Potential candidates for Florida State to replace Marcus Woodson
Florida State will be making at least one change to its coaching staff this offseason after former defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson accepted a similar position at Arkansas on Monday. The move didn't come as a surprise to the Seminoles as Woodson's contract expired on December 31 and there wasn't much of a rush to push for an extension.
Head coach Mike Norvell has already made a couple of changes since he arrived in Tallahassee in December 2019. Coincidentally, Norvell brought on Woodson to replace his inaugural hire as defensive backs coach at Florida State, TJ Rushing, who left for Texas A&M weeks after being brought on board.
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Last offseason, Norvell made a trio of promotions from within the program to replace on-field losses. He elevated offensive line coach Alex Atkins to offensive coordinator and senior offensive analyst Tony Tokarz to quarterbacks coach after Kenny Dillingham was hired in the same role at Oregon. Norvell also promoted senior defensive analyst Randy Shannon to replace linebackers coach Chris Marve after he departed to be the defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech.
This isn't exactly a new situation for Norvell but now he won't have to deal with the whispers of potentially being on the hot seat after a successful campaign in 2022. There will be a variety of candidates that express interest in the job, both with ties to current members of the staff and surprise names that come out of the woodwork.
Regardless, the Seminoles don't have a timeline for an official hire. They want to make the right addition to the program whether it takes a couple of days or a few weeks. It would make sense if this gets done sooner rather than later as Florida State probably didn't let Woodson walk without an idea of who will be replacing him.
Here are some possible candidates to replace Woodson that come from a variety of backgrounds.
Candidates that are already on Florida State's coaching staff:
— Greg Moss, Defensive Analyst
— Corey Fuller, Director of Football Relations
— Keiwan Ratliff, Director of Player Relations
Moss was hired as a member of Florida State's staff in February 2022 after spending three seasons at Charleston Southern as defensive backs coach. In his first season with the Buccaneers, the team recorded 14 interceptions and had the No. 21 pass defense in the FCS. Moss has ten years of college coaching experience and seven seasons as a high school coach at a variety of stops such as FIU, Miami Carol City High School, Nova High School, and Miramar High School.
Fuller joined the Seminoles in January 2022 after success at four local high schools; Rickards, West Gadsden, East Gadsden, and Godby. He was most recently the head coach at Gadsden County High School (formerly East Gadsden) before being hired by Florida State. Fuller served as cornerbacks coach at FAMU in 2014 and was promoted to interim head coach for the team's final four games that same year. He won a national championship at FSU in 1993 and played in the NFL.
Ratliff was also hired by Florida State in January 2022 after three seasons as assistant director of player personnel at his alma mater, Florida. He began his coaching career as an intern with the Orlando Predators in 2012 and also worked with the Miami Dolphins that same year. Ratliff founded the Rat Pak 7-on-7 program over a decade ago, which helped more than 200 student-athletes earn college scholarships. He was promoted to Director of Player Relations after Kenyatta Watson Sr. left for Georgia Tech. Ratliff was a consensus All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2003 before playing in the NFL.
While there are some interesting options already in Tallahassee that have strong recruiting ties, this would be a big leap for Moss while Ratliff and Fuller have yet to hold on-field jobs at the FBS level. The Seminoles are probably searching for a more established option that generates a larger buzz nationally.
Candidates that have ties to Mike Norvell or an assistant coach:
— Tre' Bell, Akron (cornerbacks coach)
— TJ Rushing, Texas A&M (defensive backs coach)
— Mike Treier, New York Giants (assistant defensive backs coach)
— Wesley McGriff, Auburn (defensive backs coach)
— Scott Symons, SMU (defensive coordinator)
Bell was most recently at Florida State in 2021 as a graduate assistant before being hired by Akron last offseason. His role with the Zips as cornerbacks coach is the first on-field job of his young career. Prior to his time with the Seminoles, Bell spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State under now Akron head coach Joe Moorhead. He's got familiarity with the staff and players at Florida State but may be lacking in experience.
The aforementioned Rushing is a former super bowl champion whose coaching career began at Arizona State. He was with Florida State for a brief period before former head coach Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M stole him away. With that being said, he has ties to Norvell after coaching defensive backs under Norvell at Memphis in 2018. Rushing was useful on the recruiting trail in College Station and may be looking to part ways with the program following a confusing season.
Treier joined Florida State as a defensive analyst as a member of Norvell's inaugural coaching staff. However, he too, like Rushing, was quickly hired away from the Seminoles when Colorado elected to offer him a promotion to safeties coach. That's when the New York Giants swooped in and made him assistant defensive backs coach. Treier worked at Marshall when defensive coordinator Adam Fuller held the same position for the Thundering Herd. An intriguing name with NFL experience and familiarity with the staff.
McGriff actually worked under current linebackers coach/co-defensive coordinator Randy Shannon as defensive backs coach when the latter was head coach at Miami from 2007-10. There's a legitimate relationship there and he spent ample time in the SEC at Auburn and Ole Miss. Though he just recently accepted an offer to return to the Tigers for his third stint, crazier things have happened in this day and age of the sport.
Symons spent 2018 as the inside linebackers coach under Norvell at Memphis but he has a lot of experience coaching safeties. He was hired as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach by Hugh Freeze at Liberty in 2019. Symons served for three years at Liberty before taking the same position at SMU under head coach Rhett Lashlee this past season, who he worked with at Arkansas State in 2012. A young coach, it may not take much to pry him away to college football's highest level but he would have to give up a defensive coordinator job to move back down to a position coach.
