Q&A Athletic Director
David Coburn SEMINOLE BOOSTERS: In the last Unconquered, you used the words “intelligent, articulate and passionate” when describing Mike Norvell during the search process. Now that he’s put his staff and recruiting class together, what qualities have you seen? DAVID COBURN: The two qualities that really stand out are the level of organization and the attention to detail. I mean, he came in here with a plan in terms of structure, in terms of personnel. He has proceeded very quickly to implement that plan. Everything reflects that level of organization and the attention to detail. I am very impressed. SB: He met with each of the players. Do you know what his message has been? DC: His message overall has been, ‘You are going to be pushed to be the best you can be. This is going to be demanding and you need to expect you will see the results but you need to expect it’s going to be demanding.’ SB: What does demanding mean? DC: I think it means strength and conditioning. Practice. The attention to detail. The expectation that perfection is the goal. It’s like those TV commercials, ‘Just okay is not going to be okay.’ SB: Norvell has hired 10 assistants, the strength and conditioning coach, a number of graduate assistants and analysts. How does his staff compare in terms of numbers and in terms of salary to Willie Taggart’s staff? DC: In terms of numbers, he’s probably going to end up with a few more positions. But in terms of dollars, it’ll be the same; just allocating things differently. SB: How does it compare to Jimbo Fisher’s staff? DC: The budget increased some from year to year, as people received pay raises, but it is essentially the same. SB: Does the strength and conditioning staff change in numbers or budget? DC: There may be more positions but the budgets are not expanding. We talked about these numbers when we interviewed. He knew what he was going to have. That’s why he came in with such a great detailed plan. He un-
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derstands he has a budget. He’ll push but he understands. SB: Have you talked about football facilities? DC: What I’ve told him is I want him to go through the semester. You know, go through spring practice. Spend some time in the facilities, using everything, and then we’ll sit down and talk. But he’s never been anywhere where everything (offices, stadium, practice fields, training room, locker room) literally is within 100 yards. I think they’re not particularly happy with the way this building is laid out internally. Other than that, I think, he wants to use it for a while and see how it goes. SB: Both your men’s and women’s basketball teams jumped out to fast starts and have been highly ranked. DC: Well, they’re both off to great starts and both have really good things going. Leonard has really got it going right now. He has a very good team. He’s had very good teams. He has a very good recruiting class coming in and he’s working on another really good recruiting class for next fall. Leonard’s obviously rolling and Sue has been up to number eight in the country. She has three great seniors and some great freshmen. I can’t say enough about the job she’s done. So very happy with where we are with both teams right now. SB: Leonard has been very consistent over the years instilling culture and winning but it seems his program has risen to a higher level nationally in terms of respect, and the number of wins he’s putting together in the ACC. What do you attribute his success? DC: A few years back, he made some changes in his assistant coaches and they began getting him in front of better players, in my view. Leonard can flat get you if he can get in front of you. And once they started getting Leonard in front of better players, he was signing better players. He’s also got assistants who can flat out coach as well as recruit. Stan and CY an those guys can put a game plan together. I saw them practice before Louisville and I knew we were going to win that game. CY knew exactly what he wanted them to do. And they worked and worked and
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