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FSU Football: Willie Taggart embraces former players and a legend

By Kelvin Hunt

JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 01: Head coach Bobby Bowden of the Florida State Seminoles watches his team take on the West Virginia Mountaineers during the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl on January 1, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida. Florida State defeated West Virginia 33-21 in Bobby Bowden's last game as a head coach for the Seminoles. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL - JANUARY 01: Head coach Bobby Bowden of the Florida State Seminoles watches his team take on the West Virginia Mountaineers during the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl on January 1, 2010 in Jacksonville, Florida. Florida State defeated West Virginia 33-21 in Bobby Bowden's last game as a head coach for the Seminoles. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) /
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FSU football has a storied past and Willie Taggart is taking all the right steps to embrace it.

FSU football Coach Willie Taggart has only been on the job just over two months but he’s continuing to make the right moves.

One of the first things he did upon being hired was reach out with a phone call to the architect of FSU football and pay his respects to Bobby Bowden.

He let Bowden know how much he meant to him and also told him he was welcome to practice or around the program whenever he wanted.

However, Taggart embraced Bowden even more Thursday by paying him a visit at his home.

Look at that, he calls Coach Bowden “Mr. FSU” in his caption. It’s also great to see Coach Bowden embrace Willie Taggart too which allows the following to happen more easily.

Taggart told the Orlando Sentinel the following about the visit with Coach Bowden:

"“He said ‘I don’t want to be over your shoulder,’ and I said ‘I need you over my shoulder, Coach. I don’t have a big ego or anything. I just want you around.’“But I just think it’s right that he comes around, and it’s right for our players to see and know all about Coach Bowden and what he’s all about. A lot of the things they have now are because of what happened back then.“I just think it’s right for everyone for him to be around.”"

Thoughts

Notice what Taggart does here? He thanks the former players for stopping by and posts a pic on Twitter so other former players can see it.

The other thing he does is pose a question to engage FSU football fans on social media. Is that something we saw in years past?

Nope! What is there not to like about the guy?

Now, we understand wins and losses are the measuring stick for success for this program and the expectations are sky-high as usual.

However, to see Coach Taggart continue to embrace Coach Bowden and former players makes it feel like FSU footbal is one big happy family again after how things felt once Coach Bowden was replaced by that other guy.

The importance this will have on the culture of the program can’t be understated as there are tons of former players who seemingly didn’t associate with the former regime.

A part of that was how the former regime interacted or had a lack of interaction with Coach Bowden.

Next: Top 3 Recruiting Needs In 2019

Think about that picture for a second. FSU football fans can see the past and the future all at one time!

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