Things do not get much uglier than they did on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. In fact, things have never been so bad for Florida State at home as the No. 2 Clemson Tigers handed FSU its worst home loss in program history by way of 59-10 blowout.
First-year head coach Willie Taggart shared his views on what is wrong with the program, and the steps needed to take to start making positive strides. It can not be forgotten that Taggart is still trying to clean up a program that had to scratch and claw its way into a bowl game last season with an interim head coach and a make-up contest with Louisiana-Monroe.
Florida State is an undisciplined football team, and it is too late in the season to shrug off some of the mistakes that are being made week-in and week-out, but that is not news to the coaching staff, or players. Taggart attributed some of the errors to mental weakness and a culture that he inherited that the new coaching staff needs to flip or the Seminoles will continue to field a team that fails to meet expectations.
“Part of changing the culture is changing our mentality,” Taggart told media and Seminoles.com reporter Layne Herdt on Saturday. “I think we’re a mentally weak football team. We are not mentally strong yet, and that is part of changing the culture.”
Culture cannot be changed in a year, much less eight games. Players that came up under former coaches get stuck in their ways. Some may give up on plays too early, or not emphasize getting better in practice every day. A new coaching staff may be able to change the mindset of a few players here and there, but getting everyone to buy into coaches they did not commit to is not going to happen — particularly after a season like 2017 .
It was evident that players quit on Saturday against Clemson — a game that was scoreless after the first quarter. Taggart was adamant on finding those players that quit on their teammates and replacing them with guys who want to be on the field.
“First time since I’ve been here where I felt like we had some guys quit on our football team. That can’t be tolerated; it’s one thing you can’t do. You can’t quit. If you quit, you don’t play,” Taggart said. “We’re going to find the guys that quit, and we are going to find the guys that kept playing and make sure we keep those guys in there, so there will be some changes coming next week.”
These are encouraging words from Taggart regarding the future of Florida State football. Taggart has done a lot to make Florida State feel like a home for these young men who represent the university by bringing in former coaches and players to talk to the current players. He understands the history and expectations of him as the head coach, and he cares about the product that he puts on the field on Saturdays.
Things will not be fixed overnight for the Seminoles, but finding and eliminating the toxic players and replacing them with recruits and players who are excited to be a part of the rebuilding is the first step in returning FSU to the elite-level program that it has been for the majority of the last three-plus decades.http://rusbankinfo.ru
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