OT: How Taggart Plans to Run the Offense at FSU
We've noted that the Harbaugh coaching tree is growing, and that Willie Taggart goes back to Jack's WKU days, then worked for Jimmy at Stanford. Not terribly detailed, but there's some nice analysis here, including gifs, of how Taggart's conceptions of how to run an offense have evolved, working to his best players' strengths, through time.
Long story short (to my limited understanding), Taggart plans to move the ball quickly, simplify the offense, move away from Fisher's highly complex style, toward a spread offense with some play-action concepts. Still traces of what he assimilated at WKU and Stanford in his method, but Taggart sounds like he's highly adaptable, very much his own man. The reception in Tallahassee has been very enthusiastic, and it's well-known he can recruit. Don't be surprised if FSU returns to prominence quickly.
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/12/6/16738284/willie-tag…
December 7th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^
Get the Harbaugh connection but does anyone really care about ball washing Taggart?
December 7th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
And both are probably good fits for his offense. Clemson/FSU will be fun to watch the next few years. I'll be curious to see if Miami can keep up under Richt.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:40 AM ^
If Richt's tenure at Georgia is any indication, Miami will be the team that recruits very well, at a level that's right up there with Clemson and FSU, but drops at least 1-2 games a year that it has no business dropping, along with losing to it's main rival most years.
I like Richt. He's definitely a good man from everything I heard about him during his time at Georgia. But he's a lot like Lloyd Carr. In fact, one could argue that he's just a younger version of Carr.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
gets great talent, falls short
December 7th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
Minus at National Championship. I'd agree on your other points, but I don't think he'll be able to win it all, which separates him from Carr by a significant margin based on that alone.
December 7th, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
or Mack Brown. Or Steve Spurrier. Or Phil Fulmer. Or R.C. Slocum.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^
under Richt. He's basically their Jim Harbaugh. He knows how to win, recruit and understands Miami culture.
If Taggart can gain foothold quickly, Miami/FSU should be amazing.
Now, UF is being left behind. Dan Mullen has won with less at Mississippi State and was able to find NFL players like Dak Prescott, KJ Wright, Darius Slay, Chris Jones, Johnathan Banks, etc. He's a smart coach who knows his X's and O's
December 7th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
You didn't close the parentheses in the second paragraph, therefore I was unable to read the rest of that segment... That oversight completely threw me off and made it impossible for me to pay attention to anything you wrote.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
Party Spanx.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:40 AM ^
It's hard not to be good at FSU. Hell Jimbo won a NC.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
I mean, Jimbo is a pretty good coach.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:42 AM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 11:45 AM ^
So according to twitter Taggart did quite a bit of lying during the past 2 weeks to the media, public, UO fans, and UO recruits. Not evasion of questions, but downright lies about whether he was in communication with FSU and when. Do you think he pays any consequence for this?
Given that Florida went red in the 2016 election that is a clear sign that people there don't care about honesty/integrity so I'm guessing FSU fans/school won't care.
December 7th, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 11:48 AM ^
Four comments into a thread about a coaching hire and we're already in the NO POLITICS realm. Nice..
December 7th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:08 PM ^
I go to YouTube, but I have read comments there.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:44 PM ^
There are comments on Youtube videos?
Edit before panties get waded up: Why would anyone look at Youtube comments? Ugh... Worse than MLive.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 12:33 PM ^
I recall JH handled his last 2 transitions quite a bit better.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:17 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:26 PM ^
of his regrets and inner turmoil in the below article and video comments, including regrets about how it went down (including loving the kids, only having been there a year, leaving a bunch of great people, etc., a little different from what Fisher did when he got to A&M). I'd argue that for someone going to the better job and more comfortable environment after just a year--and in a 2-3 day whirlwind--he may have come close to doing okay. (There's almost inevitably a period for these guys where they are in fact interested but have no idea if the deal can come off, where they have to continue to pledge allegiance, including just not to sow doubt and confusion among the troops.) But I don't doubt people's capacity to bullshit others and themselves:
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/football/2017/12/06…
December 7th, 2017 at 5:46 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 11:45 AM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 11:52 AM ^
I bet his offense will look a lot like Michigan's in a couple of years as they come towards each other, get some RPO's invovled but still utlilizing heavy sets and power inside runs, and springing TE's down the seams.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^
I think Jimbo simply got tired of FSU and fan's overinflated expectations... didn't he say something about the fans jeering the team in a PC this year when they were struggling? Not to mention A&M offered him a boatload of money that FSU wasn't going to match
the idea that FSU is in decline is a bit weird to me.
2012: 12-2
2013: 14-0 NC
2014: 13-1
2015: 10-3
2016: 10-3
2017: 6-6
Reminds me of how some OSU fans think Meyer took over a 'struggling' OSU program just because they were 7-6 the year after tattoogate.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:20 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^
There is nothing structurally wrong with FSU. They will continue to have good recruiting classes, and they will continue to be competitive on a national scale. When Francois got hurt, Jimbo lost the team. I don't have any inside info on why, but will bet that his divorce (which I hear was nasty) played into it, and probably separated the fanbase (some for him, some for her). As the team unravled, it was clear he didn't care enough to really work hard to fix it. He complained about the fans, they complained about him. He's been asking for years to upgrade the facilties, but the AD has not.
There a lot of reasons for FSU's collapse this season, but to say they're a 'declining' program because the won-loss record is a certain number, is disingenious.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:06 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
against the ACC the last two years. It's all relative, and I accept that FSU remains in a very strong position. But if decline means doing less well FSU has.
Fisher has lost support across the board at the school. Almost no one lamenting his departure that I can see.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
Step one: Identify your QB
Step two: Don't let your QB get injured.
Step three: Repeat each year.
December 7th, 2017 at 12:48 PM ^
Hasn't there been rumors of Frey going to FSU?
December 7th, 2017 at 1:02 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
It's fans making guesses about what could happen, not based on any actual info.
If Taggert wants to offer him the OC job, I could easily see Frey moving there. Not too many OL coaches get OC jobs nowadays. If Taggert is willing to go that route then Mario Christobal would seem to be an even better target. He's someone he would probably want to keep as OL coach, if not also the OC.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:08 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
but keeping a recruiting class together as the reason to hire a head coach is always wrong.
December 7th, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
December 7th, 2017 at 1:43 PM ^
1 bad year in 6 years?
Michigan fan were pretty happy with two 10 win seasons prior to this one... i guess you can say its a decline if you compare it to FSU's NC year...
but it's nowhere near the rebuilding jobs that guys like Richt, Petersen and Harbaugh have had to deal with...
December 7th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^
I didn't realize until looking this up how close Taggart is to the Harbaugh family. For instance, Jim was the best man at Taggart's wedding. Here is a good article from when he joined Oregon.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/19113607/oregon-ducks-w…