Florida State has hired Jeff Purinton as its new athletic director, the school announced Monday.
Purinton is a Florida State alum who spent more than a decade working at the school when Bobby Bowden was the head coach.
“Florida State is home to me in so many ways,” Purinton said in a statement released by the school. “It’s where I went to school, where I got my start in this profession and where I learned from people who helped shape the way I’ve approached my career.”
Purinton also worked for more than a decade at Alabama with Nick Saban, moving all the way up to executive deputy director of athletics before becoming the athletic director at Arkansas State in 2022. Purinton left there in 2025 to become Learfield executive vice president.
“Florida State is committed to competing at the highest level, and Jeff Purinton understands what that requires,” FSU Board of Trustees chair Peter Collins said in a statement. “He knows this university, he knows the culture of Seminole Athletics, and he has spent his career working in and leading excellent athletics organizations.”
Florida State fired athletic director Michael Alford in September. At the time, school president Richard McCullough said he wanted to hire an athletic director who could help modernize the athletic department with an eye toward increasing revenue generation.
With the AD job filled, Florida State will now turn its attention to hiring a head football coach to replace Mike Norvell. He was fired last week after seven years on the job and a 3-5 start to the season.
Norvell has been replaced on an interim basis by another Bowden-era alum in Rick Stockstill. FSU won in Stockstill’s first game, a victory over Boston College on Saturday that was the program’s first road win in nearly three years.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
