Hello! Happy Wednesday!
If you want to know a little secret about the media, it’s that, for all the posturing about how crucial our work is for a free and democratic society, we really just want people who have better jobs than us to retweet our stories.
I mean, we want our work to matter and to improve the world, but, like, not without public validation.
On that note, here’s Harvard University’s Nieman Lab, the nation’s foremost outlet covering the journalism industry, with a story about me!
FOIAball, HARVARD UNIVERSITY writes, “has a rollicking, confiding, they-don’t-want-you-to-know energy.”
You’re darn right it does. Please go read it. But more importantly, please share it.
On Saturday, Florida State opened its 2026 season with a victory. One that, let’s just say, they needed.
After two desultory years, and with SMU looming, the Seminoles’ 34-17 victory over New Mexico State saved them from a week of fraught headlines.
In his post-game presser, Mike Norvell blamed the closer-than-expected final score on hiccups caused by roster turnover.
“There were still a couple of newcomers where you saw just a little bit of hesitation … there was a few details with a couple of guys that have been newcomers that we get to clean up.”
He’s not wrong. The Seminoles this season feature 62 new players. Twenty of them made their Florida State debuts after coming over in the transfer portal.
All told, FSU brought in 23 players from other schools, good for 24th-most among all D-1 teams. It was a strong class, ranked 29th overall by 247Sports.
But schools flirt with way more players than just the ones they land. The school’s new quarterback, Ashton Daniels, came from Stanford. The Seminoles also courted Florida’s DJ Lagway, who opted for Baylor.
And bringing all those players to campus to sell them on Tallahassee isn’t cheap.
During the two weeks in January the portal was open, as Florida State rebuilt its roster, the Seminoles averaged $11,000 a day in expenses.
Want to know just how they did it? Upgrade to see the receipts from Florida State’s transfer-portal scramble.
Plus, we take a detour into Mike Norvell’s helicopter tab and answer some pressing questions about the program’s use of generative AI.
Don’t want to upgrade? Then read this entirely free story about the difficulties of convincing readers to pay for independent media, and how paywalls really don’t work.
Mike Norvell via Icon Sportswire/Contributor/Getty Images
