FSU Football: Why Willie Taggart’s fate won’t be decided this week

It’s safe to say the ‘Willie Taggart-era’ for FSU football has gotten off to a rocky start – and that is probably being modest.

I mean, I guess last season could have gone worse from a record stand-point. But, going 5-7 at a school like FSU football, in your first season on the job, is just about as bad a scenario as one could imagine. Factor in a busted bowl streak that was older than me, and you are left with more questions than answers and an insatiable fan-base that is chomping at the bits for a winner.

 Or any win at this point……

Willie Taggart and the Seminoles should get just that as they face Louisiana-Monroe this upcoming Saturday. FSU has just about every advantage physically and should handle their business against the Warhawks come Saturday. FSU won’t be the betting favorite in many of their games this season, but this is one of them.

Simply put, FSU is expected to win this game Saturday, and should.

However, if and when they do win, I don’t see it changing the perception around this coach or this team much, if at all. Willie and the ‘Noles could go out Saturday and beat ULM 70-0 and I don’t think it would change the mindset of the majority of the fan-base. That is just where Seminole fans are at this point. It’s called your “wits-end” and it’s not a fun place to be currently.

As Seminole fans, these past few seasons have seen us all waiting at this proverbial train station. And you are either on the “Taggart-Train” or the “Fire-Willie-Train.”  I like to think I am somewhere in between. A bench in between platforms, if you will.

Florida State Seminoles Football

I absolutely expected some growing pains when we hired Taggart and accepted the inevitable struggles in year one. I just didn’t see those struggles manifesting themselves into a 5-6 season and breaking the nation’s longest bowl streak, all in year 1! I drank the Kool-Aid last year and got burned (like most Seminole fans). I clearly did not anticipate the amount of change that was/is needed to occur to right this program.

So this past off-season, I made a deal with myself to not drink that tempting garnet & gold Kool-Aid. I wasn’t going to buy in until I had tangible proof that Willie had righted the ship. I brushed off the good breaks we got on the recruiting trail and I abstained from buying into the positive reports I was hearing come out of fall camp.

I was going to wait for someone to “Do Something” before I bought my train ticket. I surely wasn’t expecting to drop game one of year two to a Boise State team that we were beating by 18 points at halftime.

We all know what happened next…

Now, the Seminoles sit at 0-1 for 2019. Willie’s record as head coach is 5-8. The state of the Seminole union is NOT good. So where do we go from here?

The next (and possibly only) chance for Willie and the ‘Noles to recapture the fan-base will be their September 14th meeting with the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville. I am well aware of the old coaching adage “we aren’t looking ahead of our next opponent” or “the next game on our schedule is the most important.” Most of the time I agree and adhere to the coach speak.

But, I think for Willie’s own sake, he has absolutely got to look past ULM this weekend and ahead to the Virginia game. He has got to be as prepared as he has ever been as a football coach for that game. It’s crazy to put so much emphasis on a week three matchup but I believe it is more than warranted in this scenario.

The Virginia game is a “must win” for Willie and his career as a Seminole.

The pressure has been on Willie ever since the Virginia Tech game last season. That pressure has steadily intensified throughout his tenure and now, with this most recent loss to Boise State, it is at a fever pitch. Fans were already calling for him to be fired; those voices have only multiplied and gotten louder.

I am a firm believer that a coach, at the very least, needs three full seasons for his philosophy to fully take affect over a program. Unfortunately, that is not the general stance when it comes to the college football landscape. Fans and Administration want a winner, and they want them now.

This new world view on head coaches does not bode well for Taggart; at least with how things stand currently. That is why the game against Virginia is so crucial for him.

At the beginning of this season, most people (me included) would have put the Boise State game at the top of the list, in terms of games most important to overall success. Again, we all know how that game ended for us. And with a far inferior opponent slated next on the schedule, Willie and the ‘Noles will have to wait for their trip to Charlottesville to make any kind of lasting impression on the fan-base.

Fair or not, Willie has got the deck stacked against him now. His only way out of the hole he has dug himself, is with wins. And it all starts in Virginia. If Willie can go on the road, against a pretty good conference opponent, and (God willing) win the game; he will have taken his first step on the long road to redemption, in the fans eyes.

If he can’t and fails to deliver again, well, the train may be leaving the station, and Willie probably won’t be on it.