There is one day left until Florida State football starts the 2018 season. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.
On Saturday, it was Florida State’s 2015 victory at Florida in which the Seminoles held their rival to two points — the lowest for Florida in the history of the rivalry. FSU emerged victorious, 27-2.
Today, it’s head coach Willie Taggart, who embarks on his first season as Florida State head football coach.
Now in his ninth season as a head coach, Taggart has left every prior program he’s been at in better shape than when he found it. FSU however, will be the first program he’s ever coached to have a winning record in the season prior to his arrival.
After starting his coaching career at his alma mater of Western Kentucky, where he served as an assistant from 1999 to 2006, Taggart spent three years as running backs coach at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh. In 2010, he returned to Western Kentucky as head coach to take over a program that was coming off an 0-12 season and had won just two games in two seasons prior to his arrival.
In three years at his alma mater, Taggart had two winning seasons and led the Hilltoppers to their first bowl appearance as an FBS program before taking the reigns at South Florida. Things got off to a rocky start in Tampa, but Taggart’s tenure ended with a 10-win season and the first AP ranked finish in program history. In 2017 — Taggart’s only season at Oregon — he took a Ducks’ team that had just four wins and finished 7-5 despite losing starting quarterback Justin Herbert for more than a month.
Taggart’s record sits at just 47-50, but that’s not bad all things considered. Taggart is now in Tallahassee for an opportunity he has called his dream job. Despite coaching three different schools since 2012, Taggart has made his intentions known that he plans to be at FSU for a long time.
The first full-time black head coach in program history, Taggart is changing the culture in the locker room and the classroom with a slew of young assistants like Raymond Woodie, Telly Lockette and Walt Bell, respected alums like Greg Frey and the great Odell Haggins and experienced veterans like Mark Snyder and David Kelly.
Despite not yet coaching his first game, Taggart has the fan base beaming with enthusiasm. Terms like “Lethal Simplicity” and “War Daddies” are new commonly used terms for FSU fans, but Taggart has been far from slow to embrace the program’s traditions and history while simultaneously bringing legends back into the fold like Bobby Bowden, Mickey Andrews and a number of former players.
While excitement is high for the start of a new era in FSU football, Taggart’s legacy will ultimately depend on how his teams perform on the field. That begins on Monday with a top-20 match-up against Virginia Tech.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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