. You'll love it here, all that good stuff. It's very important that these coaches win, but I'll tell you this, Donna. I don't think that these coaches' seats are an equal level of high. I don't think so at all.

Starting point is 00:08:37 I think the Tony Elliott seat, that thing is scorching. If you look at Tony Elliott's been a head coach for three years there, correct? Correct. A total of what? 11 wins. wins over three years? Yeah, three years. You're averaging less than four wins a year. I don't care who your school is. I don't care if you are in the pits, the depths of hell in terms of power for schools. Nobody is going to give you four years to put up four wins a piece per year or less,

Starting point is 00:09:09 which right now that's where his average sits. And then, and then there's a difference between that extremely hot situation. And I think I think prize seat is more. I think it's more. I don't think it's like, hey, this is bubbling, this is scorching. I think he could lose his job at the end of the season if they have a bad season. A thousand percent. They go four wins or something like that.

Starting point is 00:09:31 He's gone. But I think a solid eight wins, seven wins, really, even seven wins, I think. It's like, we're not happy, but we'll put the pitchforks away. For Tony Elliott, I don't see anything under seven or I don't see anything under eight really that tells you put the pitch for a little because even if he gets seven let's think about this from the clearest way possible even if he gets seven this year down you're looking at seven wins the totality of this three wins three wins five wins seven wins people are still going to say is seven the apex is that the best we can do is this our ceiling under him so you're still walking in the next

Starting point is 00:10:10 year like if you have another bad season you're cook as opposed to pry if he bangs out seven or eight this year, I think he's guaranteed another year beyond that to where he can go six or six, whatever, and not be going. I could be wrong. But, yeah, that's my opinion. Well, let's talk when we come back about seats that might be warm. And also, like, coaches who are not on the hot seat, but have a lot of pressure for this coming season. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on locked on ECC. Folks, prize picks. You want to have that prize pick app in front of you during that big game on Sunday. I know I will. Big game is almost here. There's no better way to make

Starting point is 00:10:50 even more exciting than with prize picks, the best place for daily fantasy sports, with over 10 million members and billions in winnings awarded. Prize picks makes it fun and simple to get in on the action. Here's how it works. You pick more or less

Starting point is 00:11:04 on at least two players' stat projections, and if you're right, you could win up to a thousand times your cash. Prize picks even has a free pick for the big game where Patrick Mahomes only needs to throw one yard to win. I think that's a safe one. pair that with one more correct pick and you're cashing out this week.

Starting point is 00:11:22 I'm looking at the board. I'm selecting more for Travis Kelsey on his receiving yards. Obviously, I'm selecting more than half a yard for Patrick Mahomes. So right there, that could be a winning selection. What I love most, fast, safe withdrawals. When I win, my cash is in my account in as little as 15 minutes. Check out the promos tab to tail any of the super sweet Millie winners, big game lineups. If you tail a lineup that goes three for three, you could split.

Starting point is 00:11:49 1 million in promo funds, download the app today and use code Locked on College to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code Locked on College for $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks run your game. Thank you for making Lockdown ACCC,

Starting point is 00:12:12 your first listen and your first watch today. If your next listen, make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs hosts Lockedon Wolfpack. I host Locked on Cain. So everything NC State, Miami, We have you covered on our other shows free wherever you get your podcast and free on YouTube. You can't, anyone else we could look at and say, hey, the seat may not be like scorching the way it is for Tony Elliott or for Mike Norvell.

Starting point is 00:12:37 But any other coaches you're on the lookout for ACC football coaches where the seat is warm, it can get hot pretty quick. Oh, two of the longest tender guys in the conference are both on seats that are at least warm by the calmest estimations. And I'd say that's in two of my favorite guys, Pat and Narduzzi and Dave Dorn. Those two are both on seats. It's getting a little warm now that the water may not be boiling yet, but it's hot enough to make some grits.

