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FSU hires Taggart

I think Jimbo moving on was probably best for FSU fans, most of us would say, save for the few Jimbo sycophants floating around out there. His record as a head corch speaks for itself, but really since '15 this program has been spinning its wheels. I'll give a pass in '15 as we basically went 2 full seasons without losing a game. Lost a ton of talent and '15 was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but even then, losing 3 games ain't bad. GT was kind of a fluke (granted it never should've even been that close) and we played Clemson really tough.

I don't know whether it was Jimbo or the administration not wanting to pony up but '16 went off the rails because the defense sucked, big time. I don't care who we're playing, we should never give up 60+ in a game and Louisville could've scored 100 if they wanted to. It just seemed like Jimbo just refused to really turn the offense loose. No tempo whatsoever. It almost seemed like everyone out there was almost afraid to make a mistake. Way too much thinking on the field.

Hopefully Taggart turns them loose. I know his record is sub par but I think there is a context there too many people are ignoring given the crummy jobs he's inherited instead of his first gig getting handed the keys to the Ferrari like Jimbo at FSU, Muschamp at UF, Kirby at UGA, etc.

In terms of resume, on paper, Willie is absolutely a step down. No denying that... however, that doesn't preclude Taggart from being able to achieve high levels of success. I don't care if Francois got hurt, there's no reason a team with this kind of offensive firepower should be scoring in the 20s every week. If this is what FSU was going to be going forward, and had Jimbo kept this staff in tact I think there's a decent chance it would, then a change needed to be made and it's a lot better to have Jimbo move on and free FSU from that insane $40 million albatross than to maintain the status quo because we sure as hell weren't going to fire him.
 
Well your last two head coaches won a national title during their tenures there. Unlike us, you guys haven't had to endure the hardships of changing regimes or having to fire a coach and start new.

Heck outside of Penn State there aren't any programs in the nation that had your stability(O'Brian left of his own accord for the NFL).

In this era I think that kind of tenure won't ever be seen again. Paterno or Bowden probably wouldnt last as long today with the new mindset of players using social media and thinking of potential NFL careers.
 
When you hire guys like Bowden, Spurrier, Fisher, etc you want them to stay as long as possible....as long as they are still earning their keep. Sometimes, guys like Fisher and Spurrier just become a little too demanding of their school or they itch for other opportunities. I think UF would have benefitted with having SOS for a few more years. FSU, probably the same. Now, a guy like BB hung around way too long and he wore out his welcome and had to be steered to the door. There are pros and cons for coaches to hang around for the long term...the key question is "are they producing or not?".

Spurrier's ego wanted a shot in the NFL. Fisher wanted more from a school that was dragging its feet a little too much for his liking. Bowden wanted to coach until his funeral. The party only lasts so long...
 
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I remember when Spurrier left for Washington and being beyond shocked. I didn't think his system would work, he put up like sixty points in a preseason game and everyone was giddy.

He eventually burned out and came back to the SEC East at freaking South Carolina! We eventually fired Zook and hired a young up and comer from Utah and as they say the rest is history.

Spurrier was the man who made football fun at Florida. He made us into a power and I will always be thankfull of that. But South Carolina?
 
I remember when Spurrier left for Washington and being beyond shocked. I didn't think his system would work, he put up like sixty points in a preseason game and everyone was giddy.

He eventually burned out and came back to the SEC East at freaking South Carolina! We eventually fired Zook and hired a young up and comer from Utah and as they say the rest is history.

Spurrier was the man who made football fun at Florida. He made us into a power and I will always be thankfull of that. But South Carolina?

Well he was told to submit a resume.

He wanted the job, but Machen was set on Meyer.
 
I think uf needs to have a better recruiter bc the talent level just isn't there.

I think FSU needs a better tactician and someone who really knows how to run a program From top to bottom.

Seems like we got each other's coaches. But we will see how it shakes out.
 
I think Taggart will do very well his first couple of years. FSU is ready made to win now. The question is whether or not he can sustain it in years 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and beyond. There's really no reason why he shouldn't walk in here and win 10 or 11 games year 1.
 
