Firing confirmed by the university president
Seven days. That is how long it took Florida State to move after a 27-24 home loss to SMU on Labor Day.
The Seminoles parted ways with athletic director Michael Alford on Monday. University president Richard McCullough confirmed it to ESPN. The Tallahassee Democrat had broken the story a day earlier.
Alford had the job since January 2022, taking over when David Coburn stepped down. Four years and eight months running one of the most scrutinized athletic departments in American college sports.
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NIL and $437 million in debt
What cost Alford his job went well beyond one result on the field. According to the Tallahassee Democrat, his handling of NIL and roster funding had been under fire internally for months.
The number doing the rounds in Tallahassee gives the scale of it: $437 million in college sports-related debt for the 2025 fiscal year. In a system where schools now pay players directly, that kind of red ink colors every budget decision.
He knew the place inside out. Alford was president and chief executive of the Seminoles Boosters before taking the role. He also ran the athletic department at Central Michigan from 2017 to 2020, after five years as an associate director at Oklahoma.
Mike Norvell next in the firing line?
Alford’s exit does not close the book on anything. Head coach Mike Norvell is 8-18 since the start of the 2024 season. That record puts him in the crosshairs too, at a program the country never stops watching.
The question now is who makes the call on Norvell’s future, and with what backing, with the athletic director’s chair sitting empty.
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