Starting point is 00:13:02 It's hot enough to make some old mill and that thing. Both of those teams have had some historical highs under. And I know NC State fans do not want to hear historical highs when he hasn't won an ACC championship in Dorn. However, objectively speaking, he is the winning his coaching program history. There's no offense or about. about that. That's just a factual statement. So with that in mind, what you are looking at here is a situation where he's raised the floor. He has not raised the ceiling, but he's raised

Starting point is 00:13:33 the floor, and now it's getting to the point where people are getting antsy about the ceiling. And last year was a year of regression that had more expectations than ever. And then we go up to Pat Narduzi. The last Atlantic coach to ever win an ACC championship. Come on, down, brother. Last year after starting as hot as fish grease, you absolutely sputtered down the stretch in a way that we haven't seen since what was it? It was the coach from Syracuse. Help me out. Syracuse is last coach. Oh, oh, Dino Babers. Babers was the last team to start out that hot and finish that that cold. I believe they started. It was seven up and then six down, right? They one seven and it's like geez and this is what i mean by you know we have not seen that type of

Starting point is 00:14:24 collapsing quite some time because again pick came out early the season looking dominant looking phenomenal they worked on a syracuse team that then went on and had a ton of success beyond what they could have done so you know there those two seats are not hot they're not scorching they're both getting a little warm they're both getting to the point where it's like hey now it's only so long you can ride out that ACC championship, brother. Now, the seat is not hot in Miami, but does anyone have more pressure to win big than Mario Cristobal? Because, you know, again, obviously, you know, you can only criticize a 10 win season

Starting point is 00:15:03 so much last year, but Miami found a way to have like the worst 10 win season because ultimately they didn't play for an ACC championship or a college football playoff. And, you know, I was kind of wondering what things would look like last year losing Cam Ward. And, you know, obviously Carson Beck doesn't directly replace Cam Ward. But Miami couldn't have done much better in finding Cam Ward's replacement than they did. And the roster's very talented. You know, the defense let Miami down last year. The offense was championship level.

Starting point is 00:15:35 The defense was far from it. So, you know, for Mario Cristobal, like, what's your next act after a 10-win season where it was good but not good enough? I think there's a lot of pressure this year. Now, I think it would take a lot. Like Mario Cristobov, to me, it's not anywhere close to the hot seat, but there's going to be a lot of disappointed folks in South Florida if they don't play for an ACC championship this year at the very least.

Starting point is 00:15:58 I think his seat is cool. It's not cold. I think the only cold seat in the ACCC is down there in Dallas. I think that seat is cold. It doesn't matter what Lashley does. SMU ain't moving on. However, I think that this seat is, It's cool.

Starting point is 00:16:15 It's a moment where 10 wins is 10 wins, it's 10 wins. However, I talk about this a lot. There are about 10, maybe 12 schools where winning eight games a year is not enough. Miami is one of those schools. It just is. Okay. Miami has seen some lows that were ugly. You know, we all remember the Randy Shannon era and all like this stuff.

Starting point is 00:16:39 It wasn't pretty. But with that in mind, even through then, they still were consistently making bowl games and whatnot. They still were. So I think for if we're talking in terms of Cristobal and what he needs to do this year, I would say seven heats up his seat, eight with the brutal schedule that they got eight.

Starting point is 00:17:01 You know what I mean? That's what you're about, hey, that's what we expect a coach to do. Nine and up, his seat is going to restack cold stage. It's going to start to hit that stage where it's like, hey, you can get you a cold one out of there and you'll be all right. Now, what about, and again, again, not, this is another one, definitely not on the hot seat,

Starting point is 00:17:20 but what about the pressure, pressure for Davosweeney? And I think he thrives under pressure, right? I mean, last year, you could argue Clemson probably overachieved a little bit, getting to the ACC championship, winning it, college football playoff. And the team on paper for 2025 looks better and more experienced. And you get more continuity, of course, with Garrett Riley and Cade Club. Nick both back. So, I mean, to me, like Clemson, you know, they, they, they, you know, disappointed a lot of folks winning, what, nine games in the regular season last year. I think if they don't win 10 or more,

