Deion Once Interviewed for the FSU Job. Will He Get Another Shot?

The last time the Florida State Seminoles looked for a head football coach, Deion Sanders got an interview. 

This time, the former Seminoles star appears to be having more luck getting his name on candidate lists than getting a call from Tallahassee.

Florida State fired Mike Norvell on Sunday after a 36–24 loss to Clemson. Sanders, who played four seasons for the Seminoles and now coaches Colorado, quickly surfaced as a possible successor. But an FSU source told Roundtable that while some people in Sanders’ camp might welcome a conversation, the university has been talking to other coaches. 

“Coach Prime isn't an ideal candidate for the job,” the source told Roundtable. “There have been discussions with coaches who would be a better fit for the culture at Florida State.”

It is easy to see why Sanders’ name comes up whenever the job opens. 

From 1985 through 1988, he gave opposing quarterbacks a reason to look to the other side of the field and punters a reason to aim for the sideline. 

During his senior season, Sanders won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back. 

Few candidates would need less of an introduction at Doak Campbell Stadium. 

Sanders once believed he had a real shot at coaching there, too. 

In 2021, while he was at Jackson State, he recalled interviewing for the opening that went to Norvell. 

Sanders said his former Florida State defensive coordinator, Mickey Andrews, told him he had delivered the best interview of the candidates but lacked a college degree. 

He earned one from Talladega College in 2020. Sanders has been particular about giving the school its due, even as fans associate him with the place he played football. “I'm an HBCU grad,” he told reporters in 2024.

Colorado has since given Florida State a fuller record to consider. 

The Buffaloes won nine games in 2024, Sanders’ second season in Boulder. They have gone 5–14 since then, with four games left on this year’s schedule. 

Overall, Sanders is 18–25 overall at Colorado and 9–21 in conference play. 

The coach who drew a national audience to Boulder has yet to give the Buffaloes consecutive winning seasons.

Florida State also has to decide who will oversee its next coach. 

The university dismissed athletic director Michael Alford before it fired Norvell and is still looking for his successor. Meanwhile, the athletic department has been exploring private investment as a way to generate revenue. 

Whoever takes the football job could be agreeing to work for an athletic director who has yet to be hired, with financial decisions still to come.

Reports of a possible exit from Colorado have given the speculation another opening. 

Even if Sanders were ready to leave Boulder, though, that would settle only his side of the question. 

Florida State has given no public indication it plans to interview him. For now, the most concrete link between Sanders and the Seminoles’ coaching job is still the interview he gave the last time around.