FSU Football: Impact of Walt Bell leaving for UMass

FSU football is on the market for a new offensive coordinator as Walt Bell is the new head coach at UMass.

FSU football lost offensive coordinator Walt Bell Monday afternoon as it was announced he would be taking the head coaching job at UMass to become one of the youngest head coaches in all of college football.

Bell was at FSU for just one season after two seasons of being the offensive coordinator at Maryland.

The thought was Bell and FSU head coach Willie Taggart had similar offensive philosophies that should have jelled together for the most part.

Either that wasn’t the case or the two were not together long enough for that to happen. The FSU offense was the worst it has been in over a decade with Walt Bell as the offensive coordinator.

The offense looked lost and uncoordinated for much of the season, but Bell did have to work with a multitude of injuries along the offensive line and a quarterback in Deondre Francois who simply was not good in the new offensive system Taggart and Bell were trying to implement.

Bell took a pay cut to take the UMass job which is interesting to say the least and it’s not like it’s a place where he’ll have access to great talent to turn around a program that went 4-8 last season.

Let’s talk about the potential impact for FSU football.

Timing

The timing of the announcement probably is the worst thing about the move as FSU football has the early signing period coming up in a couple of weeks.

Four-star FSU QB commit Sam Howell is thought to be the player most associated with Bell as Bell was the first to offer Howell a college scholarship while he was offensive coordinator at Maryland.

However, it seems like this move has been in the works for a while. Was Willie Taggart handing over play calling duties to Walt Bell late is the season a tactic to keep him onboard for another season?

It’s quite possible, but maybe the Noles are better off to see Bell go now instead of in a couple of years as most were expecting?

There’s no guarantee the offense was going to significantly improve, not to mention Bell was relatively inexperienced as an offensive coordinator.

The good news is Willie Taggart is already working to find his replacement.

Recruiting

Walt Bell was thought to be a great recruiter upon his arrival at FSU. However, aside from Sam Howell which other recruits was he tied to?

I don’t recall many if any FSU commits or prospective players mentioning Walt Bell as someone they’re working with or having a great relationship with.

That’s almost always Raymond Woodie, Harlon Barnett, David Kelly or Greg Frey. I’m not saying Bell was a terrible recruiter, but it doesn’t seem like FSU will be losing an ace recruiter here as Bell didn’t have

FSU football desperately needs an infusion of talent at multiple positions after having over 50 percent of the blue chip players enrolled from 2015-17 either leave the program or not become significant contributors in that time frame.

I’m not sure if Willie Taggart will continue to hand off play calling duties to whoever he chooses to hire as the next offensive coordinator.

If Taggart decides to retain play calling duties, that offensive coordinator needs to be a dog on the recruiting trails to make up for not having to worry about that responsibility.

Was Walt Bell Really A Good Offensive Coordinator?

First of all, much like Jimbo Fisher, Willie Taggart calls his own plays so the thought of having to hire a new offensive coordinator is a bit different from most.

I have a question. Walt Bell’s job was the coordinate the FSU offense and he didn’t have to worry about play calling duties until the last quarter of the season.

Would you agree FSU’s offense actually looked uncoordinated much of the season? I know he had to deal with injuries on the offensive line and a quarterback that didn’t play well.

However, we basically saw zero improvement in Deondre Francois’s play and Bell’s other title was the QB coach.

I’m not the only one who wasn’t that impressed with what Walt Bell brought to the table.

I’m not saying Walt Bell was terrible as an offensive coordinator. It’s difficult to fully assess how good he was in less than a year at FSU (he was hired in January).

However, in all the things offensive coordinators are responsible for FSU football clearly took a step back on that side of the ball.

The same penalties prevalent in game one were popping up in game 12 and some of that has to fall on Walt Bell.

So maybe, just maybe, FSU football will be able to hire an offensive coordinator that’s more experienced and a better recruiter. If that’s the case, FSU football will be better in the long run regardless since Bell was thought to be at FSU a short time anyway.