Willie Taggart gets it by welcoming Bobby Bowden back to FSU program

Willie Taggart has made no secret that he wants to embrace the tradition of FSU football – and wants to make sure the legend who built it is always welcome.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock on New Year’s Day 2010, the end of an era took place at the Gator Bowl during FSU football‘s comeback win over West Virginia – as longtime head coach Bobby Bowden, the man who rose the Seminoles up from the ashes over 34 seasons, was on the sidelines for the final time leading the program now led by Willie Taggart.

In the days and weeks that followed, Bowden made it be known that he was going to avoid being around campus and the Seminoles’ program so that it wasn’t seen that he was looking over the shoulder of the man who took over the job – his former offensive coordinator and “head coach in waiting.”

The funny thing is that, aside from a game in 2013 when Bowden and the 1993 national title team were honored and his appearance at the national title game that season, the legendary leader who put FSU football on the map never seemed to be all that welcome by the man who took his job and would abandon the program just a few months ago.

Fast forward to April of 2018 and the new regime led by Taggart has made one thing clear: the Noles are going to move forward but NEVER forget the past. Upon arriving in Tallahassee, Willie Taggart – who grew up a diehard Seminoles fan – made sure to meet with the legend and let him know he is always welcomed within the program that he created.

Bowden took the new head coach up on that and, for the first time since he stepped down, attended a FSU football practice on Wednesday.

It’s a fine line that the Seminoles and Willie Taggart have to walk when it comes to living in the present and honoring the past. You don’t want to be like a Notre Dame or Miami that hasn’t won anything in decades talks about the past like it’s present day – but you also don’t want to forget where you came from and what made the Noles who they are today.

So far, Willie Taggart has done an amazing job of walking that tightrope. He wants the current group of FSU players to appreciate the past and to keep the tradition of winning alive – in essence, holding them accountable for keeping the Seminoles as one of the top teams in the game.

Bobby Bowden will always be looming over the FSU football program even when he’s not on campus – for God’s sake, his name is on the stadium to go along with a statue and a stained glass mural. Taggart knows that and, instead of running from it like the egomaniac in East Texas now, is embracing it…and the Noles will be much better for it.