Where Does Florida State Go From Here?

Florida State fired Willie Taggart earlier this week. I thought this may be coming, just not in the middle of the season.

I'm not a big fan, usually, of a coach being fired during the season. Let them finish it out, then let them go. Also, I do not think Taggart got a fair shot. The fact that boosters raised the money to have him removed, a near record breaking 17 million dollar buyout, shows they wanted him gone. This, I feel, has a lot to do with the on field product, but I think if he had been given one more season, he could have turned this around. Also, I don't think he would have been fired so quickly if he were Jimbo Fisher, who left this team 2 years ago, or Mark Stoops, who has Kentucky playing okay, but not great. I think you all know what I am getting at with these 2 comparisons. I also think Taggart is a solid head coach. He did great things at Western Kentucky, and while he left them ASAP, I feel like he was a perfect fit at Oregon after they let go of Mark Helfrich. I am not concerned for Taggart though. He has that humongous payout, and I would be shocked if he wasn't coaching a division 1 school at the start of the 2020 season. There will be some openings, probably some fairly big time schools, and many of them will jump at the chance to hire Willie Taggart.

As for Florida State, I really don't know where they go from here. As little as 5 or 6 years ago, they were a national title winner. I believe they were the last BCS champs. They then made the initial playoff. Then Jimbo Fisher decides to leave them for Texas A&M, I still don't understand that, and they were left searching. I thought they hit a homerun with Taggart, but clearly, I was wrong.

Some names that have popped up since Taggart was let go are fine. I think Bob Stoops is a solid head coach, and college is a much better fit for any coach than the dumbass XFL. But, Stoops left Oklahoma out of the blue, with so many unanswered questions hanging over him. I was stunned when he left. And, Oklahoma has been better, at least more consistent, since Lincoln Riley took over. Maybe Stoops knew his days were numbered, but still, he left under bizarre circumstances.

Lane Kiffin has said he would be interested in the job, but we have been down this road with Kiffin before. How many more times can he fail up into a job. He was horrible at Tennessee, and left them the moment the USC job was open. He then scorched Earth with that team, and that team's fan base. It was so bad that he was fired in the middle of the night, after a plane ride home. He then went on to Alabama to be an offensive coordinator, and he turned that into the head coaching gig at Florida Atlantic. Sure, he has some fun teams there, and he is a big time JUCO recruiter, but FAU is no better than a 7 or 8 win team. And when he has to play the upper tier, power 5 schools, FAU gets destroyed. I know FSU is in the ACC, but a team like Clemson would relish the fact that they could destroy a Lane Kiffin coached team. I feel like Miami and Manny Diaz would love the challenge. Hell, even the times they play Florida, Dan Mullen would wipe the floor with them.

And then this morning I heard that Deion Sanders has become a viable candidate for the opening. I actually think this would be kind of cool. He went to Florida State. He was there when they were a power. He has clout. He could get into any recruit in the nation's home and wow them. He oozes charisma. He knows the game. But, he has never coached at this high a level before. Yes, he is leading his son's high school team, but that is high school football. College is such a different game, and FSU, that is major division 1 college football. I look at some former players that are coaching now, and it takes time. I love that Michigan basketball has hired Juwan Howard, but I know it will be a few seasons before they are elite. This is his first time. Patrick Ewing has Georgetown potentially as a tournament team this year, but this is year 3 for him. Herm Edwards took over Arizona State, and while they were ranked for a moment this season, that team has fallen back to Earth. They are a 6 win team at best. Sure, that means bowl eligibility, but one of those early December bowl games. I imagine it would be tough for Deion to, one, not get every top flight recruit, and 2, not be that good for a few seasons. He would inherit a team that is light on QB's and receivers. A team that struggles defensively, even against inferior opponents. He would also have to deal with the exact same boosters who raised enough money to buy out Taggart. It is a tough situation.

So, if I were FSU, and thank goodness I have zero affiliation and do not like that team, I would give Deion Sanders the job, knowing that it would be a rebuilding project. That is what I think would be best for everyone involved.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is ready to return the glory to his old team and become the head coach. Do you hear that Marquette High?