Candidates that make sense given their connections to FSU or the state:
— Torrian Gray, South Carolina (defensive backs coach)
— Demarcus Van Dyke, Miami (defensive analyst)
— Terrell Buckey, Orlando Guardians (head coach)
— Antonio Cromartie, previously with Texas A&M (graduate assistant)
— Rod Chance, previously with Colorado (cornerbacks coach)
Gray fits the bill as an on-field coach and recruiter. He has 22 years of experience across college football and the NFL which includes multiple stops in the SEC with Florida and South Carolina as well as the ACC with Virginia Tech. Gray has developed multiple players into draft picks including Brandon Flowers, Kam Chancellor, Kyle Fuller, and Kendall Fuller at Virginia Tech and Teez Tabor, Marcus Maye, Quincy Wilson, Duke Dawson, and C.J. Henderson at Florida. A native of Lakeland, one of the richest pools of talent in the state, Gray makes sense as a candidate.
Van Dyke played for Shannon at Miami for four years in college before moving to the NFL. He transitioned into coaching within the last couple of years, starting off as the cornerbacks coach for ASA college in Miami. Van Dyke transitioned to his alma mater as a defensive quality control analyst in 2018 and assistant director of recruiting in 2019-20. He was promoted to cornerbacks coach the following season but moved back to an analyst role this season after former head coach Manny Diaz was replaced by Mario Cristobal. Not a ton of experience but some stripes on the recruiting trail.
Buckley is approaching his first season as head coach for the XFL's Orlando Guardians but has expressed interest in the job at Florida State in the past. A legendary player for the Seminoles who spent over a decade in the NFL, Buckley is one of the more experienced options on the board. He worked at FSU previously under Bobby Bowden and Jimbo Fisher before serving as cornerbacks coach at Louisville (2014-15), Mississippi State (2016-19), and Ole Miss (2020-21).
Cromartie is a Tallahassee native who flashed potential at Florida State and was still drafted despite not playing in 2005. He was an All-Pro corner in the NFL who is fairly new to the coaching ranks. Cromartie was hired by Texas A&M as a graduate assistant in 2021 and worked with cornerbacks prior to departing the program this fall.
Chance doesn't have ties to Florida State but did spend his prep career at St. Thomas Aquinas and is a native of Fort Lauderdale. He was most recently with Colorado as cornerbacks coach prior to former head coach Karl Dorrell being fired. He's coached eight seasons at P5 programs in three different conferences (Pac-12, SEC, Big Ten). Chance's previous experience includes stints at Oregon, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Southern Utah, Rhode Island, and Alpharetta High School.
Other candidates that are worth monitoring:
— Chip West, Syracuse (cornerbacks coach)
— Nick Monroe, Syracuse (safeties coach)
— Darcel McBath, Mississippi State (cornerbacks coach)
— Jay Valai, Oklahoma (co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach)
— Jim Leonhard, Wisconsin (interim head coach/defensive coordinator)
— Shiel Wood, Troy (defensive coordinator)
West has been at Syracuse for the last three years as cornerbacks coach and the program has developed a couple of remarkable players including Ifeatu Melifonwu (Detroit Lions), Duce Chesnut (third-team All-ACC) and Garrett Williams (All-ACC honorable mention). He is well-traveled and has 25 years of experience - plus the results to boot. This could also help Florida State's recruitment of former Syracuse safety, Ja'Had Carter.
Monroe has a longer tenure with the Orange, as he's been with the program since 2016 in a variety of roles. He started off as a secondary coach before moving to safeties/nickelbacks coach in 2018. Monroe added rovers coach to his duties in 2020 and was named defensive passing game coordinator this past season. Like West, he's proven that he can recruit, develop, and put players in the NFL. Previous professional prospects include Andre Cisco (Jacksonville Jaguars), Trill Williams (Miami Dolphins), and Melifonwu (Detroit Lions). Plus, Monroe was Carter's primary position coach at Syracuse, which could assist Florida State's chances in courting him.
McBath is a rising coach to monitor who has been gaining experience in the SEC at Mississippi State over the last three seasons. He played under Mike Leach at Texas Tech before spending multiple years in the NFL. McBath began his college coaching career at North Texas as a defensive quality control coach in 2016 before rejoining Leach in the same role at Washington State the following season. He's been with his former head coach ever since but it'll be intriguing to see if he explores other avenues after Leach's unfortunate passing in December.
Valai is a coach that Florida State recently got a look at with the Seminoles defeating Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl. He's someone that has been on the move early in his coaching career, spending time with six different teams since 2016. Valai began as a defensive quality control coach for Georgia in 2016-17 before accepting the same position with the Kansas City Chiefs. He coached cornerbacks at Rutgers (2019), Texas (2020), and Alabama (2021) before landing at Oklahoma with the same title plus co-defensive coordinator duties under Brent Venables. Valai was briefly with the Philadelphia Eagles too.
Leonhard is more of a reach than anything as it appears not even missing out on a promotion to head coach than pry him away from Wisconsin. With that being said, he'd be exactly what Florida State is looking for in a young, energetic coach who is proven and battle-tested at the highest levels of college football. At the very least, it's worth giving him a call but it's unlikely he'd move down to a position coach role. This would take something like moving on from defensive coordinator Adam Fuller which appears unlikely after the 2022 season.
Wood is a rising name to know at the G5 level after a productive first season with Troy as defensive coordinator and safeties coach. The Trojans limited opponents to 325.6 yards (No. 20) and 17.5 points (No. 8) per contest in 2022 and finished with a 12-2 record, Sun Belt Championship, and a win over UTSA in the Cure Bowl. Wood has previously spent time at Army, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and Wofford.
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