TALLAHASSEE -- Mike Norvell is going to be announced as Florida State’s next head coach.

The Memphis coach and FSU have agreed to terms on a deal that will make the 38-year-old the 11th full-time head coach for the Seminoles. ESPN first reported the news on Saturday evening and Noles247 confirmed that a deal was reached with three separate sources.

FSU, via a press release, stated that the school planned to announce a head coach in a press conference at noon on Sunday. A specific coach was not named in the release.

Norvell led Memphis to a 38-15 record in four seasons, bringing the Tigers to the AAC Championship game three times in as many years and a conference title on Saturday with a 29-24 win over Cincinnati. His reputation as an adaptive play caller, a staff builder and a program sustainer all attracted FSU to the Texas native. Norvell’s Memphis team played Cincinnati in the AAC Championship on Saturday, which helps explain why Norvell was not announced as the head coach earlier in the week.

The Seminoles initially pursued Bob Stoops, and power brokers were believed to make plays for some Power Five coaches like Penn State’s James Franklin, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell. But FSU also cast a wide net during this process after firing Willie Taggart on Nov. 3 and kept its search as buttoned up as possible while hiring search firm DHR International.

Norvell was on the radar from the get-go, however. FSU went through a thorough vetting and interview process before getting to Norvell. Power Five experience as a head coach would’ve been ideal, but FSU primarily wanted head-coaching experience and Norvell was considered the top candidate in the Group of Five.

What other qualities did FSU like about Norvell?

First, his team punched above its weight class at Memphis. The Tigers consistently out-performed their recruiting rankings under Norvell and had wins over Ole Miss, Kansas and UCLA. The Tigers ranked 13th (2019), 36th (2018), 42nd (2017) and 49th (2016) in the SP+...so there was clear-cut progress made year-over-year.

Second, Norvell has produced some prolific offenses at Memphis and has done so in different ways. A former play caller at Arizona State (2014-15), Norvell took charge in calling his own offense at Memphis, and had stellar results doing so:

His yard-per-play average and national rank goes as follows...

2016: 6.25 (33rd)

2017: 7.35 (4th)

2018: 7.12 (4th)

2019: 7.07 (8th)

His point-per-game average and national rank goes as follows…

2016: 38.8 (15th)

2017: 45.5 (2nd)

2018: 42.9 (7th)

2019: 41.5 (8th)

As The Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto told On The Bench, Norvell’s offenses thrived despite losing star players (WR Anothony Miller, RB Darrell Henderson and RB Tony Pollard).

Third, and perhaps most important, is Norvell’s penchant for assembling successful coaching staffs. He’s consistently replaced coaches who we received promotions at Power Five institutions, and his team never really skipped a beat. His coaching tree includes Dan Lanning (Georgia DC), Chip Long (Notre Dame OC), Darrell Dickey (Texas A&M OC) and Kenny Dillingham (Auburn OC).

There are other reasons why FSU liked Norvell, but these factors all point to successfully organizing a consistently high-functioning program. After Jimbo Fisher seemingly took his foot off the gas at FSU and Taggart struggled to ever get the program going, FSU needs immediate stability at the helm.

247Sports’ Barton Simmons linked FSU and Norvell back on Nov. 3, the same day Taggart was fired.

Just a thought on FSU...Mike Norvell has been incredibly consistent at Memphis, is a stud recruiter, loses about half his staff every year to better jobs and has one of the best OL coaches in the country. He'd also be affordable... — Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) November 3, 2019

Norvell may not be a slam dunk hire because of his lack of P5 experience, but his work at Memphis points to clear signs of upside.

Chris Nee and Josh Newberg contributed to this report.