Please, Santa Claus. All I want for Christmas is for Rick Stockstill to jump-start Florida State, win out, get seriously considered for the permanent job, and get hired.
Is that too much to ask?
Karma gods? Football gods? Anybody listening?
Please.
I’m bummed for Mike Norvell. I think he’s a good football coach, and watching everything unravel at Florida State has been painful. As I wrote last week, I would rather see a school put that kind of money toward improving its roster than spend it getting rid of the coach.
But alas, here we are.
I keep thinking about the SiriusXM media-day interviews I did with Florida State players the summer after their undefeated regular season. My impression was that some of them had gotten awfully comfortable with themselves. There was a swagger that, to my ears, crossed into dismissiveness when we discussed Georgia Tech, their opening opponent in Ireland.
Then Georgia Tech beat them.
That conversation has stuck with me through everything that followed. It doesn’t explain the entire collapse, but it felt like a warning sign.
Ever since Jordan Travis went down late in that magical 2023 season, Florida State has been tumbling down the college football mountain. At times, the whole thing has felt cursed. Between the ACC escape campaign and the football program’s unraveling, you almost wonder whether somebody angered the football gods.
Now those same gods have handed Rick Stockstill an opportunity.
And I am pulling like hell for him.
I’m a Middle Tennessee alumnus. I’ve also covered college football on SiriusXM for more than 20 years, with the good fortune of learning something every day working alongside Rick Neuheisel.
Through all of that, I’ve come to believe something unequivocally: Rick Stockstill is a football coach any program would be lucky to have.
Some people look at his tenure at MTSU and call it underwhelming.
Underwhelming by what standards?
Have you been to my school?
I love Middle Tennessee. I’m proud of my degree and proud to be a Blue Raider. But let’s be honest about the conditions Stock coached in for much of his tenure.
The football facilities weren’t exactly something you put on a postcard. Hell, it was a bitch just finding the head coach’s office tucked inside the basketball arena.
Our stadium? A whole lot of concrete and aluminum. I’ve made wonderful memories there, but nobody was confusing it with a palace.
That context matters when you evaluate what Stock accomplished.
He took teams to bowl games. He fielded competitive programs. He gave us Saturdays when a school with far fewer resources could walk into somebody else’s stadium and ruin the party.
I remember Benny Cunningham running wild against Georgia Tech. I remember Middle Tennessee going down to Miami and beating Mario Cristobal’s Hurricanes.
Those wins meant something. They still do.
Stock had a gift for getting more out of what he had. If you judge his career without considering what he was working with, you miss so much of the story.
Today, Middle Tennessee has a beautiful new football complex. Stockstill helped support that project with his own money.
He never got to coach in the finished building.
That part still gets me.
And before anybody tries to turn this into something else, I’m a huge supporter of Derek Mason. I love Coach Mason. I’m also the football team’s public-address announcer, and I want nothing more than to see him succeed.
My appreciation for Rick Stockstill stands on its own.
Look at Kevin Byard. Look at Reed Blankenship. Look at the players who came through Middle Tennessee and built NFL careers.
Stock saw possibilities in players other people overlooked. He developed them. He believed in them.
He was always looking for what he called “water hose guys.” Tough guys. Guys willing to work. Guys who would compete, get dirty, and come back for more.
That was the spirit of his program.
I’ve long believed he deserved an opportunity like Florida State years ago.
I remember when East Carolina came calling and he stayed at Middle Tennessee. What has always stuck with me about that decision was his commitment to the recruits and families he had made promises to.
In a profession where everybody seems to be looking for the next exit, that mattered to me.
He’s a man of integrity and discipline. A coach who gives a damn about his players and understands that the promises you make in somebody’s living room ought to mean something.
Watching him coach his son Brent at Middle Tennessee was another gift. They made some magic together, and those are memories I’ll always cherish as an alumnus and a fan.
Would I put Stock in the College Football Hall of Fame if it were up to me? In a heartbeat. I know there are eligibility requirements. I’m telling you what his work meant to me.
Someday, I hope Middle Tennessee puts a statue of Rick Stockstill near Boots Donnelly’s outside our athletic Hall of Fame.
He deserves to be remembered that way.
For now, he has a team to lead at the school where he played quarterback. He has a chance to bring some steadiness to a program desperately searching for it.
I know how these searches work. Florida State will have a list of names, agents will work the phones, and people will get intoxicated by the possibilities.
I just hope Stock gives them a reason to stop and look at the man already standing in front of them.
Let him get this team going. Let him stack some wins. Let him make the decision difficult.
Football gods. Karma gods. Santa.
Please let this work.
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