FSU Football: Willie Taggart getting respect from rival ACC coach

FSU football will have a new leader on the sidelines this season, and one of the big name coaches in the conference is singing his praises.

In just over a month (thank goodness it isn’t longer than that), the Willie Taggart era will officially begin for the FSU football program when the new head coach of the Seminoles leads the team in their first game – a Labor Day showdown with the Virginia Tech Hokies that could set the tone for the 2018 seasons as a whole.

For Taggart, it will be a chance to live out his lifelong dream to be a Seminole – while, at the same point, prove critics wrong that look at his 47-50 overall record and say he may be in over his head after just one season at a Power Five program from spending 2017 as the head coach of the Oregon Ducks.

While some may not be sold on what Taggart has been able to do (basically turn every place he has coached around to a winning program in very little time at all), that is not a problem with those in the ACC who will face FSU football this season – including the winning coach of the last three conference champs.

During ACC Kickoff last week, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney had plenty of praise for the coach he will battle on October 27th inside Doak Campbell Stadium.

"“Obviously with Florida State, with Willie coming in there, I think he’s a great fit for Florida State, and he’s a winner. He’s won everywhere he’s been. No real reason to think that he’s not going to get them going. This is a job where he’s got really all the resources to be successful, and I don’t have any doubt he will. They’ve always got players, always got talent. So very, very difficult.”"

Swinney knows that the last three games against the Seminoles – all of them winnable games for FSU football entering the fourth quarter – have been ones that he easily could have lost, so he knows the 7-6 record last season was more of a one time thing and he’s going to be in for a battle again this August.

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Sometimes, fans of the Seminoles want to hate on Swinney since he has become on that second level of rivals just behind Florida and Miami – but credit must be given that he has a level of respect for the new man in the conference and seemingly is taking him seriously.