Mike Norvell returning, will coach Saturday for Florida State after testing positive for COVID-19
Following a 10-day quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, which forced him to miss their game last week, Florida State coach Mike Norvell is set to rejoin the Seminoles at practice on Tuesday, he confirmed on Monday morning.
Norvell announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus last Saturday, and has been in isolation ever since. He coached his team virtually last week, but missed their blowout 52-10 loss to Miami on Saturday.
"I hated that I wasn't there for it," Norvell said Monday, via ESPN. "This is my team, my players, guys I absolutely care about and believe in, and it hurts when you don't play to your capabilities and get beat in a big game."
‘This is a critical week’
Norvell, who is in his first year with the Seminoles, is the first coach in the league to be sidelined and miss a game due the coronavirus.
While stuck in his house, Norvell held team meetings and coached as best he could over Zoom — a situation that wasn’t easy by any means. Doing so, however, helped him get through the time in quarantine.
“I got to a point throughout this week that helped me with my overall peace and sanity,” Norvell told Yahoo Sports. “There’s nothing we can do to control the situation, so we have to make it the best situation it possibly can be.”
Without Norvell, though, the Seminoles struggled.
Miami ran all over Florida State on Sunday, cruising to the 42-point win at Hard Rock Stadium. The Seminoles fell to Georgia Tech to open the season, too, which gave Norvell the first 0-2 start in his coaching career.
He’ll have the chance to pick up his first win at Florida State on Saturday when he officially returns to the sidelines for their only non-conference matchup of the season against Jacksonville State.
This week, thanks to their slow start, is “critical.”
"I think every person that is a part of this team, every coach, staff, every player, we understand that there are great strides that need to be made and they need to be made quickly," Norvell said, via the Tallahassee Democrat. "That's one of the things that we've emphasized that we have to be able to carry over the work from practice into the game and maintain that consistency throughout the course of a 60-minute contest.
"Continuing to focus on our discipline, our details, our communication, and then we've got to go out there, and when the opportunity presents itself, we've got to make the play and truly seize the moment that we have."
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