The Daily Stampede - Willie Taggart Hired As USF's New Football CoachMeanwhile, in Tampa...https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50067/v5-fav.png2013-01-06T17:04:21-05:00http://www.thedailystampede.com/rss/stream/35068552013-01-06T17:04:21-05:002013-01-06T17:04:21-05:00Robert Weiner Reverses Course, Stays at Plant
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<p>Weiner, a four-time state champion at Tampa's Plant High School, will join the staff as receivers coach.</p> <p>USF coach Willie Taggart has <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tampabay.com/hometeam/blog/robert-weiner-leaving-plant-join-usf-staff/16190/">hired Robert Weiner as his receivers coach</a>, bringing in a name that needs no introduction to local Bulls fans.</p>
<p>Weiner spent the last nine years turning a previously moribund Plant High School program into arguably the best team in the state, and one of the best in the country. The Panthers won four state championships (2006, 2008, 2010, and 2011) went deep into the state playoffs nearly every season, and turned out a number of top-tier college prospects, including Aaron Murray, Robert Marve, and James Wilder, Jr. Weiner is a coach who really doesn't have much left to prove at the high school level, and brings additional credibility to USF's local recruiting efforts. (And as Collin joked on Twitter, Weiner's been <a target="_blank" href="http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/feb/01/na-teen-athlete-transfers-like-free-agency/">the best recruiter in Tampa for many years now</a>.)</p>
<p>It may be surprising to add a high school coach to the staff, but when you have a chance to add one as wildly successful as Weiner, it's hard not to like the move. What do you all think of the hire?</p>
<p>UPDATE: <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/reversal-robert-weiner-tells-usf-football-hell-stay-at-plant-high/1269457">Weiner has reversed course, and decides to remain at Plant. </a>Submit all relevant conspiracy theories here.</p>
https://www.thedailystampede.com/football/2013/1/6/3843580/willie-taggart-adds-plants-robert-weiner-to-usf-coaching-staffchuckycrater2012-12-14T11:46:59-05:002012-12-14T11:46:59-05:00Taggart Sweeps Out Assistants; Only Scott Remains
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<img alt="Whoever Taggart hires will have to help get guys like Ryne Giddins back on track." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/42poPCeakOnIxBhJ2qch1W_Af_E=/26x0:3971x2630/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/4978435/20121201_jla_sv7_557.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Whoever Taggart hires will have to help get guys like Ryne Giddins back on track. | US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>The new USF coach cleans house and only keeps one assistant from Skip Holtz's tenure.</p> <p>New USF coach Willie Taggart had said in his introductory press conference that he would wait until next week to decide which of Skip Holtz's assistant coaches he would keep and which ones he would let go. Instead, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=205824554">he made his move on Thursday afternoon</a>, dismissing Holtz's entire staff except for running backs coach Larry Scott, who also happens to be the best recruiter on the payroll.</p>
<p>There were two points of speculation. One was why Taggart decided to move up his decision. That may have been because Holtz was hired by Louisiana Tech as their head coach on Thursday night, and Taggart wanted to give them a chance to latch on with their head coach if he wanted them. Also, next week is when assistant coach hiring season begins in earnest, as recruiting enters a dead period. Taggart may not have seen a reason to leave them hanging when they could use that time to line up new jobs for 2013.</p>
<p>The other point of speculation involved Kevin Patrick, the defensive line coach who had been involved with USF football seemingly forever. The move upset a good number of people, but I was kind of OK with it. You hate to turn away one of the few true lifers USF has, but at the same time, we're pretty much starting all over here. Institutional knowledge may not be as valuable as it seems. (And also, the defensive line seriously underachieved last year, especially Ryne Giddins.)</p>
<p>We'll see who Taggart brings in to replace all of these coaches, but one of his old assistants seems like a natural fit -- Marquel Blackwell, only the greatest player in USF history and a graduate assistant this past year at Western Kentucky. In addition, Taggart brought defensive assistant Raymond Woodie with him from WKU to fill an undetermined role.</p>
https://www.thedailystampede.com/football/2012/12/14/3765808/willie-taggart-usf-assistant-coaches-larry-scott-raymond-woodie-marquel-blackwellchuckycrater2012-12-09T08:04:39-05:002012-12-09T08:04:39-05:00Bull-ogosphere: Media Reaction To Taggart Intro
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<figcaption>Chris Graythen</figcaption>
