After a stellar run at Memphis Mike Norvell has had a rollercoaster run in Tallahassee as the Florida State Seminoles head football coach. Norvell finished his four year stint at Memphis with a 38-15 record.
Florida
Who is Florida Lt. Gov Jeanette Nuñez? DeSantis might be Trump’s next pick for Pentagon
Lt. Gov Jeanette Nuñez could be 1st woman, 1st Cuban-American to be Florida governor
Trump mulls replacing Hegseth with DeSantis to run Pentagon
President-elect Donald Trump is considering dropping Pete Hegseth as his pick to lead the Pentagon, choosing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his place.
Florida government is seeing an abrupt shakeup, with President-elect Donald Trump nominating Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz and Sen. Marco Rubio to cabinet posts and endorsing state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis to take over Rubio’s seat.
That leaves holes in three important positions, even though Gaetz withdrew his nomination. Before that, Gaetz resigned his seat ahead of a looming House Ethics report on allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, which the former congressman has denied.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for special elections to fill the two U.S. Representative seats and must name replacements for Rubio and Patronis.
Now insiders are saying Trump might name DeSantis to lead the Pentagon, replacing his current nominee, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who is facing his own allegations of wrongdoing in his personal and professional life.
That would put Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez in charge of the Sunshine State, making her both Florida’s first woman governor and first Cuban-American governor.
Here’s what to know:
Who is Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez?
Miami native Jeanette Marie Nuñez, 52, one of three daughters of Victor C. and Teresita Sánchez, went straight into politics after getting her undergraduate degree in political science and international relations from Florida International University, working as an aide to then-state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla.
She went on to be vice president of government affairs at Jackson Health System, start her own company (OnPoint Strategies) and work for FIU as an adjunct professor and advisor, where she also completed her Master of Public Administration degree.
In 2010, Nuñez ran for the Florida House of Representatives to replace then-incumbent David Rivera. She ran on job creation, the economy and Medicaid reform and won, and was re-elected in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
During the last two years of her time in the state House, Nuñez served as speaker pro tempore under former House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who later became state Education Commissioner and president of the New College of Florida, the liberal arts college known for diversity and inclusiveness that the governor is remaking into a conservative institution.
During her time in the House, she advocated for a bill to let qualified Florida students pay in-state college tuition rates even if they were in the country illegally.
“Don’t hold these children responsible for something they had no control over,” she said at the time. She walked it back in 2023 as DeSantis’ second-in-command, saying the state could no longer support the number of undocumented Floridians going to college.
Nuñez also kicked off the legislation to make daylight saving time permanent in Florida, filing a bill with then-Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers, in 2018.
She referred to it again last week when Elon Musk was publicly musing on ending “annoying time changes” in his new role as co-leader with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in Trump’s newly proposed advisory committee on government efficiency.
“In 2018, I made it happen in Florida,” she posted on X. “It’s time for the federal government to step up.”
When did Jeanette Nuñez become lieutenant governor of Florida?
DeSantis chose Nuñez as his running mate for what was then a longshot bid for governor in 2018, boosted by a Trump endorsement and winning a narrow victory over Democratic candidate and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum.
She quickly became a voice for Medicaid reform and controlling health care costs and helped DeSantis promote his hard-right policies in the state on topics such as immigration, removing DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) education in colleges and universities and the state’s rejection of math textbooks over supposed “critical race theory” indoctrination.
Nuñez is the highest-ranking Hispanic woman to be elected in Florida history, and the third woman to be lieutenant governor after Toni Jennings and Jennifer Carroll.
It’s “a huge source of pride for me, for my family, but most importantly for my community,” Nuñez told NBC News.
Did Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez call Trump a con man?
“Wake up Florida voters, Trump is the biggest con-man there is,” Nuñez wrote in a Twitter (now X) post in 2016 during the presidential primary, when she backed U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s bid against Trump. “#nosubstance #anti-Israel #supportsKKK #neverTrump VOTE @marcorubio #RUBIO”
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that she deleted the tweet soon after she was named DeSantis’ running mate.
