Florida State has relieved defensive coordinator Tony White of his duties after less than two seasons in Tallahassee, ending a short stint that began before the 2025 season. Pete Nakos first reported the move, which comes as the school turns again on its defensive leadership.
The decision lands because the numbers had already become hard to ignore. Florida State finished 28th nationally in total defense in 2025, a sharp jump from 86th in 2024, but that progress did not hold. After eight games this season, the unit was 128th in PFF's national total defense ranking, with only 10 teams placed lower. The drop followed several games in which Florida State gave up 537 yards to Louisville, 567 to Alabama, 583 to Miami and 585 to SMU.
White was brought in as part of a major assistant coaching staff overhaul after Florida State's 2024 campaign, and the move gave the program a cleaner defensive reset than it had in the previous year. He had arrived after two seasons at Nebraska and three years as Syracuse's defensive coordinator, with the expectation that he would steady a unit that had finished 86th nationally in 2024.
Instead, the defense regressed at the moment Florida State needed it to hold. A ranking that had climbed into the top 30 in 2025 slid all the way to the bottom tier of the national charts after eight games, and that is the kind of trend that usually costs a coordinator his job before the schedule is even finished. Florida State has not said who will take over next, leaving the staff with an immediate gap at one of the most important positions on the sideline.
For Tony White, the move closes out a tenure that never fully got off the ground in Tallahassee. For Florida State, it is another attempt to stop a defensive slide that has already changed the outlook of the season.
