At Memphis the past four seasons, Mike Norvell has faced the unique challenge of replacing a total of 25 coaches.
The only head coach in college football that has had to replace more coaches on his staff than Norvell in that same amount of time is Nick Saban at Alabama. Both guys have had their staffs raided by other programs looking to hire quality coordinators and assistant coaches.
That type of staff turnover can make recruiting an interesting challenge year-to-year. Now, just weeks into his tenure in Tallahassee, Norvell has had to recruit with just a handful of staff members in place.
At his signing day presser earlier this week, Norvell was asked about how he'd be able to sign key targets without his new staff entirely in place. The answer he provided morphed from recruiting into how he has handled staff turnover, and both centered on one key thing - being open and honest.
"I tell these young men that my job is to not only develop them, but to also develop the coaches we hire."
"With that being said, there is a chance that they will come and be a part of our program and within the next four years, their position coach is going to change because they're going to get promoted. They are going to get head coaching opportunities. That is what I aspire to do for every coach on our staff because that is part of my obligation. Someone did that for me at one point."
"I tell the young men that I'm recruiting - 'You are going to be developed. You are going to be coached. You are going to be cared about with a relationship based position coach.' On the flip side, if they have an opportunity to take that next step in their career, then I am going to go find you the next one. That is something that I take a great deal of pride in, in developing our staff, and making sure that those guys are always taken care of at a high level in how they are developed at their position."
Hear more from Norvell in the clip.
