​Mike Norvell may not get much credit for what he’s done for the Florida State football program the last two seasons.But he does seem to solidly know where he stands entering the 2026 season.With the Seminoles 7-17 over the last two seasons since being snubbed from the 2023 College Football Playoff, exterior frustration has reached peak levels entering Norvell’s seventh season leading the program.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAny path going forward for Norvell in Tallahassee, which feels increasingly less likely, will be through sudden and significant improvement.Unfortunately for him, he has to get through the talking season that is college football media days and preseason camp before his team will have that chance to show its growth on the field.He demonstrated a strong understanding of that situation when addressing media members at ACC Kickoff on Wednesday in Charlotte.“In reality, the words don’t matter, it’s about the action,“ Norvell said at the podium. “That’s our focus. I could stand up here, you could say a lot of things, but it’s still about what’s going to show up. That’s what I believe in.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNorvell’s tenure in Tallahassee has been like one huge roller-coaster hill. Starting from the ground, building up to quite a peak — 19 straight wins and a 13-0 2023 season with an ACC championship — but then a precipitous drop-off which leaves everyone involved feeling like there’s a pit in their stomach.“As I said, I know what it looks like because we’ve done it. I know the steps. I know what we need to do to get back to that level. I’m very confident what’s it’s going to be,” Norvell said. “ … As we came into the program six years ago, there were some challenges that we faced. Those first two years, for all the different circumstances that showed up, we stayed focused on our path and the growth, the improvement, making sure we were ready for the moment. We had players that bought into that.“As you get into ’22, ’23 season, a couple of the best stretches that Florida State has had, 19 straight wins, being able to put ourselves in that position was something that had to be worked for. It wasn’t just because we talked about it; it was about what was done.”Whether you thought Norvell deserved a seventh season at FSU or not, he’s getting it. It’s not a surprise that his message is going to be that he’s been able to build the program up before. Now, 2026 becomes the season where we figure out if this Norvell tenure is a full-circuit roller coaster with multiple hills, loops and corkscrews or if it’s more of a shuttle loop, launched up to a high height before plummeting right back down the same path to the bottom for the next coach to try and fix.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOne can see a similarity between the improvement Norvell’s teams made from 2020 (three wins) and 2024 (two wins) to 2021 (five wins) and 2025 (five wins). Bu