forums

Two Big Assumptions Being Made About the FSU Coaching Search

FL Cane

FL Cane

Senior
Joined
Aug 26, 2018
Messages
3,752
I don't think anyone expected Willie Taggart to succeed at FSU, but to get fired today was a shock. FSU, despite being in dire financial straits with their Athletic Department put up the $18 Million to buy out Taggart. Add the money it took to bring Taggart from Oregon and you're talking about a $30 Million dollar mistake easily. Taggart will probably go down as one of the top five worst coaching hires in college football history.

Now that FSU is looking to move on to its next HC, we've seen a few names and narratives emerge in the short hours after Taggart's dismissal. From Urban Meyer to Bob Stoops, to Mike Norvell, a lot of names are flying around. There are two big assumptions though going into their coaching search.

  1. FSU learned it's lesson with Taggart and won't make a bad hire. I've seen quite a few of these takes going around when anyone gets fired, and more likely than not it isn't the case. Florida didn't learn it's lesson after Muschamp and hired Corch Jim McElwain. Miami didn't learn it's lesson with Randy and hired the biggest corch ever in Golden. Michigan, Tennessee, USC, UCLA, etc. have all followed up bad hires with equally bad or even worse hires.

    The same people that hired Taggart a year and a half ago will be hiring his successor. The chances they hire another corch are better than them hitting a home run hire. Also, no matter who they hire, they'll have to contend with a good/competent HC at UF and hopefully a coach that finds his rhythm in Diaz.


  2. FSU is a Top 10 Job. This is one that I don't get. This CBS article describes this position better than I ever could. https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...now-florida-state-has-no-obvious-replacement/

    They're going to need a proven program builder to pull them back from the edge of the cliff and clear out the toxicity in their program.
 
Advertisement
FL Cane said:
I don't think anyone expected Willie Taggart to succeed at FSU, but to get fired today was a shock. FSU, despite being in dire financial straits with their Athletic Department put up the $18 Million to buy out Taggart. Add the money it took to bring Taggart from Oregon and you're talking about a $30 Million dollar mistake easily. Taggart will probably go down as one of the top five worst coaching hires in college football history.

Now that FSU is looking to move on to its next HC, we've seen a few names and narratives emerge in the short hours after Taggart's dismissal. From Urban Meyer to Bob Stoops, to Mike Norvell, a lot of names are flying around. There are two big assumptions though going into their coaching search.

  1. FSU learned it's lesson with Taggart and won't make a bad hire. I've seen quite a few of these takes going around when anyone gets fired, and more likely than not it isn't the case. Florida didn't learn it's lesson after Muschamp and hired Corch Jim McElwain. Miami didn't learn it's lesson with Randy and hired the biggest corch ever in Golden. Michigan, Tennessee, USC, UCLA, etc. have all followed up bad hires with equally bad or even worse hires.

    The same people that hired Taggart a year and a half ago will be hiring his successor. The chances they hire another corch are better than them hitting a home run hire. Also, no matter who they hire, they'll have to contend with a good/competent HC at UF and hopefully a coach that finds his rhythm in Diaz.


  2. FSU is a Top 10 Job. This is one that I don't get. This CBS article describes this position better than I ever could. https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...now-florida-state-has-no-obvious-replacement/

    They're going to need a proven program builder to pull them back from the edge of the cliff and clear out the toxicity in their program.
Click to expand...

Program Builder = Butch Davis

They can get him CHEAP!
 
Also, read on ESPN the buyout was raised from private donations, but FSU says it was not. How much money is left for a quality hire and quality assistants if that money came from the athletic department?
 
Advertisement
I’m not sure there is a specific lesson to be learned. The reality is hiring a coach is a massive risk and the majority don’t work out real well.

Be it Alabama, Miami, USC, Michigan, Florida and on and on, there are stretches where they get it wrong repeatedly.

Taggart was a mistake from day 1. But, let’s see where they go from here. Pretty good chance it’s a lottery ticket. They were fortunate to have the stability of Bowden for so long.
 
Advertisement
aleahy said:
I’m not sure there is a specific lesson to be learned. The reality is hiring a coach is a massive risk and the majority don’t work out real well.

Be it Alabama, Miami, USC, Michigan, Florida and on and on, there are stretches where they get it wrong repeatedly.

Taggart was a mistake from day 1. But, let’s see where they go from here. Pretty good chance it’s a lottery ticket. They were fortunate to have the stability of Bowden for so long.
Click to expand...
Extremely fortunate. Other than Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops, no one immediately concerns me. Norvell is a solid choice, really has built up Memphis, but he 1) losses to anyone with a pulse and 2) never puts together a good defense. Venables isn't going anywhere, and Mark Stoops would be a solid pick but not a home run. Bob Stoops and Venables would also want major money.

PJ Fleck and Campbell would be interesting candidates, as well. Either way, they're going to need to get a guy who's willing to embark on a 3-4 year total rebuild in half the time.
 
Delusional fan base said they couldn’t afford the buyout now they wanna say it was donors that gave the money. Funny how y’all know schools financial records.
 
Advertisement
Advertisement
Getting this hire right is going to be incredibly difficult. A&M is 6-3 with USCe, Georgia and LSU still to come. They most likely end up a 5- or 6-loss team. Michigan has 2 losses already and most likely loses to Ohio State for a 3rd loss. They are paying Fischer and Harbaugh 7.5M+ each for those results. Purdue's coach is making 5.4M after getting a 1.7M signing bonus. His team is 3-6.

FSU is going to need a lot of luck with this next pick.
 
iLIKEDADE! said:
Delusional fan base said they couldn’t afford the buyout now they wanna say it was donors that gave the money. Funny how y’all know schools financial records.
Click to expand...
Luckily with FSU, since they are a state school, they need to publish financial records. Not to mention it's well known their athletic department is in terrible financial shape. This Taggart mistake is going to cost FSU, overall, close to $30 Million when accounting for how much it took to get Taggart there, to begin with.

We can't ever account for the money their boosters are willing to put up, but they're not in the best shape to make a big run at a proven HC, unless their boosters are willing to dish out tens of millions again.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top