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<p>Lots of stories in the Sunday papers and on the Web after USF introduces their new football coach.</p> <p><a href="http://www.gousfbulls.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7700&id=1132916&db_oem_id=7700">Coach Taggart Introductory Press Conference - GoUSFBulls.com</a></p>
<p>If you didn't get to see or hear Taggart's press conference yesterday, the official site has it on BullsCast.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/confident-coach-willie-taggart-takes-control-of-usf-bulls-football/1265354">Confident coach Willie Taggart takes control of USF Bulls football - Tampa Bay Times</a></p>
<p>"Confident" is the word that comes up the most when you read all these stories. Another "c" word applies here too -- "contagious." I'm one of the crankiest and most cynical bastards I know, and I was getting excited hearing Taggart talk during his press conference.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/shelton-willie-taggart-makes-usf-bulls-believe/1265327">New coach Willie Taggart makes USF Bulls believe - Tampa Bay Times</a></p>
<p>"Believe" is another word you hear a lot, because we all stopped believing for awhile as the losses piled up and the team spiraled away from Skip Holtz and all the horrible Big East stuff began happening in the background. Taggart's press conference was like a blood transfusion for USF fans.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www2.tbo.com/news/usf-bulls/2012/dec/09/2/spsporto11-taggarts-energy-excites-players-ar-580226/">Taggart's energy excites veteran USF players | TBO.com</a></p>
<p>Taggart met with the returning players yesterday, and they sound pretty excited for March to get here.</p>
<p><a href="http://www2.tbo.com/news/usf-bulls/2012/dec/09/spsporto11-dungy-plays-key-role-in-usf-hiring-proc-ar-580227/">Dungy plays key role in USF hiring process | TBO.com</a></p>
<p>I was surprised how much of a role the former Bucs coach played in the hiring process. Eventually Doug Woolard is going to retire, and I could think of much worse candidates to take his place if being a college administrator is something that interests him.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bulls/content/usf-contract-taggart-five-years-575-million">USF contract for Taggart: Five years, $5.75 million | University of South Florida Bulls blog: USF Sports Bulletin | Tampa Bay Times</a></p>
<p>Greg Auman runs down all the details and minutiae of Taggart's USF contract.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bulls/content/greg-auman-willie-taggart">Greg Auman: Willie Taggart | University of South Florida Bulls blog: USF Sports Bulletin | Tampa Bay Times</a></p>
<p>Greg also put together a short video giving his thoughts on the hire and the press conference.</p>
<p><a href="http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/40403/willie-taggart-the-perfect-fit-for-usf">Willie Taggart the perfect fit for USF - Big East Blog - ESPN</a></p>
<p>Andrea Adelson's take. It's hard not to see this as an ideal hire. There are no permanent stumbling blocks. Challenges to overcome, absolutely (like recruiting to Taggart's system). But they aren't impossible to overcome. And he genuinely wants to be here. We saw how excited Taggart was the entire time he was at the podium. He looked like he had a wish granted to him from a genie. Actually it was a lot like Jim Leavitt's first press conference way back in 1995, where he kept telling everyone how glad he was to be back home, as if no one in the Marshall Center really believed him.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/20296892/coach-t-comes-home-to-drive-the-usf-bus">'Coach T' comes home to drive the USF bus</a></p>
<p>Fox 13 talked to a couple of Taggart's old teammates at Manatee High School about his return to the area, and their memories of the team's 1992 state football championship.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=205822242">Photos: Willie Taggart - GoUSFBulls.com—Official Athletics Web Site of the University of South Florida</a></p>
<p>Finally, if you need a new desktop background or Facebook panel, these might work.</p>
https://www.thedailystampede.com/2012/12/9/3746080/bull-ogosphere-media-reactions-usf-football-coach-willie-taggartchuckycrater2012-12-08T15:53:49-05:002012-12-08T15:53:49-05:00Willie Taggart Press Conference Open Thread
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<figcaption>Nelson Chenault-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>USF's press conference to introduce Taggart as its new coach begins at 4:00.</p> <p>We're all ready for Willie Taggart to be introduced as USF's new football coach. Press conference updates in the comments below -- come listen to it with us.</p>
<p>(If you want to listen along, either tune in 98.7 FM in Tampa Bay, or <a href="http://www.gousfbulls.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?catid=0&id=580675&db_oem_id=7700" target="_blank">watch it live on BullsCast.</a>)</p>
