Florida State fires AD, who ran up huge debt, underfunded FSU Football

Florida State has fired its athletics director, Michael Alford, who ran up the biggest athletics department debt in the country in his brief tenure, while somehow also giving his football program a tiny, relative to its Power 4 peers, roster budget, as the program has limped to losing records each of the past two years.

“Florida State is committed to maintaining the highest standards for our student-athletes and staff. We want all of them to be able to play for championships. This leadership change reflects that commitment,” said FSU President Richard McCullough, who ought to be watching his back, too, considering that he was the one who hired Alford, back on Dec. 9, 2021.

McCullough and Alford signed off on $500 million in improvements to Doak Campbell Stadium, a new standalone football facility and other athletics infrastructure projects that is at the heart of the $437 million in athletics-related debt currently carried by the department.

The debt load has limited what FSU has been able to spend on football; ESPN reported that embattled coach Mike Norvell was given a roster budget in the neighborhood of $30 million to build his 2026 roster, which is far short of where the top programs in the Power 4 are right now.

Seems that somebody is guilty of a fundamental misread of what was going to be needed to continue to win games – not so much the bells and whistles at the stadium, or a new weight room, as much as, cash for the kids.

My only question here: why today, and not months ago?

“Changes like this are never easy, but sometimes necessary,” FSU Board of Trustees Chair Peter Collins said in a release from the school announcing the sacking. “We have made significant investments and structural changes in our athletics program and Seminole Boosters over the past few years, but more are needed. This step begins the next phase of restructuring that the University must commit to in order to compete in this era of college sports. The president and the Board are in lockstep on the mission and what the results must be.”