Starting point is 00:17:56 then that's going to be a disappointment there this year. Oh, absolutely. But I want to say something about that. When you win multiple national championships, you've got a life receipt at almost any school. Clemson is one of those schools. They were not a traditional blue blood to the point where he's won multiple national championships. He's going to get a life receipt. He's going to get a life receipt at almost. He's going to get to decide when he lives. He's to there. But the other side of that coin, the flip side of that

Starting point is 00:18:21 lifer seat, you build perpetual pressure. I want to reference what Joe Peterno did up at Penn State, right? And scandal and all that aside, right? Just focusing on what happened on the field. If we're talking about that alone, did Joe Paul

Starting point is 00:18:37 ever have a year where people were like, six wins is okay. Seven wins is okay. No, because he had taken Penn State to such phenomenal heights. That at that point, when you take a team to the heights that they had never been to before, at a consistent level, all of a sudden it's like, hey, listen, we get it. We're not going to get rid of you. We know we can't.

Starting point is 00:19:01 But you're going to be a guy that is expected. The expectancy of your fans then raises to. I need to be at or near double-digit wins every year. I need to be nine-ish-plus, which they got to last year. I believe they had 10 going into the ACC championship, if I'm not incorrect there. And then they beat SMU and play competitively, play one of more competitive playoff games against Texas. So, you know, this is a situation where dabble's seat is not hot, but you're right. There is pressure on that seat, even if it is cold.

Starting point is 00:19:37 Yeah, absolutely. And another one, when you were talking about Joe Pater, You also had me thinking in conference. It was the same thing with Bobby Bowden at Florida State. I mean, he put that program on the map. They were not, you know, not nationally relevant before Coach Bowden got there, which was like early 70s. And it got to the point where it's like when Bobby Bowden,

Starting point is 00:19:59 like late in his career had some kind of down seas. Like, you know, we can't fire him. But like he can raise his own standards so high. It's like he can call his own shot. But, you know, they, there was some disappointing years at the end. He can call his own shot, but we need a home run sooner or later, damn it. We would like one. We would like one, and that's the space that Davo is in.

Starting point is 00:20:17 He's in that space where he can call his own shop, but they're expecting him to call one out of the park soon. Coming up next is take a look at the ACC basketball schedule for this weekend. Duke Blue Devils, are they going to improve to 13 and 0 in conference? They've got a little bit of a test this weekend. You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. I already know you guys are keeping it locked to Fan Duel. Folks, you're looking on the action at the big game. Super Bowl 59 is here, one game, two teams, endless possibilities.

Starting point is 00:20:50 There's no better way to make every play more exciting than with Banduel Sportsbook. Whether it's predicting the first touchdown, calling the MVP. Sure, we all like Patrick Mahomes for that, right? I like Sequin Barclay first touchdown. I got a feeling about that one, or even betting the coin toss. I like Tails. Banduel makes it easy to get in on the action with live betting all game long. You can adjust your bets as the game unfolds and feel the thrill from kickoff to the final whistle.

Starting point is 00:21:17 The live betting feature lets you stay involved no matter what happens on the field and the app is super easy to navigate. Plus, knowing that you can place a $5 bet and potentially win $200 in bonus bets for the Super Bowl, that's the icing on the cake. Download the app or head to fanduil.com to get started. Bet just $5. And if you win, you'll score $200 in bonus bets. That's fanduel.com. Bet with Fanduil official sports book partner of Super Bowl 59. Thank you for making Locked on ACC your first listen in your first watch today.

