DON'T fire FSU's Willie Taggart
Like a lot of reasonable FSU fans I think the GoFundMe projects trying to buy out Willie Taggart's football contract at Florida State are ridiculous and embarrassing.
I'm an FSU alum, and a writer and journalist who covered FSU for six years for three newspapers during the school's football heyday. The team went a combined 63-9 over those years, ending with the '93 championship. So I have experienced FSU-level success.
Today, I live and work in Rome -- a city that, as the saying goes, wasn't built in a day. From this vantage point, the notion that success that should be immediate and still mean something seems naive.
I am hoping to raise at least $1000, which I will use to buy a display ad in the Tallahassee Democrat to help fans remember the people and organizations calling for Taggart to be fired in his first season. The ad will run the next time FSU football, under Taggart, plays itself into the top ten in one of the two major polls, or finishes first in its division in the ACC. I am already keeping track of who is starting and funding the But-I-want-everything-now campaigns.
If I raise more than the full amount, I will use the money for a wider-reaching version of the same idea or to congratulate the team on its success. If I raise less, I'll fund a smaller-scale version of the idea.
Before I step off my soap box, a few points to keep in mind:
• In his first year at FSU, Bobby Bowden started 0-3 and was 2-6 in a less competitive college football environment.
• Taggart's "lethal simplicity" scheme can be effective and entertaining. But it's very hard to learn, especially for players recruited for another system. In terms of experience, every player on the team is like a true freshman.
• The more unity there is on the team and among fans, the easier it will be for coaches to continue to recruit at a high level. The opposite gives fuel to recruiters from rival universities.
• The people who are in seriousness calling for Taggart to be fired three games into his tenure are going to try to deny their views after things turn around. And the talent -- from the recruits and up to the coaches -- is too good for that not to happen.