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If Willie Taggart Wants to Be a Great Coach, He Needs to Learn to Stay at a Job for Awhile

Around a year ago I wrote about how much I liked Oregon hiring Willie Taggart as their head coach. He succeeded at Western Kentucky. He turned South Florida into a viable football program. So, I thought this was more than enough for him to earn a big time job like the head football coach at Oregon. Don’t get it twisted either. I know Oregon only won 7 games this year, and only 4 the year before, but under Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, Oregon had become a power football school. They are also located in Eugene, which happens to be where Phil Knight, Mr Nike, presides. They had anything and everything Nike had to offer at their disposal. That’s why Oregon had a million different uniforms and could pull in all kinds of recruits from all over the country. How cool stuff looks now is a big deal with recruits. I know it sounds vain and stupid, but it’s the truth. These kids want to wear cool stuff, and for awhile, Oregon had the coolest stuff.

In a shock to me, other writers, and players on the Oregon football team, Taggart bolted for the vacant Florida State job. First off, I get why he did it, but I don’t agree with how he did it. I’ll touch on why I think he did it first. It’s easier to get to the playoff in the ACC. Clemson is the big dog in that conference, but now that the committee has no problem taking 2 teams from a conference, who’s to say that FSU won’t rejoin Clemson as a perennial power. The Pac 12 is tougher. USC, Washington, Stanford and to a lesser extent, UCLA and Washington State are always competitive. Oregon has a tougher road to the playoff. Taggart will also get great recruits right in his backyard. He’s familiar with Florida, and convincing kids to go to FSU will be easier than what he had to do at USF. He is also making a great amount of money now. FSU is also a historical program. Oregon has recent success, but FSU has been great since the early 90’s. For these reasons I get why he took the job.

The things Taggart said before taking the job, and how he handled his exit was just terrible. It was the absolute wrong way to leave a school. He said, only a day or 2 before bolting, that he wasn’t going anywhere. He told the media and his players as much. He went into recruits homes and told the players and their parents that he was going to be the coach at Oregon next season. These players have taken to social media to say as much. You cannot, in this day and age of coddled players and recruits, tell them lies. They will go to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and crush you with their words. The whole world is a platform, and these kids know this. They are not dumb.

It seems like now the truth about Willie Taggart is coming out. There is no denying that he is a great coach. He has won pretty big everywhere he has coached. I think, had he stayed at Oregon, they could’ve returned to the top 15 next season and been a real threat in the Pac 12. But, he bolted for what many deemed a “better” job. This seems to be his move. He is like Jim Harbaugh. People rail on Harbaugh for leaving every place he has coached after 3 or 4 years. In Taggart‘s case, he seems to only give you 2 seasons at most before he takes off. An even better comparison, and I’m totally taking this from Tony Kornheiser, how is he any different from Lane Kiffin? Isn’t this Kiffin’s move? He coached the Raiders for a year, realized he was in over his head and left for the vacant University of Tennessee job. Then, when the USC job opened up the very next year, he left for that. After he failed there he took a job as a coordinator at Alabama. Then, when things got tough with Saban, he took off for the Florida Atlantic job. And now, he’s looking for a bigger head coaching gig.

Basically, and I wrote about this a week or so ago, these big time places have no continuity with their coaching staffs. I hope Taggart succeeds because I like him. He’s a no nonsense coach that doesn’t coddle his players, no matter how many stars they had in high school. But, this trend of his to bolt is definitely a stain that he is going to have to live with. Recruits are going to look at him different now too. They may not give him their full trust. We will see what happens, and FSU is not the type of place a coach just leaves after a year or 2, but in the case of Willie Taggart, you never know. I still hold him in high regard, but, after what has happened this week, I might not think of him as highly as I once did. Here’s wishing him luck, but also, he needs to learn how to handle these transitions better when the next one comes.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is looking forward to the day that Oregon and Nike have a new uniform for every quarter of the game. Hell , why not every play?

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College Football in Houston will Fall Back, While it Will Move Forward at Oregon

At least the footballs will be in good hands at Oregon

Two college football head coaching positions have been filled this week. One is a pretty big deal, the other, some will think it's a big deal, I personally do not think it really matters that much, because that team is going to become irrelevant again, very soon. In fact, let's get that one out of the way first.

