Willie's Scorching Hot Seat

Willie Taggart is on the hot seat, whether he should be or not.

We hear the term “hot seat” and see it floating around more frequently when it comes to the offseason in all of sports. Some coaches are deserving recipients, while others are not. Most media outlets will tell you that the head football coach for the Florida State Seminoles, Willie Taggart, is on the hot seat – but is he deserving?

We could expound on Taggart’s resume, but for this article’s sake, we won’t. Let’s instead present the evidence on why he shouldn’t be on the hot seat.

The Seminoles owned the record for reaching the most consecutive bowl games by going to 36 straight before the 2018 season (Taggart’s first season). Taggart’s team struggled with discipline (on and off the field), personnel issues (specifically offensive line and secondary) and quarterback play.

If we take a brief history lesson, the team’s struggles have been in the works since the Seminoles won their third National Title after the 2013 season. Let me preface this by mentioning that the two greatest Seminoles at their respective positions, Jameis Winston at QB and Dalvin Cook at RB, covered up a lot of the teams’ issues during a three-year span. In 2014, the Seminoles were perfect during the regular season but struggled throughout, underachieving against opponents they were clearly better than and most of the time needing 4th quarter comebacks to squeeze by. In 2015, the Seminoles relied on Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson and Sean Maguire to win them games. Although they went 10-3, the offensive line struggled mightily and the offense in general failed to convert 3rd downs through the air. 2016 saw the beginning of the Deandre Francois era. That season ended with a Orange Bowl victory over Michigan, but the Seminoles were 103rd in sacks allowed, 84th in completion percentage and suffered the largest defeat in program history against the Lamar Jackson led Louisville Cardinals, 63-20. Then there’s Fisher’s final season in 2017, where the Seminoles began the season 3-5.

If we don’t look at the seasons and just pay attention to the play on the field, this season is not too different from the 2017. Although the FSU faithful (including myself) weren’t expecting the miserable 5-7 year, the way the team played in 2018 wasn’t surprising because of what Taggart inherited from Fisher and his staff.

The offensive line was already in shambles, the secondary was inexperienced and allowed their fair share of big plays, especially on key downs (3rd down to be exact) and the QB play just wasn’t good enough (albeit Justin Blackmon was a freshman who did not enroll early in 2017). In 2017, the Seminoles were 5-6 and on the verge of breaking the consecutive bowl streak a year earlier than they actually did. Here are a few comparisons:

In 2017, the Quarterbacks amassed 2440 passing yards, 20 TDs and 13 interceptions. In 2018, the quarterbacks amassed more yards (3241) but had the same number of TDs and interceptions. In 2017, the Seminoles averaged 2.7 sacks allowed per game, in 2018 the Seminoles averaged 3.2 sacks allowed per game. In 2017, opponents averaged 9.2 first downs against FSU through the air and in 2018, they averaged 10.7. Each of these numbers are similar, which tells us that Taggart inherited most of these issues at key spots. Every aspect of FSU’s struggles in 2017 were very similar to Taggart’s first year in Tallahassee.

PHOTO: Rich Barnes, USA Today Sports

Now, I said I wouldn’t bring up Taggart’s resume, but it’s worth mentioning the rebuilds he’s had at his previous stops didn’t transform in his first year. Taggart took over the lowly Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky, his alma mater, in 2010 and they went 7-5 in consecutive seasons after struggling through a 2-10 season in his first year. His success at WKU allowed him to be lured away by South Florida in 2013. After a 2-10 season was followed by 4-8 in Tampa, the Bulls went 8-5 then 10-2 (most single season wins in program history). The record breaking 4th season as the Bulls head coach landed Taggart the head job at Oregon where they added three more wins to their total from the previous year despite the absence of their star quarterback for nearly six games.

Suffice to say, let’s not close the door of hope on Taggart in Tallahassee so soon. His track record should give him the liberty of time, and said record has also proved that rebuilds or reloads take more than one year.

After being hired in early December, Taggart was able to quickly put together a coaching staff that brought the #Tribe18 recruiting class all the way up to #11 (247Sports Composite) which was ranked in the 70s at the conclusion of the season. What also goes unnoticed is that Oregon finished with its best recruiting class (# 13 nationally) in seven years, and Oregon’s 2019 class, which finished with a #7 ranking (247Sports) was due in large part to Taggart along with the current coaching staff that he assembled.

Hope isn’t lost. Yes, Seminole family, this is uncharted territory for our team. Yes, losing the bowl streak sucked, and losing to Clemson, Miami and Florida in the same season sucked as well. Maybe we should ask Hurricane and Gator fans how they coped with being at the bottom of the totem pole, since it’s been awhile since we’ve been here. What we shouldn’t do is lose faith in a guy who inherited a mess and has a proven track record of turning things around. #GoNoles