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I think Taggart will do very well his first couple of years. FSU is ready made to win now. The question is whether or not he can sustain it in years 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and beyond. There's really no reason why he shouldn't walk in here and win 10 or 11 games year 1.

agreed. FSU is loaded with top tier talent. Just need to see what kind of staff he can scrape together that can support his rather inexperienced background in running a big time P5 program.
 
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I think Taggart will do very well his first couple of years. FSU is ready made to win now. The question is whether or not he can sustain it in years 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and beyond. There's really no reason why he shouldn't walk in here and win 10 or 11 games year 1.
I love, love, love this expectation
 
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I think Taggart will do very well his first couple of years. FSU is ready made to win now. The question is whether or not he can sustain it in years 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and beyond. There's really no reason why he shouldn't walk in here and win 10 or 11 games year 1.

Ok, I seriously like the optimism but VT, UM, Clem., Louisville, and ND may have a different viewpoint. It's not like we have a SEC E schedule.;)
 
Ok, I seriously like the optimism but VT, UM, Clem., Louisville, and ND may have a different viewpoint. It's not like we have a SEC E schedule.;)

Louisville and ND lose a ton. VT and Clemson are at home. FSU could absolutely go 10-3 or 11-2 next year. That's not unrealistic at all.
 
I think FSU has a bumpy year 1 under taggart
exactly...I don't know how anyone can think that we are going to go from a Jimbo QB oriented offense to a run spread offense and just suddenly take off. That ain't happening. Taggart is going to get players. He has proven that, but no one knows what type of a game day guy or CEO he is going to be. He has really proven nothing on the field.
 
exactly...I don't know how anyone can think that we are going to go from a Jimbo QB oriented offense to a run spread offense and just suddenly take off. That ain't happening. Taggart is going to get players. He has proven that, but no one knows what type of a game day guy or CEO he is going to be. He has really proven nothing on the field.
Agreed.

Going back and looking at FSU's recruiting rankings over the last five years or so, one would be hard pressed to argue that Taggart will be a better recruiter than Jimbo. I think the new coach will be fortunate if he even manages to even maintain the level of recruiting Fisher brought to the table.

And for all of Jimbo's faults and stubbornness that usually resulted in him under performing his talent level, based on the available evidence, one would also be hard pressed to argue that Taggart is an upgrade there too.

Spurrier once said that after 8 years or so, coaches get tired of where they are and fans get tired of the coaches. Jimbo probably reached that point. At this point last year, many FSU fans had reached that point with him. I guess it is now nearly universal.
 
I feel like you are setting up a bit of a strawman. Most FSU fans aren't really insisting that Taggart is an "upgrade." An upgrade over Jimbo would be Saban/Meyer tier. Taggart is just viewed as a solid choice from the candidates who were available at the time. Chip Kelly and Scott Frost probably would have been better, but they were taken.
 
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I would have been happy if Jimbo had stayed -- up until the last week or two before he resigned. By that point, I felt that he was starting to wear out his welcome with his demands.
 
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For the record, I feel better about Taggart than I did about McElwain (when the Gators hired him). From Day 1, I thought McElwain was going to be a dud. I never understand what you guys saw in him.

I still think Muschamp will end up being a decent coach. He was in over his head at Florida, but he's doing well at USC. He may not be the brightest, but he is super insanely passionate about football in a way that is actually endearing.
 
I feel like you are setting up a bit of a strawman. Most FSU fans aren't really insisting that Taggart is an "upgrade."

Most of the ones here think Taggart will be an upgrade.. All you have to do is read this thread.

An upgrade over Jimbo would be Saban/Meyer tier.

I think Jimbo is more than one notch down from those two. But probably not more than two. For example, I would put Dabo ahead of Jimbo, but put him below Saban/Meyer. Dabo has demonstrated that he is able to consistently deliver top tier results. Something Jimbo did not do. Jimbo had two excellent years, one decent year and the rest meH to bad. And the three meH to bad years were after he delivered top tier years. But in all honestly, I put Jimbo above Mullen.

Taggart is just viewed as a solid choice from the candidates who were available at the time. Chip Kelly and Scott Frost probably would have been better, but they were taken.

