FSU Football hires Willie Taggart as new head coach

FSU football has hired the 11th head coach as Willie Taggart will be joining the program as the latest sideline, the school announced.

When FSU football first announced that Jimbo Fisher had abandoned ship and was leaving for Texas A&M, school officials announced that a search would begin and the next head coach of the Seminoles would be hired as quickly as possible. As it turns out, the wait for the next head coach didn’t take all that long like officials promised.

Willie Taggart will become the newest head coach for the school, agreeing to a deal to leave his job as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks to return to his home state of Florida and lead the Seminoles starting with the 2018 season.

The school announced their hiring on their website before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

A native of Bradenton, Taggart was an All-State quarterback in high school before heading to Western Kentucky, where he was one of the top players in what is now the FCS level as he started all four seasons for the Hilltoppers before turning his attention to the coaching side of things.

He spent eight seasons at his alma mater from 1999 to 2006, which included a stint as co-offensive coordinator when they won the 2002 national title. He would later spend three seasons as the running backs coach at Stanford before returning to his alma mater in 2010 as head coach, where he spent three seasons and led them to their first bowl game in modern history.

Taggart, now 41 years old, was hired by South Florida in 2013 and led the Bulls from a 2-10 record his first season to a 10-2 record in 2016, giving the school a tie for the East Division title in the AAC before being hired by the Oregon Ducks.

There, he improved Oregon from a 4-8 record to a 7-5 regular season finish in 2017 – including a jump in total defense from 126th last season to 45th in 2017 and total offense from 36th to 25th.

Taggart will take over for Fisher, who spent eight seasons in Tallahassee and won a national title and three ACC crowns but went through a rocky final week on the job that caused many to not shed a tear with his departure. He is expected to bring in several top assistants, many with ties to the state of Florida that will help with recruiting and improving from a 6-6 record this year.

Next: Messy ending tarnishes Jimbo's FSU legacy

Taggart will become the first full time African-American head coach in program history, as he takes over for interim head coach and longtime FSU football player and coach Odell Haggins – who had the honor breaking that barrier when he led the Seminoles to a win over Louisiana Monroe this past weekend.