TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Near Gus Malzahn’s new office hangs a photo of Kelvin Benjamin hauling in a touchdown pass from Jameis Winston, the play that helped Florida State beat Malzahn and his Auburn Tigers in the 2013 national championship game.
It’s a daily reminder of Malzahn’s connection to the Seminoles.
“Every day when I go to the office, I have to walk past the picture of the guy catching the ball,” Malzahn said. “That was a really special match. There were many good players on the field. It went on until the end. It was probably entertaining or a great match to watch. Obviously it was difficult to be on the losing side.”
Malzahn is now on the other side. He resigned as UCF’s head coach to become Mike Norvell’s offensive coordinator in Tallahassee. Their bond goes back even further than Malzahn’s title game loss to the Seminoles.
Malzahn, 59, said he chose to return to his coaching roots rather than remain a head coach distracted by new-age responsibilities. Malzahn left the $15 million guaranteed — he was set to make $5 million in 2025 and had three years left on his contract with the Knights — for a different coaching lifestyle. He signed a three-year contract with FSU that will pay him $1.5 million in 2025.
“The job description of a head football coach has changed dramatically in the last two years, with everything – transfer portal to collectives to agents and everything that comes with that,” Malzahn said. “I’m just an old-fashioned football coach.
“I love coaching football, and head coaches, it’s hard to do that often. So that had something to do with it. And then the opportunity and knowing Mike and having so much respect for this university, coaching against this university in the national championship. I know what this place is capable of.”
Malzahn has been especially successful during a career that started at an Arkansas high school and included head coaching stops at Arkansas State, Auburn and UCF. The Knights won nine games in 2021 and ’22 in the American Athletic Conference before making the jump to the Big 12, where they finished 6-7 last year and 4-8 this season.
Malzahn helped Auburn to the 2010 national title as offensive coordinator and was a few steps away from winning another title in 2013. Now he’s in Tallahassee to help turn around a storied program that has fallen on hard times.
Malzahn was part of the Tulsa staff that hired Norvell as an assistant assistant in 2007. They didn’t work together for long, but have remained close over the years.
Malzahn is now tasked with sparking an offense that was among the worst in major college football this season, averaging 15.4 points and ranking 131st out of 134 schools.
“I’m a big believer in letting football go downhill,” Malzahn said. “It makes everything better as far as pass protection, better for the quarterback, everything. … And we are going to make that happen.”
Malzahn will replace Norvell as the team’s primary play-caller.
“Our basis for the attack comes from the same family,” Malzahn said. ‘He has his own wrinkles, and I have my own wrinkles. But there are many more things in common. We still have the same terminology, the way we identify things like lineups, player lineups and numbers.
“That’s why it’s a very, very easy transition. We’re going to play quickly. I think that’s number 1. We’re going to play fast.”
Former Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos posted on social media that he has committed to the Seminoles. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