Watching Taggart deliver sub-Jimbo performance this coming year will be fun. Especially with the expectations expressed from the likes of SKNole and other FSU fans who seem to expect a 10 or 11 win season.

Taggart might not go 5-6, which is Jimbo's most recent observation, but I am going to guess he loses at least four or five games next year.
 
Dabo and Jimbo have very similar records as head coaches. They both even have the same habit of occasionally dropping games to overmatched opponents. "Clemsoning" became a verb for a reason. It's hard for me to agree that one is clearly better than the other.
 
I might give the nod to Dabo just because, unlike Jimbo, Dabo seems to understand his limitations and just hires top coordinators to win for him. I think Jimbo wants to be regarded as a genius OC/HC all-in-wonder boy.
 
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I still think Muschamp will end up being a decent coach. He was in over his head at Florida, but he's doing well at USC. He may not be the brightest, but he is super insanely passionate about football in a way that is actually endearing.

oozie and I are on the record that we thought that Muschamp would end up being a decent coach somewhere. It just would not be at Florida. We do not have the patience to allow OTJT.
 
Dabo and Jimbo have very similar records as head coaches. They both even have the same habit of occasionally dropping games to overmatched opponents. "Clemsoning" became a verb for a reason. It's hard for me to agree that one is clearly better than the other.

I might give the nod to Dabo just because, unlike Jimbo, Dabo seems to understand his limitations and just hires top coordinators to win for him. I think Jimbo wants to be regarded as a genius OC/HC all-in-wonder boy.

Dabo was allowed to undergo some tough years before he consistently delivered top ten teams. However, unlike what Jimbo did, once Dabo got Clemson to the top, he has kept them there. Jimbo went from 0 losses, to 1 loss, to 3 losses, to 3 losses to 6 losses.

That is a trend in the wrong direction. I agree with your observation about Jimbo's stubborness about an OC. But in addition Dabo has also jettisoned under performing coaches and Jimbo has not. Why he kept Trickett around and Kelly around was beyond me. I am glad that he did. Not that it helped Florida out much, but both men helped Jimbo underperform.
 
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Happy with the Taggart hire which goes along with the opinion of any Noles I've spoken to. I don't expect instant overwhelming success...and wouldn't from anyone who took the job. I'd be stunned if FSU won 10 or more next season...but I'd love to be wrong.

Mullen is a good hire for UF
 
Happy with the Taggart hire which goes along with the opinion of any Noles I've spoken to. I don't expect instant overwhelming success...and wouldn't from anyone who took the job. I'd be stunned if FSU won 10 or more next season...but I'd love to be wrong.

Mullen is a good hire for UF

You'd be "stunned" if FSU went 10-3?
 
I wouldn't be stunned but it is a tough schedule. I do think Willie will have more success at FSU than Jimbo will have at A&M. Unless Jimbo has an epiphany I've seen all I need to of him to recognize his inability to adapt during a season. Recruiting against UT, Oklahoma and TCU will be tough too. New region for him. His hefty contract won't sell A&M the way he needs to sell A&M.

I've been very impressed with Willie's ability to hit the ground running on the recruiting trail. It's like he doesn't sleep. Better yet, it's like he wants to be at FSU. I am not sure I can say the same about Jimbo the last year plus.

Mullen is a good hire for UF. We both may have preferred Frost but I think both got good fits.
 
For the record, I feel better about Taggart than I did about McElwain (when the Gators hired him). From Day 1, I thought McElwain was going to be a dud. I never understand what you guys saw in him.

I call it the Billy Donovan effect.

Foley hired Donovan out of nowhere and he turned out to be phenomenal. This caused Foley to think he was smarter than everybody else and was great at picking coaches. Turned out he was just lucky.

To be fair he did also hire a lot of very successful small-sport coaches, but I think that was more the fact that he put a lot of money and attention on the small sports, which drew a lot of elite athletes. Lots of coaches are going to be successful with powerhouse rosters, and we were and are. But I think those success stories fed his belief in his own infallibility, which led to Zook, Muschamp and McElwain.

