The Florida State sports calendar for 2025-26 has wrapped up, making the turn toward the fall athletics season. With the football, soccer, men's and women's basketball, softball and baseball seasons now officially in the books, Seminole fans will enjoy a nice summer vacation before late July, when football and soccer begin practice.

Aside from the transfer portal in baseball and softball as well as the NBA and MLB drafts, the offseason is slower for FSU sports. There are season previews, predictions, and prognostications littering the internet from beat writers who cover the Seminoles to national pundits. Some are positive on the outlook of the football program, while others forecast a grim future for 2026.

With the bright spot of a national title in soccer in December, how the Seminoles finished in their other major sports left more to be desired. Florida State is a football school and will always be labeled as such — just look at the facilities that surround the program, the resources that are poured into the program and the thousands of fans who pack Doak Campbell Stadium every Saturday in the fall.

Seminole fans must face the reality that fútbol has been more successful than football, which in one way is a positive development, even though women’s soccer is a non-revenue sport. Before we turn the focus in July to the upcoming football and soccer seasons, let’s reflect on FSU’s six major sports and how they fared in 2025-26.

Football

The Seminoles got off to a hot start in football last fall, beginning with the domination of Alabama in a newly renovated Doak Campbell Stadium. FSU was the toast of the college football world for the first few weeks of the season, until the team began to struggle in ACC play and let close games slip away. It can be argued that FSU’s overtime loss at Virginia snowballed and the football team never recovered in a 5-7 season.

It is not breaking news that football coach Mike Norvell is sitting on a seat that is reaching scorching levels. His margin for error for this year's season is paper thin and the fanbase, many of whom have been supportive and filled Doak last fall, are rightfully curious if the Seminoles will take steps forward in 2026.

Entering his seventh year, Norvell has had ample time to get this program back on track and has failed to do so for the past two seasons. How many wins does Norvell need to stick around in Tallahassee? There’s no sense of a number, a hurdle for him and the program to clear, but he’s going to have to win some rivalry games or stun Alabama again. Failure to win enough games could force the Seminoles into a very expensive and unpredictable search for their next coach.

The season ahead does forecast some positives with both of the Desir twins, senior wide receiver Duce Robinson and junior defensive back Ja’Bril Rawls coming back to form a solid core of experienced and talented players. Senior quarterback Ashton Daniels looks to be the front runner for the starting job after spending his collegiate career at Stanford and Auburn. Daniels can run and escape from defenders to extend plays while also weighing a more-durable 225 pounds.

Soccer

The soccer team has enjoyed a great deal of success in the past four seasons, with the program hoisting the national championship trophy twice since Brian Pensky’s arrival. After posting a 16-2-4 record during the regular season, the Florida State soccer team got hot at the right time and steamrolled their way to the national championship game in Kansas City, Mo., where they defeated Stanford 1-0.

A large number of FSU’s stars signed pro deals in the offseason, including Jordynn Dudley (Gotham FC in New York) and Solai Washington (Orlando). Many of the key contributors from last year's team are gone and are with professional teams, which highlights Pensky’s eye for elite talent. A few players also entered the transfer portal.

Pensky has reloaded from the portal and a few from the high school ranks. Plenty of freshmen from last year's team are a year older and will be major contributors to this year. FSU’s coaches added 13 transfers and three freshmen to the 14 returners (including keeper Kate Ockene and forward Wrianna Hudson) to round out the 2026 roster. Pensky will have a lot of developing and molding this year and it starts in the preseason.

The team is experienced with plenty of seniors and juniors, including sixth-year defender Claire Rain, who will look to be a big part of the team this year after missing the past two seasons rehabbing a potentially career-ending knee injury.

Basketball

The men's and women's basketball teams had similar seasons in the sense that neither made the NCAA tournament. The men’s team under first year head coach Luke Loucks got hot down the stretch, putting FSU in the conversation for the postseason. A new-look roster of transfers and freshmen seek to carry over that momentum into the 2026-27 season.

There is optimism going forward with the men’s team as Loucks looks to have his system and talented players in place for his future vision of the program (not to mention more height in the front court). Even though the team passed up on its NIT opportunity and some players chose to leave the program via the transfer portal, the men’s basketball team’s future is bright.

While the women’s team endured their worst season under head coach Brooke Wyckoff, finishing with a 10-21 record, she and the staff retained Sole Williams and have one of the nation’s top 15 freshman classes on campus.

The Donald L. Tucker Center has seen great teams, both men’s and women’s, and fans will have a chance to see the new rosters when exhibitions are scheduled in October. While the men's team should be a contender in the ACC in 2026-27, the women's team will face an uphill battle but should be deeper than a year ago.

Baseball and softball

The baseball and softball teams suffered similar fates to end their respective seasons. Both were bounced at home in the regionals, a rough ending for players, coaches and fans.

FSU baseball lost its best player in Myles Bailey after 26 games to a gruesome ankle injury. Even without Bailey, the team was still able to secure 40 wins on the strength of their pitching (Wes Mendes was the ACC’s pitcher of the year) and the emergence of junior outfielder Brayden Dowd and freshman outfielder John Stuetzer.

The softball team lost its two best players in Isa Torres (Texas) and Jaysoni Beachum (Texas Tech) after their season ended and it is a direct reflection of where collegiate softball is currently. While Torres was seeking to return closer to her Georgetown, Texas, home, the programs with the most money can afford high-caliber players across the board.

The question being asked about FSU baseball and softball: Can FSU generate the resources to compete financially with the SEC in terms of operating budget and player compensation, whether revenue sharing or NIL opportunities? It’s too early to tell how the MLB draft will impact FSU’s baseball roster, while the softball coaches have landed a pair of impact transfers. Both should be among the nation’s top teams, but will they be able to build the rosters necessary to make it out of regional play?

Looking ahead

Are FSU’s sports program cursed? Some fans think so after the last few years of misfortune. Is it a lack of revenue share or NIL opportunities to attract competitive athletes? Or something different?

Curses lose their mojo over time so why has all but soccer fallen short of expectations. And will that change in 2026-27?

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