Norvell coaches in quarantine
FSU coach is isolated but preparing team until Miami game.
Florida State coach Mike Norvell can’t recall ever missing a practice during his career and said it was extremely painful when he was forced to miss the Seminoles’ walkthrough on Friday, the day he tested positive for COVID-19.
Follow-up testing confirmed the result, so Norvell had to isolate himself from FSU as it prepares to face rival Miami on the road Saturday. The first-year coach said Monday he continues to experience no symptoms. Under ACC policy, Norvell will be eligible to rejoin the team on Monday, Sept. 28.
Norvell said he is grateful that technology is helping him stay connected with the Seminoles daily. He praised the FSU video staff for providing multiple camera angles that allow him to monitor practice in real time and relay guidance to his staff directing the team.
The Seminoles have frequently used Zoom for meetings since March and continue to use it this week for team meetings.
Norvell said he immediately used the videoconferencing platform Friday to inform his staff and then his players of the test result.
“Like I told our football team, it’s an opportunity for all of us to show a response to adversity that comes up,” Norvell said. “It’s what we talk about all the time within our program, and now I get a chance to be the example. Something didn’t necessarily have a positive turn with regard to my situation to be able to do my job, but I can definitely control my response.”
The quarantine taking place during Miami week is especially painful, he added.
“It’s extremely disappointing. This game is one of the great games in all of college football,” Norvell said. “When I got the job, this game and Florida, those are games that each and every year mean so much to so many.”
He can prepare the team for the matchup and will talk with them until they leave the team hotel Saturday, but he is not allowed to communicate with staff during the game. He’ll hand all coaching duties over to deputy head coach Chris Thomsen, who has 24 years of coaching experience.
“It really isn’t much of a change,” Thomsen said of the team’s heavy use of videoconferencing since March. “… I think for the players and us as coaches, it’s really not a big deal at all. Just kind of roll with it and go, and I
think it’s gone really smooth.”
It will be different for Norvell when he can’t coach the team Saturday, but he said, “Now I get to be there to show them how to overcome when things don’t go your way. And still, the response will define you.”
Norvell said he adhered to all safety protocols and does not know how he was exposed to the virus. His wife and his daughter tested negative, requiring him to stay separated from them within his home. Norvell called not being able to hug his daughter or wife the most difficult aspect of his situation and he welcomed game preparation as a distraction while he is isolated.
“I have not gone and put my
self in any jeopardizing situations,” he said. “This is something that there are not a whole lot of answers to for how it occurred. It’s unfortunate that it’s happened.”
FSU initiated contact tracing to identify anyone else exposed to COVID-19. Norvell didn’t specify whether any other member of the program is isolated or will miss Saturday’s game as a result of exposure to him, but he did say FSU followed coronavirus protocol intended to limit spread of the virus.
“We have a plan in place if anybody, if any member of our staff or organization, if this was to occur, you know kind of what that next step was going to be,” Norvell said.