OT: FSU Hires Oregon HC Willie Taggart
http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=1-21679467
Considered one of the best relatively young Offensive minds in football. This seems like a solid hire in a solid coaching search, especially compared to the tire fire that is the UT search.
Edit
8 years as Head Coach at 3 schools
47-50 overall
Each team got better each year under him
Derwin James just announced he isn't playing in their bowl game either, as he is skipping it to prep for the draft.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
Well, I mean, context is key.
In this case, the context is that Western Kentucky had never had a winning season in the FBS until Taggart took over and turned them from 0-12 to a winning team in two years. In contrast, Hoke replaced Bill Lynch (who had won a conference title at Ball State and was 6-6 in his final season) and then reeled off five consecutive losing seasons.
Taggart took over a USF team that Skip Holtz cratered (8-4, 5-7, 3-9) and then built them back into a winning team in two years and a 10-win team in three. Hoke took over SDSU, a doormat, and within a year he had won 9 games... HOWEVER, SDSU maintained that success after Hoke left his DC in charge. Said DC was a former head coach with a decent record at New Mexico and can plausibly be said to have been the biggest single factor in the turnaround there.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:44 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 6:03 PM ^
correctly, but I assume you mean that contrary (?) to Hoke, Taggart is regarded as an elite recruiter.
Whether that wasn't the case for Hoke when he arrived, he proved to be an elite recruiter for Michigan, as evidenced by highly ranked classes and tons of guys getting drafted.
December 5th, 2017 at 6:18 PM ^
WKU had only been an FBS school for the three years before Taggart arrived. So to say they never had a winning record in FBS is highly misleading. Also, I would think a team generally goes through a transition when making the jump from FCS to FBS (gonna be hard to win a lot of games with the same guys you recruited for an FCS program against all FBS competition). Proper context would look at those those transitions tend to go.
And if you're going to ding Hoke for SDSU staying strong after he left, don't you have to similarly ding Taggart as his successors were actually more successful than he was (Petrino and Brohm). I would argue that Hoke gets more credit for SDSU sustaining itself since his DC took over as HC (evidence he hired good people on the defensive side of the ball, at least).
The fact that guys outside of Taggart's tree were more successful than he was at WKU might indicate, it's a program well suited to success in the Sun Belt (although, they admittedly had two home run hires after him).
And as for USF, that was a program that was quite successful under Jim Leavitt. The Holtz era was a bit of an outlier. It's a former Big East school in a fertile recruiting state that now plays in the AAC where it's not that hard to win games.
December 5th, 2017 at 8:56 PM ^
with deja vu, or is there an echo in here?
December 5th, 2017 at 4:18 PM ^
"Loosing"
December 5th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
Meaning he lets the team be loose
December 5th, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
he has a 47-50 career record and 0-1 in bowl games.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
Taggart clearly improved both WKU and USF considerably. Brady Hoke was middling at Ball State before stumbling into one great year which then saw Ball State crater again after that. Ever since Taggart boosted WKU they've been solid.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
as a head coach not a dissertation on his coaching career.
December 5th, 2017 at 6:04 PM ^
Dissertations are also usually more than a couple sentences. Also, don't upvote yourself.
December 5th, 2017 at 6:16 PM ^
You weren't asked what his record was. You were asked what kind of record because you wrote that he had a "loosing" record.
December 5th, 2017 at 6:02 PM ^
The only dumber way to analyze a coach than overall record is by bowl record.
December 5th, 2017 at 9:26 PM ^
Apparently, he had a loosing record. I think that's when your team gets looser during the game - they tend to play better. Maybe. I really don't know what that is...
December 5th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
That is similar to the argument people make about Harbaugh wearing out his welcome because he has switched jobs. Both guys just rose up the coaching ladder fast.
Taggart went from USF to Oregon to FSU (hours from where he grew up as a FL native). 90% of coaches in college football would have done the same thing.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
This is always the case when someone leaves a job after one year and takes another job.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:58 PM ^
after weeds don't grow under his feet, or what most people would pick up as sarcasm. Kind of a joke, but honestly most HC are not on their third HC gig in three years, at least I can't think of any.
December 5th, 2017 at 7:17 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 6:11 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
Even darker days lie ahead.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^
Not a ton of great options out there for Oregon now. Wonder if they will go after Brohm. At this point, part of Oregon's brand (other than Nike) is a high octane offense.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
That was what I was thinking. With the money Oregon is willing to spend, they will find a good candidate. May end up being better off as Taggart was probably a better fit in the Southeast.
December 5th, 2017 at 7:10 PM ^
Desperation?
Can't see how he's a good fit for Oregon. He has no connections to the conference footprint. Rather than pick over out of work retreads, Oregon has the resources to poach someone that's doing a good job. Easy to justify, too. They're colliectng buyout money, rather than paying it.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:54 PM ^
Dantonio.
But seriously, could you ever imagine Oregon going back to old school, power I football?
December 5th, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 8:40 AM ^
Underrated comment.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
Just have to sell him to the administration. The fans would be on board and he's available.
Brohm might be OK, but it's risky to hire out of region coaches. Their success rate is worse and this could happen again..
December 5th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
*Taggart* OP. Willie Taggart.
(Unless this is like a madcap adventure movie where the AD accidentally hires a physics teacher with a similarly-spelled name. Disney presents Who Hired Taggert?!? And then teacher/coach Taggert beats the real coach Taggart in the championship game by using a rubbery compound initially intended for the defense industry that makes players able to jump higher - glubber.
It's the feel-good hit of the Christmas season!)
December 5th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
Any recruits UM could poach?
December 5th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
Hufanga, so this could help (assuming he doesn't now want to go to FSU)...
December 5th, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
So who does Oregon get? Brady Hoke's available... probably.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:17 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
Once he learned the ASU mascot is a devil he might be having second thoughts. Surely he has no problem with ducks.
December 5th, 2017 at 6:22 PM ^
he said he's a Catholic so he can't stay there can he? Didn't ask enough questions during the candidates turn of the interview.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:17 PM ^
I think Chad Morris would be a good hire for them, runs an up tempo offense and I think would work well in the Pac-12
December 5th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
I think Morris will stay in Texas until a bigger program opens up, probably Texas Tech after next year. Pretty much all of his connections are in Texas.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
I know he is pretty well connected to Texas, I just don't understand why you would wait for Texas Tech next year, if he got offered the Oregon job this year. I think it is a lot easier to recruit in Eugene than Lubbock.
December 5th, 2017 at 5:51 PM ^
Sike he's going to Arkansas, should be announced soon.
December 5th, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 4:31 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 8:13 PM ^
I want this to happen
December 5th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
December 5th, 2017 at 6:56 PM ^
December 6th, 2017 at 4:47 PM ^
Pros: Alumnus, might stay more than 1 year, trending up after his time in Wisconsin/Cal
Cons: only been at Cal for 1 year, they like offense at UO, they picked Hoke over Wilcox as DC