Starting point is 00:21:51 Alex Dono from Locked on Caines, Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. So, you know, Kenton, for the past couple of weeks, we've been saying, hey, is Duke going to go undefeated in ACC play this year? They're 12 and 0. And, you know, they're going to be on the road this Saturday, 6.30 p.m. against a Clemson Tigers team that is 10 and 2 in the ACC. and could challenge them. Now, he say could because when Duke is on their game, Kenton,

Starting point is 00:22:18 they're unstoppable just about. So, you know, could this be maybe the weekend where Duke has a little bit of a letdown and maybe Clemson at home can take advantage? I mean, that's definitely possible, but I don't see it happen. Dono, do you know what happened to Clemson in the last game that they played?

Starting point is 00:22:35 No, what happened? Multiple overtime lost to Georgia Tech. They looked ahead. of Georgia Tech to Duke. All of a sudden, they did not win that game. And you know what happens when teams look ahead and lose one? They typically lose the one they were looking at the way. Lakers.

Starting point is 00:22:54 Yeah, that's right. That one loss turns into two and two turns into three and so on and so forth. Duke let themselves, or I'm sorry, not Duke, Clemson let themselves be caught in the trap of, oh, yeah, we're salivating up for Duke. And of course, you know, Coach Bradnell will never say that. he'll always, oh, yeah, we were, you know, the shots just didn't fall, things just didn't go our way. Woo-de-woo-woo-woo.

Starting point is 00:23:17 But objectively speaking, they are a superior team to Georgia Tech. I don't think there's a world where that's not the case. And so, Georgia Tech comes out on top here by simply plugging away, doing little things, and again, focusing on the food that's in front of them. Clemson, on the other hand, play with theirs loss, and I think they lose this next game as well, because, again, you need to be confident, you need to be right, you need to be, on a good note going into that game against a team that looks like, looks like objectively the second best team in the nation at worst.

Starting point is 00:23:51 At work. Is right. You cannot, you can't go into that game licking your wounds from the last one to think you'll be okay. Other games on the slate on Saturday, 1 p.m. Virginia Tech on the road at Notre Dame. You know, Notre Dame actually helped Miami get their first ACC win. Miami at 2 o'clock.

Starting point is 00:24:11 It's going to play Louisville on the road. That's going to be a really tough one. Looking for their second straight ACC win. That's going to be tough for Miami. 315, Boston College at Syracuse. Pitt at North Carolina at 4 o'clock. That's an interesting matchup pit, 5 and 6 in conference, North Carolina, 6 and 5.

Starting point is 00:24:31 Cal hosting Wake Forest at 5 p.m. Georgia Tech, taking on Virginia on the road at 5.30. We mentioned Duke at Clemson at 6. and NC State at Stanford at seven. I'm sure you're going to be watching that one. And which other games outside of the Duke game really jump out to you? Donno, please leave me alone asking I'm not going to watch NC State basketball, okay? I'm protecting my peace in 2025.

Starting point is 00:24:55 Part of that is not looking at things that's take away joy from me. I only watch things that bring me joy. And I'm going to leave that at that. But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, in all seriousness, that UNC pick game, I believe, you mentioned earlier. I think that that could be a very interesting one in terms of not just because of a situation of, oh, well, who's in that best of the rest group after you get past Duke and then Louisville and Clemson, who's in that best of the rest group?

Starting point is 00:25:27 It's also for seeding in the ACC tournament because a lot of people don't realize this. The ACC tournament, the better seating you get, the more. buys you get to a very high degree. So this head-to-head matchup could weigh heavily into that as both of these teams are middle of the pack, but both have the talent to kind of jump up from where they are now. Well, I want to thank everyone for taking time out of your day to make Lockdown ACC your first listen and your first watch today. Make sure you smash that like button and subscribe. Make sure you subscribe to Lockdown Wolfpack. Make sure you subscribe to Lockdown-Kane's. Make sure you check out all the great shows along this network and have an awesome.

Starting point is 00:26:05 weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you next time on another episode of LockdowneCC. We are part of the awesome lockdown podcast network. Your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Mike Norvell's Hot Seat: Who else needs WINS in 2025?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.