This past Sunday, FSU’s head coach of two years was fired.

Willie Taggart’s six year, 30 million dollar contract was bought out by Florida State’s boosters in private because of how poorly the team has performed since he started coaching at Florida State. The boosters raised a whopping $20 million dollars to liquidate the rest of his contract.

Taggart’s record, with only being coach for 21 games at Florida State, is a devastating 9 wins and 12 losses. Along with this new losing record, Florida State has become the number one team for most penalties, which is embarrassing.

This isn’t new to Taggart. At his previous school, Oregon was the leader of penalties, which says a lot about his way of coaching.
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Two years ago, I was full of hope-as a Florida State fan- with the idea of a new coach. Flash forward two years later, yet another coach is leaving due to the destruction of the team, and I’m not complaining. My only problem is that it took this long to fire him.

After Florida State’s upsetting loss to the Hurricanes, 27-10, Taggart’s removal seemed to be FSU’s priority. Taggart’s poor decisions with plays and even his decision in quarterbacks, tore the team apart.

The talent is present at FSU with players like Cam Akers and Marvin Wilson, but it’s all a matter of what the coaches do with those players during practice that affects how the team plays in games.

Obviously, Taggart has not improved the offense or defense which caused for his removal.

In FSU’s previous game, there was a play where the offensive-line would all dive in an attempt to protect the quarterback and buy more time, but instead, Miami knew the play-possibly because it was ran more times than it should have- and Hornibrook was sacked nine times causing Florida State to lose yards and opportunities to score.

I was at FSU for the horrible loss against the Hurricanes and the plays I witnessed shocked me. Even as a fan watching in the stands, it was hard to support the team I’ve supported for the majority of my life. The plays that were called seemed like a child was in charge of calling them.

In the past 21 games, the Noles have been sacked 71 times. There were 10 penalties ALONE in the past game against Miami.

This just proves that the decisions Taggart made at FSU did not benefit the outcome of the team.

Under Taggart’s coaching, FSU has been nothing more than a disappointment.

Due to Taggart’s removal, Odell Haggins will step in as interim Head Coach for Florida State. Back in 2017, when Jimbo Fisher left, Haggins filled the same role and went 2-0. I am personally very excited about Haggins stepping in because he has been one of the coaches that has been with FSU through it all.

After the time Taggart has spent at FSU, the progress he made was not enough to keep him as Head Coach any longer.