Inside FSU’s Surprise Staff Promotion Shakeup
Florida State’s coaching pipeline hit another snag this offseason as the Seminoles lost two position coaches—running backs coach David Johnson to Arkansas and quarterbacks coach Tony Tokarz to Buffalo—while head coach Mike Norvell looked inward. Rather than scour the market, Norvell opted to elevate wide receivers assistant Austin Tucker to quarterbacks coach. Tucker, a former Arkansas receiver turned offensive analyst, has worn multiple hats over five seasons at FSU, assisting both running backs and QBs, and earning praise for his recruiting prowess. He helped guide star signal-caller Jordan Travis to ACC Player of the Year honors in 2023 and nearly flipped a top defensive end recruit from Alabama before things fell through. Meanwhile, FSU’s staff still includes offensive analyst Brendan Bognar, who has quarterback coaching and recruiting credentials of his own.
Behold the ultimate proof that FSU’s coaching staff is held together by duct tape and ambition. When two coaches depart, the university doesn’t ask, “Who’s next?” They shout, “Someone grab Tucker!” It’s like a high-stakes game of musical chairs, except the chairs are filled with PowerPoint slides and free marketing pipelines. One can only imagine the recruiting pitch: “Come to FSU! We’ll promote you internally—eventually—unless an NFL legend calls first.” The real talent here isn’t coaching football, but orchestrating a circus of role-swapping where everyone overachieves at humility.
FSU Grad Assistant Joins Faulk’s HBCU Revolution
Florida State offensive graduate assistant Ben Miles is departing Tallahassee for a tight ends coaching position at Southern University under Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk. Miles, son of longtime coach Les Miles, spent two seasons with FSU’s ground-attack unit that led the ACC in rushing (218.7 yards per game), contributing to standout lineman Luke Petitbon’s perfect “no sack allowed” record in 2025. Before FSU, Miles honed his analysis and game-plan skills at Texas A&M. Faulk, fresh off his Colorado and Jaguars coaching stints, has assembled a youthful staff aimed at invigorating the HBCU program.
It turns out that for FSU’s on-campus coaching ladder, “graduate assistant” is just a fancy term for “future escape artist.” Ben Miles, son of Les Miles, demonstrated he could count plays and dodge tiresome office tasks, thus earning a direct ticket to Baton Rouge under Marshall Faulk. It’s not so much a promotion as a strategic retreat: out of the ACC rat race and into the charming realm of HBCU football, where his biggest challenge may be convincing tacklers he’s not just another face in a Les Miles documentary. But hey, at least he’ll have access to real game action—and fewer broken office chairs.
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