https://www.thedailystampede.com/2012/12/8/3744420/willie-taggart-introductory-press-conference-open-threadchuckycrater2012-12-08T10:02:45-05:002012-12-08T10:02:45-05:00The One Willie Taggart Red Flag
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<figcaption>Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>Willie Taggart is a very good coach and he's going to be a good thing for USF. But how good can his teams be in this situation?</p> <p>I like Willie Taggart a lot. He's a very good coach, he really wants to be here, and he has the exact personality I think a USF coach needs to have. He's going to be a shot in the arm for the players on the roster, the student body, the high school football system in the area, the fans, and everyone else around the program. He's going to be a great face for USF football.</p>
<p>Still, I can't help but wonder if he's the best football fit for USF. We know Taggart is straight out of the Jim Harbaugh school -- he wants to run the ball and own the line of scrimmage on offense. But in order to do that, you have to be able to recruit on the offensive line, and that's an area that is not so easy for a school like USF to find quality players. With Taggart coming in, it means that the top five schools in Florida will all run some variation of a pro-style offense. Florida is rich with skill position talent, like backs and receivers, and the defensive back seven. It's not so rich with offensive linemen, though. If everyone's after the same limited quantity (and by everyone I mean the schools in Florida and everyone else who recruits the state), then there won't be enough really good ones to go around.</p>
<p>People point to Taggart's roster at Western Kentucky, which was dotted with kids from Florida, and talk about his extensive recruiting connects in the state. And all that is true, but many of the Florida players he recruited are at skill positions. Of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wkusports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5400&SPID=2242&SPSID=28821">13 offensive linemen on the WKU roster</a>, only four of them are from Florida. Three of them are the smallest three linemen the Hilltoppers had, and <a target="_blank" href="https://admin.xosn.com/fls/5400//2012%20Football%20Game%20Notes/2012%20WKU%20Football%20Notes%20-%20vs%20North%20Texas%20-%20Nov%2024.pdf?SPSID=28825&SPID=2242&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=5400">only one of them was a starter</a>.</p>
<p>Bud Elliott, SB Nation's recruiting writer and the manager of Tomahawk Nation, came to us last offseason with the theory that USF should try a Moneyball-type approach and cater their playing style to match the talent available to them. There's an inefficiency in the market for skill players in Florida, and it leads to a lot of them leaving the state. That theory made a lot of sense to me, and that's why I was in favor of guys like Sonny Dykes or Chad Morris when the USF job came open. Aside from the system selling itself, it would be easy to find the players you would need to get an offense like theirs up and running. (And also it would be a lot of fun to blog about, but that's beside the point.) Lining up in the I-formation and hammering the ball down the other team's throat, the way Taggart wants to do... well, that might be harder.</p>
<p>Will USF's defense get better? Absolutely. Will the team as a whole get better? I think so. What worries me is that Taggart will only be able to do so well because of the recruiting challenges. I'm concerned he may get to a certain level, like making a bowl every year, and then plateau. Going 8-4 every year isn't the worst thing in the world. But it may be hard to surpass that unless Taggart and his staff can find some diamonds in the rough, or unless they're even better recruiters than we think.</p>
https://www.thedailystampede.com/football/2012/12/8/3742794/usf-football-willie-taggart-recruiting-offensive-linechuckycrater2012-12-07T18:50:30-05:002012-12-07T18:50:30-05:00Willie Taggart Hired As USF Coach
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<figcaption>Kevin C. Cox</figcaption>
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<p>The Western Kentucky coach will take over at South Florida, replacing Skip Holtz.</p> <p><span style="line-height: 9px;">As first reported by 620 AM, then confirmed by</span> <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2012/12/7/3729694/willie-taggart-south-florida-coach">Steven Godfrey of SB Nation</a>, USF has hired Western Kentucky's Willie Taggart as head coach. Details are not yet available, and there has not been an official announcement, but multiple sources have reported that Taggart will take over at USF.</p>
<p>This story will be updated throughout the weekend, and of course we'll be here if and when Taggart is officially introduced. The press conference ought to be spectacular.</p>
https://www.thedailystampede.com/football/2012/12/7/3741776/report-willie-taggart-hired-as-usf-coach-were-not-sureCollin Sherwin