Is Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez married?
Nuñez is married to Adrian Nuñez, and the couple have three children.
Ana Goñi-Lessan of the Tallahassee Democrat contributed to this story.
At FSU Norvell started off slow winning only eight games in two years. Then the ‘Noles had an awakening and won 23 games from 2022-2023. And now that reality has come crashing back down with seven wins the past two seasons.
FSU will have 17 transfers in the 2-deep once again in 2026. It’s become a double-edged sword where he only way Norvell can keep his job (buyout be damned) after this year is to inject talent into the roster but he’s got a bad culture in the field house up at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Now let’s put the ‘Noles through The Goal, our 2026 Summer Scheming analysis system.
Acquisition: The ’Noles high school recruiting hasn’t been as ‘bad’ s advertised. FSU is 16th over the past three years in prep signings and 14th when it comes to the transfer portal for an average of 15th overall.
Development: Now this is the crazy part. Over the past couple of years the ‘Noles have only produced eight NFL players. Only eight have stuck it out from the 2025 and 2026 NFL Draft classes. Remember all of those drafts loaded with FSU talent like Jameis Winston and Jared Verse? Right now it’s Deuce Robinson and who else?
Deployment: This preseason Bill Connelly’s SP+ has FSU 35th in overall SP+. The Seminole offense is 45th, the defense 30th and the kicking game is 94th. So where as Mike Norvell has the 15th best players he’s producing the 35th best team. He’s revamped his coordinators once again sending Gus Malzahn off to the glue factory and promoting Tim Harris Jr to OC.
The bottleneck to success at FSU is the culture within the program. The Seminoles went hellbent on the transfer portal to improve from 5-7 to 10-3 and dipped their toe in again to move to 13-1. They were Jordan Travis’ leg away from competing for a national championship. But injuries do happen and losing your starting QB is a devastating one.
Mike Norvell has taken the Manny Diaz approach to the transfer portal and it’s killed any semblance of a culture that could possibly have been built in the FSU locker room AND he’s losing games.
The FSU strength of schedule is 45th of 138 in FBS per CFB News. Florida State faces SMU before an off week. Then they head to Tuscaloosa to play the Alabama Crimson Tide. After a cupcake, FSU hosts UVA before consecutive road trips to Louisville and Miami. The ‘Noles also face Clemson, Pitt and Florida over the back half of the schedule.
The inventory space includes returning production per Bill Connelly, the On3 top-100 list and the Athlon preseason All-Conference Team honorees. The ’Noles returning production is 48th in FBS at 57% production. FSU has two players on the On3 top-100 list in WR Deuce Robinson (74th) and DL Mandrell Desir (97th). The ‘Noles have one player on the Athlon All-ACC Team and that’s Robinson.
FSU hit the transfer portal for four of their five potential starting OL in ‘26. They also brought in QB Ashton Daniels (Auburn) and RB Quintrevion Wisner (Texas). Daniels is another FSU QB with a penchant for throwing interceptions.
Robinson averaged 19.3 yards per catch with six scores in 2025. Wisner adds over four yards per carry and three TD’s from his run at Texas. On defense M. Desir returns with 7.5 TFL’s and 6.5 sacks from a year ago.
Southern Miss transfer LB Chris Jones logged 9.5 TFL’s and 3.5 sacks a year ago. Another transfer, this one DB Nehemiah Chandler, picked up 13 PBU’s last season with two INT’s.
Mike Norvell is committing highway robbery with the past two seasons performances. After the 13-1 season and the Alabama opening with Nick Saban’s retirement, Norvell landed himself a nice raise up to $10.3M a season. The issue is they’ve only won six games per season under Norvell which adds up to $1.7M per win. That’s second to only Bill Belichick in the grand theft coaching category.
There is no chance the goal at FSU is anything short of eight wins. What a sad cry from only three seasons ago when the ‘Noles were potentially a national championship program. That’s the crux of the transfer portal, live by the transfer / die by the transfer.
