Report: Florida State Hiring Jeff Purinton as Athletic Director

The Florida State Seminoles are turning to a familiar face to help determine what comes next for its athletics department.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Florida State is hiring Jeff Purinton as its next athletic director, with an announcement expected later today. Thamel initially reported that the university was targeting Purinton before following up with confirmation that an announcement was forthcoming.

Purinton brings connections to Florida State, experience inside Alabama’s championship operation and a stint leading Arkansas State’s athletics department. His arrival would fill a significant leadership vacancy as the Seminoles work through a football coaching search following Mike Norvell’s dismissal.

Former athletic director Michael Alford was fired earlier this fall. Now, Florida State is putting someone in place to help make the decisions that will define its next chapter.

For Purinton, the move represents a homecoming.

A native of Palatka, Florida, he earned both his bachelor’s degree in sports management and master’s degree in athletics administration at FSU. He began working in sports information as a student assistant before advancing into graduate and full-time positions.

His time in Tallahassee included working with Bobby Bowden and Mike Martin, giving him an introduction to the expectations surrounding two of the university’s most accomplished programs.

Purinton worked with Florida State’s 1999 national championship football team and accompanied the baseball program to the College World Series in 1999 and 2000. He later served as the primary football sports information director from 2004 through 2006.

After a stop with the Orange Bowl Committee, Purinton joined Alabama in 2007 and spent 15 years in Tuscaloosa. He arrived as associate athletic director for football communications, handling external responsibilities for Nick Saban’s program, and eventually became executive deputy athletic director in 2021.

His responsibilities expanded well beyond communications. 

Purinton served as sport administrator for football and the golf programs, previously oversaw men’s basketball and supervised areas including human resources, marketing and trademark licensing.

Arkansas State hired him to lead its athletics department in May 2022.

During his three years in Jonesboro, the Red Wolves won 12 Sun Belt championships, the most among conference members over that stretch. Including women’s bowling, Arkansas State collected 13 conference titles during his tenure.

Purinton left Arkansas State in 2025 to become executive vice president in Learfield’s Sports Properties division, adding experience on the commercial side of college athletics to his campus background.

That combination gives Florida State an administrator familiar with coaching expectations, department operations and the business demands that increasingly shape competitive success.

The immediate challenge, however, will be helping FSU select its next football coach and ensuring that coach understands the resources, responsibilities and expectations attached to the job.

University leadership has spent recent weeks examining the athletics department’s structure while preparing to fill both vacancies. Purinton’s expected appointment gives that process a central figure who can help connect the university’s direction with the work happening inside its programs.

Alignment is beginning to take shape at Florida State, though the most consequential decisions remain ahead.

Hiring an athletic director before completing the football search creates an opportunity for the next coach and department leadership to begin with a shared understanding. 

For FSU, the task now is turning that opportunity into a working relationship that lasts beyond the introductory press conferences and produces results across the entire athletics department.