On Thursday February 6, 2020, the Greater Pensacola Seminole Club (GPSC) hosted “An Evening with Director of Athletics David Coburn” at Skopelos in downtown Pensacola. There were just over 80 guests in attendance at the event despite the days’ bad weather.  The event was a huge success thanks to all the distinguished guests, hard work and preparation by the GPSC Board Members, volunteers, and the incredible staff at Skopelos.

The evening started off with a social hour where guests were able to meet the distinguished guests including Director Coburn and his wife Mary Coburn, who was the former FSU Vice President of Student Affairs. The legendary FSU Defensive Coordinator Mickey Andrews, former FSU football player and active Director of FSU Seminole Clubs Keith Cottrell, and former FSU football player James Coleman were also in attendance for the event.  As the social hour was close to ending, GPSC President David Forte welcomed all the guests, provided some brief words about the club, and offered thanks for the many individuals that had worked so hard to make the event a reality. Following David’s speech, the amazing plated dinner prepared by Skopelos Executive Chef Gus Silivos was served.

As dinner was wrapping up, GPSC President David Forte approached the stage again, formally introduced and thanked James Coleman for attending, and then introduced Keith Cottrell to the stage.  Cottrell spoke about FSU Seminoles Clubs and distinguished guests before introducing the man of the evening, Director Coburn.  Coburn spoke about FSU and its distinguished honor as the 18th ranked public university and the current number of applicants of nearly 70,000 with the average GPA of the incoming class being an incredible 4.3. He then spoke about our current standing in the Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup with our current ranking of 11th place.  Moving on, Coburn spoke about the current 8 sports in season and how well they are all doing with mentions of Men’s Basketball currently ranked 8th, Women’s Basketball currently ranked 17th, Women’s Tennis ranked 16th, Men’s Track and Field currently ranked 1st, and Women’ Track and Field currently ranked 12th.

Coburn went on to the hot topic of the night, the hiring of Coach Mike Norvell and the state of the Florida State Football program. Coburn spoke about the extensive efforts that FSU Administration put into the hiring process and validated emphatically that Coach Mike Norvell was the right man for the job. Coburn spoke about the other coaching staff hires and touched on plans for facility upgrades before proceeding to answer questions from the audience.

The question of the night, “When are we going to start winning in football again?”

“Winning is necessary, but not sufficient,” Coburn said.  “You have to do more than win. You have to win in a way that interests the fans. We have to do some things with the stadium and around the town to make the experience more enjoyable for the fans.”

As a teaser, Coburn also stated that there will be a special announcement in the upcoming week from FSU Athletics Department.

GPSC President David Forte wrapped up the evening with recognition and thanks again to everyone and instead of the traditional applause, he requested that the audience partake in doing the “chop” while he played the FSU Warchant.

– Greater Pensacola Seminole Club –