Highly successful clubs have started to be extremely careful with who comes in and out of their program, think: Ohio State, Notre Dame, Indiana and even lately- Miami. The vetting process is pivotal for not bottlenecking your success by bringing in locker room cancers.
Season Prediction: I can see this winding up anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5. They’ve got the 2nd most players on the On3 top-11 than anyone else on Miami’s schedule (ND has five). They also have the 15th best grouping of talent in the country. And yet I just can’t see Daniels, four new OL, a new RB, and another dozen guys on defense gelling together under Mike Norvell and into some phoenix that rises from the ashes of the ACC cellar.
An Iranian-made drone displayed at the Biltmore Hotel served as a stark warning from national security advocates and South Florida officials who say Cuba’s growing military ties with Iran could pose a threat to the United States.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, chairman of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, joined U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Florida, to highlight concerns about what they say are roughly 300 Iranian drones that have been delivered to Cuba.
Standing alongside one of the drones, Bush described the weapon as among the deadliest battlefield threats faced by American forces in recent years.
“Most loss of life of the U.S. military than any single weapon that exists over the last 15 years,” Bush said.
Gimenez warned that the drones’ capabilities make them particularly concerning because of their ability to carry significant explosive payloads over long distances.
“This particular model, there is about over 100 pounds of explosives,” Gimenez said. “That’s a pretty big bang. That’s why they call them kamikaze drones — they crash into their target and they explode.”
According to Gimenez, the drones can reach speeds of about 115 miles per hour and travel more than 1,000 miles, placing South Florida well within range. He said the aircraft could also reach the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay and other cities throughout the southeastern United States, including Tallahassee and Atlanta.
The congressman said one of the primary concerns is the potential for Iran-style drone warfare tactics, in which large numbers of drones are launched simultaneously to overwhelm air defense systems.
While the United States has sophisticated defense systems capable of intercepting incoming drones, Gimenez noted that a successful strike may require only one, or a handful of aircraft to penetrate those defenses.
The event was organized by United Against Nuclear Iran, which has sought to draw attention to expanding military and strategic cooperation between Iran and countries aligned with its interests, including Cuba.
Supporters of the group’s effort say the growing presence of Iranian military technology in the Western Hemisphere warrants increased attention from policymakers and defense officials.
For South Florida residents, the warning underscores the region’s proximity to Cuba and the continuing role the island nation plays in broader geopolitical tensions involving the United States and its adversaries.
Body camera video shows a man fighting with Florida deputies who were trying to rescue him from a snake-and-alligator-infested canal, authorities said.
The incident happened July 3 when Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a man lying on the ground shirtless in front of an elementary school.
The man, 47-year-old Ryan McMinn, who had been then subject of a previous welfare check, fled on foot, the sheriff’s office said.
A short time later, authorities received a call about a man trying to climb on the side of a house in Palm Coast.
Deputies responded and found McMinn near the canal behind the house and when he spotted the deputies, McMinn ran into the canal and started swimming, authorities said.
“What’s your name?” a deputy asks him in the bodycam footage, as McMinn is seen swimming backwards. “You getting tired?”
Officials said McMinn was ordered to get out of the water multiple times but refused, and when he started to show signs of exhaustion, two deputies went into the canal to pull him out.
The video released by the sheriff’s office on Monday shows the deputies wading into the water before a struggle ensues.
Authorities said McMinn tried to grab one deputy’s head to push it under the water, before he tried to grab the neck of the other deputy.
The deputies were able to get control of McMinn and get him safely to shore.
He was hospitalized before he was arrested and booked into jail on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.
“Battering a Deputy Sheriff will guarantee you the loss of your freedom and a trip to jail,” Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said. “These deputies went into the water to rescue this guy, and he responded by fighting them. I commend our deputies for their willingness to get in a canal that usually have snakes and gators and pull this guy to safety before he drowned.”
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