Mike Norvell is the best candidate if you ask me:
1) Proven program builder
2) Knows the southeast and recruits well down there
3) Probably in line for a pay bump after what he just did with FSU in 2023
4) Buyout is doable
5) Not too young, not too old. Just enough experience being a head coach
6) FSU is begging to get out of the ACC for the SEC anyway
Sorry, but Norvell is all smoke and mirrors.
He's not a good recruiter. His classes at FSU have been ranked 27th, 20th, 26th, and 12th. That should NEVER happen at FSU. He was also unable to hang onto Travis Hunter and lost him to freakin' Jackson State. He lost both five stars he had committed this past year on signing day -- coming off a 13-0 season. He's reportedly not all that great in-house trying to close.
At Memphis, he inherited a program that was very strong coming off Justin Fuente's tenure. He didn't build anything at Memphis, he maintained their success.
FSU got very, very lucky in the Transfer Portal this past year, and they deserve all the credit in the world for 13-0. But we saw how his team matches up against elite competition in UGA (hint: not well). The LSU win this year was nice, but BK stinks in big games, and 6 of his other wins came against teams with losing records.
He's 1-4 in bowls. He routinely loses to teams that have equal talent to his squads. He's a very good offensive mind, but his teams lack toughness and he's not very good at developing OL and DL. He would be a disastrous hire and I don't believe he'd do better than 7-5, 8-4 type seasons in Tuscaloosa.
Bama should hire Deboer.