Willie Taggart

Willie Taggart is the former head football coach at Florida Atlantic, Florida State, the University of South Florida, and his alma mater, Western Kentucky.Prior to arriving in Tallahassee, Taggart spent one season at the University of Oregon. He garnered respect in the coaching ranks by rebuilding programs at USF and WKU. After the Bulls went 2-10 in his first season, he turned them around to a 10-2 record and top 25 ranking in his fourth and final year. He previously spent three seasons as the head coach at WKU.In his last two seasons, he went 7-5 both times, finished second in the Sun Belt in 2011, and went to the Little Caesars Bowl in 2012.Taggart got great notoriety from serving as an assistant coach under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford.He coached running backs for the Cardinal and saw his player Toby Gerhart win the Doak Walker Award.Prior to that, Taggart was an assistant coach at WKU for eight seasons.He was a four-year starter at quarterback while a player for the Hilltoppers. His jersey is one of four retired by the football program.Taggart is a Bradenton, Florida native and went to power Manatee High School. During his final two years, the school went 26-4, making two state finals appearances, and winning the 5A title his junior year.