Just my theory.
 
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I call it the Billy Donovan effect.

Foley hired Donovan out of nowhere and he turned out to be phenomenal. This caused Foley to think he was smarter than everybody else and was great at picking coaches. Turned out he was just lucky.

To be fair he did also hire a lot of very successful small-sport coaches, but I think that was more the fact that he put a lot of money and attention on the small sports, which drew a lot of elite athletes. Lots of coaches are going to be successful with powerhouse rosters, and we were and are. But I think those success stories fed his belief in his own infallibility, which led to Zook, Muschamp and McElwain.

Just my theory.

Mild agreement with what you said. That said, Florida has 39 NCs in various sports. Well over half of them are a result of Foley, directly or indirectly. Well over half of them. Prior to Foley taking over, I think Florida had fewer than 10 NCs. Correct me if I am wrong, but Florida only fields four sports that have not won NCs; Women's basketball, Volleyball (which I hope we rectify tonight), Men's cross country and Women's cross country. Of the last two, I am not sure if they are completely separate from track and field, but I assume CC offers its own NC separate from T&F.

That is pretty damn impressive.
 
I would have been happy if Jimbo had stayed -- up until the last week or two before he resigned. By that point, I felt that he was starting to wear out his welcome with his demands.
Agree. Jimbo is one of the top 5-6 coaches out there. He is an elite talent eval guy and roster manager. He has other traits that were wearing thin on fans. It is what it is. Change was probably necessary for both parties. Now, we get to see what Taggart is about. I am excited for the change, but I have no delusions. Taggart has to show something he has not been able to show before.
 
Mild agreement with what you said. That said, Florida has 39 NCs in various sports. Well over half of them are a result of Foley, directly or indirectly. Well over half of them. Prior to Foley taking over, I think Florida had fewer than 10 NCs. Correct me if I am wrong, but Florida only fields four sports that have not won NCs; Women's basketball, Volleyball (which I hope we rectify tonight), Men's cross country and Women's cross country. Of the last two, I am not sure if they are completely separate from track and field, but I assume CC offers its own NC separate from T&F.

That is pretty damn impressive.

Albeit impressive that UF has won that many in many different sports, i could not name 1 volleyball player, track and field guy or girl, baseball player, basketball player... Etc. Football is the only sport in college that matters. All the rest are consolation prizes. They are nice but i would rather win a NC in football thanwin a NC in every other sport.
 
I might give the nod to Dabo just because, unlike Jimbo, Dabo seems to understand his limitations and just hires top coordinators to win for him. I think Jimbo wants to be regarded as a genius OC/HC all-in-wonder boy.

I would rather have Jimbo. Jimbo was a 10 win machine until his starting QB got hurt on the one yr that he couldnt get hurt. B4 soneone starts bitching about recruiting he literally had 2 top QB's behind that guy who got kicked off the team... Not really his fault, just terrible luck. I will miss Jimbo
 
It is notable that Jimbo has not hired an OL coach yet. Nor a defensive coordinator. Trickett and Kelly are not available?
 
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It is notable that Jimbo has not hired an OL coach yet. Nor a defensive coordinator. Trickett and Kelly are not available?

Lol this is what is funny to me. People bitched at him for 8 yrs about trickett and 4 yrs about kelly, he kept saying how great they were and then he moves and they dont even get offers.... Ouch
 
Albeit impressivin that UF has won that many in many different sports, i could not name 1 volleyball player, track and field guy or girl, baseball player, basketball player... Etc. Football is the only sport in college that matters. All the rest are consolation prizes. They are nice but i would rather win a NC in football thanwin a NC in every other sport.
Thats whats awesome about UF, we have football titles and titles in the other sports. Have our cake and eat it too
 
Apparently Leavitt is staying at Oregon. Looks like the FSU plan backfired. No Leavitt or Cristobal? Oops
 
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Taggart will face more pressure coming out of the gates than Mullen.

He will be expected to be just as good as two National Championship coaches.

Mullen is replacing a guy who seemed content to let his old boss throttle us in the SEC Title Game. I know he wasn't . Just a really thinskinned dude though.
 
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