TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) — Adam Fuller, Florida State's new defensive coordinator, under Mike Norvell, was a linebacker in college. "I graduated from Sacred Heart University and I was really unsure of what I wanted to do. I knew I loved football. I played in a small all star game and realized it wasn't going to be a future, as far as playing still."
Fuller graduated college in 1998. He took the state troopers test out of respect for his grandfather who was in World War II. He realized law enforcement wasn't what he wanted to do. Instead, it was football that kept entering his mind. "I wasn't really sure about what that was all about either," explained Fuller. "I didn't have a mentor in mind. I had people who influenced me but no true mentor."
That is when Fuller went to his college coach and explained he wanted to be a football coach. Fuller said, "Three days later, he called me in and said, 'I got you a job, it's at Worster Polytechnical Institute, a Division 3 engineering school. You'll make 2 thousand dollars.' And I was like, 'Well that's not really what I was thinking about,' but he got it for me, so yes sir."
After that, Fuller went to Wagner College and within a year of working there, Fuller realized he wanted to be a coach. "Every dollar I made went into buying a book, trying to get to a place to learn, and I just got caught up in it. Probably year two, it was really when it became my passion."
His journey has been a progression. A lot of ups and some downs. "As I've moved through the profession, where I had to take a position move back or a level back to move up, it's just been a progression. A lot of work has gone in to it. Unbelievable family support. It hasn't been easy, but it's been a joy and a passion."
Fuller had stints at Chattanooga and Marshall, and finally Memphis, where he met Norvell. He explained, "I think I grew as a football coach, defensively, but just how to improve and go about certain things, Mike does a great job with developing his coaches. Hopefully that will continue to happen. I'm fortunate enough to stay with him."
For Fuller to end up at Florida State, he calls it a dream. However, he also believes the only way he made it to the dream is through his work ethic. "By a will to prepare and being good to people, and trying to do it the right way, and outwork everybody in the country. When you finally get here, you don't let up, you hit the accelerator a little bit more."
