- Edward Aschoff
- Chris Low
- Oregon, Willie Taggart has reached an agreement to be Florida State's next head coach, Taggart confirmed to ESPN's Edward Aschoff.
Taggart, who was hired at Oregon in December 2016, went 7-5 in his first season with the Ducks. He replaced Mark Helfrich in Eugene after spending four seasons at South Florida, where he recorded a 24-25 record. He went 18-7 in his final two seasons with the Bulls.
With Florida ties and an offensive background, Willie Taggart looks like the ideal choice for Florida State. Scott Olmos/USA TODAY Sports
The Florida native has a 47-50 career head-coaching record but is regarded as one of the top up-and-coming offensive minds in college football and also has strong recruiting ties in the state of Florida.
Taggart, 41, interviewed with FSU officials on Monday about the job. Charlie Strong, who replaced Taggart at South Florida, also met with FSU officials on Sunday. Oregon had reportedly offered Taggart a little more than $20 million over five years to stay, but he's on the move back to the Sunshine State after just one season on the West Coast.
Taggart replaces Jimbo Fisher, who left FSU to take the Texas A&M head coaching job. Taggart becomes only the third head coach at Florida State in the last 43 years. Bobby Bowden guided the FSU program for 34 years and Fisher for the last eight years.
