Five Things to Know About FSU Football Going Forward

Tuesday afternoon officially ended the short-lived but much publicized saga of the Florida State coaching search. Not since the 1970s had anything like it happened, and thankfully for everyone involved, it went on without many hiccups (looking at you, Tennessee). Willie Taggart was announced as the new FSU head coach, having taken up the offer after just one year at Oregon.

Fans have plenty of questions regarding the “big picture” with the football program. While we don’t have a magical crystal ball to look into, we do have some ideas about what Taggart and his hire mean for FSU as a whole. We list five of those below:

1. A Culture Change is Coming

Bobby Bowden did it all the way back in 1976. Jimbo Fisher did the same in 2010. Willie Taggart will do it in 2018. The message around the Florida State football program is due for a serious change, and it is set to be a dramatic one. Fisher was a very by-the-books type of coach. He had little flair and followed former boss Nick Saban’s blueprint to running a program. Taggart comes from three different colleges where he had to either build a brand or change the culture. It’s going to a legitimate culture shock when he starts settling in and making his hires.

“Three foundational tenets: We’re not going to blame anyone, we’re not going to make any excuses, we’re going to go out and do something,” Taggart said Wednesday during his introductory press conference.

Some fans will love it. Other, more traditional types will hate it. But it’s worked everywhere Taggart has been so far, and he’ll need to do it again to wash away the stains of a 6-6 season.

2. Florida State is Absolutely a Top 10 Destination

The recent talking point about facilities has skewed the perception of the Florida State program. Yes, Texas A&M has more money and a better structure for the football program. But guess what? It is richer than pretty much every other school. Florida State is by no means lacking good facilities. Newer additions like a players’ lounge, movie theater, football museum, indoor practice facility, and more have set the Seminoles up for the next decade. Jimbo Fisher made a big stink about it, but that doesn’t mean FSU is far behind others. It might not have the commitment of schools like Alabama or Texas A&M — yet it is still a top 10 destination. There have even been indications that when the job opened up, plenty of coaches threw their hat in the ring to be considered.

Willie Taggart leaving a job like Oregon confirms this. Oregon has made huge strides into becoming a household name in college football. Despite this and the financial backing from Nike founder Phil Knight, the Ducks were unable to keep Taggart away from Tallahassee. That says something.

3. The Talent is Still There

Taggart will certainly have plenty to work with. Even if the system change is dramatic, Florida State has the type of athletes that will make any transition easier than usual. The amount of young talent that got significant playing time this year is very encouraging. Names like running back Cam Akers, quarterback James Blackman, cornerback Stanford Samuels III, defensive end Josh Kaindoh, and receiver D.J. Matthews are just a handful to remember for the future. There will be growing pains as a new system is implemented, but the over/under for wins should still be hovering around nine or so. Taggart remarked at the introductory press conference that he wants his offense to score fast and often. He dubs it “lethal simplicity”.

Recruiting is a slightly different story. At the time of this writing, seven decommitments over a 9-day span for the 2018 FSU recruiting class have caused the ranking to plummet. Taggart will certainly cause some flips and bring unexpected players into the mix. It is still late in the cycle to be undergoing serious staff changes. This cycle might see a down year for FSU, but it won’t become apparent until 2019 or so.

4. Relationship With the Boosters Will Change

Clearly the boosters had a role in Jimbo Fisher leaving for Texas A&M. How much of that was their fault, and how much of that was Fisher’s? We will never fully know. But all indications from past history point towards Fisher being overly demanding and short-sighted. That’s not to say the boosters have always made good decisions — their insistence on building the Champions Club being the highlight of incorrect assessments — but they were more receptive to Fisher’s wishes than some accounts would have you believe.

That tension did not suddenly arise out of nowhere. This was a constant theme ever since Fisher began pushing for more investment in the program. Some of that was necessary. Some of it was greed, and that greed ultimately provoked a split between coach and boosters that could not be repaired. Taggart will have a clean slate to work from. Eventually there’s bound to be some disagreement between the two groups. But when that time comes, negative history will not precede him like Fisher’s did. In fact, his love for FSU and past fandom might help him out in this respect. The stories of disconnect will not be nearly as common as they were a year ago.

5. Relationship With the Media Will Change

Fisher came from the Nick Saban school of media relations. They try to keep everything inside the program, shut down leaks, and are closed off to basically all media. That’s largely untenable in today’s age of social media, but they are too set in their ways to realize that. It causes a natural rift that leads to distrust. We won’t act like jilted lovers now that Fisher is gone, but it’s fairly well-known that he was unnecessarily hostile and the way he ran the program made certain people unhappy.

Taggart is not like that. He’s relatively open to the media and doesn’t seem to have the same cold approach. That’s not to say there’s going to be a new age of transparency — certain things are advantageous to keep in house. But the next couple of years might witness a different type of relationship. How that will look as a season progresses is difficult to say. It probably won’t cast the media as natural enemies to the team at least.