Renzo Downey
Florida State University football coach Mike Norvell announced he has tested positive for COVID-19 Saturday, that result coming from a routine test this week.
The head coach, who is at the start of his first season with the team, made the announcement through the university.
“In our most recent round of Covid testing yesterday, I received a positive result after being negative in our previous two tests this week,” Norvell said. “My wife and daughter were tested this morning with negative results but are quarantining.”
The Seminoles are currently 0-1 on the season. The team did not have a game scheduled this week.
“My result was surprising to me, but we have prepared for a potential positive result among anyone in our program and we will put that plan in place while I am away,” Norvell said. “I will remain involved remotely as much as possible to help our team continue to prepare.”
Seminoles athletic director David Coburn said Norvell is feeling fine.
“We are proceeding with our Covid protocols as we would with any other case,” Coburn said. “Coach is isolated, and university tracing staff is handling the contact tracing as they normally do. We will continue to test staff and student-athletes as we have been.”
Norvell will not coach next weekend when the team heads to the University of Miami. Deupty head coach Chris Tomsen will handle in-person coaching duties until Norvell returns.
“We have communicated with Commissioner John Swofford and Miami Athletics Director Blake James,” Coburn said. “At this point, based on our testing this week, we have no reason to believe that the Miami game is in jeopardy.”
More than 681,233 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Florida through Saturday.
Norvell is the second NCAA Division I football head coach to publicly announce that he had tested positive for the disease, according to Yahoo Sports. In July, University of Toledo’s Jason Candle tested positive.