There were multiple reports the other day that Houston had hired Lane Kiffin to be their next head coach. Then, throughout the day, a lot of those reports were refuted, and it was soon announced, that he was not the new head coach. I woke up this morning and read that they had hired their offensive coordinator, Major Applewhite, to be their next head coach. I remember watching Applewhite while he was a QB at Texas and thought he was okay. Then, as a coordinator, he has been sufficient. But, I do not think he is going to be that great of a head coach. Some people are more suited to be an assistant as opposed to the head man. Look at a guy like Mike Martz. He was an offensive genius, but when he was the head guy with the Rams, he was a train wreck. He did not care about defense, and that doomed him. I think he is still coaching somewhere, but he is not remembered for being the coordinator of one of the greatest offenses of all time, he is remembered as a failure as a head coach.

Unfortunately for Applewhite, I think he is destined for a similar outcome. He has an exceptional offensive mind, especially for college football. On his watch, Houston's offense has been a wonder to watch. They were fast, they scored a ton of points and gained lots and lots of yards. But, in the games they didn't win, their defense was exposed, and the offense could look stagnant and repetitive. I mean, how many times can you run the exact same read option play? You need some kind of diversity to keep teams on their toes. The only team that doesn't need to change things up is Alabama, and Houston is no Alabama. So, while I say congratulations to Applewhite on his first head coaching job, I also see lots and lots of 7-5 or 8-4 seasons on their horizon, and no more competing for big-time bowl games, or even competing against big-time teams.

The big coaching vacancy that was filled was the Oregon job. I did not know who they were going to hire. At different points, I was certain they were hiring Chip Kelly, then Lane Kiffin, then Charlie Strong, I even thought they were going to give Les Miles a shot. But, I could not be happier with their choice of Willie Taggart. Taggart is a great, up and coming head coach in the college football world. He has turned around 2 programs, Western Kentucky and South Florida. He took over 2 jobs that the teams were in the dumps, and left them in great shape. Western Kentucky was a dumpster fire, and he made them a perennial bowl contender, which is a big deal for them. Then, he took over USF, which was happy to be a 4 win team, and turned them into a very good team. They finished this year 10-2, which is one of their best records ever. Taggart is also a very player friendly type of coach. Everywhere he has been, his players say nothing but glowing things about him. They love him. He pushes them, but it is never to a boiling point. You talk to former WKU and USF players that Taggart coached, and they only say very nice things about him.

When Oregon picked him to be their next head coach, I was pleasantly surprised. I watched a bit of his press conference, and that only made me like this pick even more. He's a confident guy that wants to turn this team back into a perennial power. I think he is going to thrive with a big time program as well. He was able to recruit players to go to schools like WKU and USF, so just think of what he will be able to do at Oregon. Kids already want to go play there for the uniforms alone, but now that they have a charismatic, great head coach on board. He is going to clean up on the recruiting trail.

I also really like how he and the AD took a shot at Brady Hoke. Look, I hope Hoke catches on somewhere, it needs to be a smaller division one school, but he was a mess at Oregon and Michigan. He could not motivate players as the head man at Michigan, and Oregon's defense last year was one of the worst defenses I have ever seen. They were atrocious. They were Swiss Cheese. Anyone and everyone scored and moved the ball at will against them last year. Hoke was an awful defensive coordinator.

Anyway, let's get back to Taggart. Like I have said a few times, he seems like he is going to be the perfect hire for Oregon. The guy can recruit, motivate and win. He is confident and appears more than able to succeed at his first big time head coaching job. I expect him to turn Oregon around pretty quickly, but I think his destiny is to be an NFL head coach. He is that good of a coach. While the Houston hiring of Applewhite leaves me kind of blah, the Oregon hiring of Taggart has me very excited, and I am not an Oregon fan at all. Good job Oregon, you guys look like you have made the right choice.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He should not criticize Houston, as "The Simpsons" reminds us 7-5 seasons do not come cheap. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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