Former Florida State Head Coach accepts NFL Position
The coaching carousel in the NFL is in full effect after the season concluded earlier in February. With the new league year beginning on March 15, teams are trying to get their staff in place ahead of the upcoming draft.
READ MORE: FSU Legend comes up short in debut as an XFL Head Coach
On Wednesday, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported that the Baltimore Ravens are expected to hire Willie Taggart from the college ranks as running backs coach. This will be the first position for Taggart at the professional level and he'll be joining longtime Ravens head coach John Harbaugh
Interestingly enough, Taggart worked under John's brother, Jim Harbaugh, from 2007-09 as the running backs coach at Stanford. That connection likely opened the door for this move.
This will be a breath of fresh air for Taggart after his recent struggles at the college level. He's been fired twice since 2019.
After taking over for Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, Taggart guided the program to its first season without a bowl appearance in 36 years. He didn't make it through his second year with the Seminoles after getting crushed by Miami in Doak Campbell Stadium. Taggart finished 9-12 in parts of two seasons in Tallahassee and the program still is on the hook for a $4.25 million buyout check in 2023.
Taggart moved on to Florida Atlantic after his failures at Florida State. He got off to a 5-1 start with the Owls in 2020 but only recorded a 10-17 record throughout the remainder of his tenure. FAU lost its final three games of his first season, including a defeat in the Montgomery Bowl to Memphis.
The team failed to qualify for the postseason in his final two years with Florida Atlantic. In total, he finished 15-18 in three years with the Owls. It didn't take very long for Taggart to land with Deion Sanders at Colorado as an analyst prior to the Ravens showing him interest.
Previously, Taggart was the head coach at Western Kentucky (2010-12), USF (2013-16), and Oregon (2017). He's finished with an under .500 record in seven of his 13 overall years as a head coach.
Taggart was part of a lawsuit last offseason for an incident that occurred at Oregon. He ended up reaching a confidential settlement in the case.
The Baltimore Ravens finished 10-7 in 2022, falling in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs to the Cincinnati Bengals. The team recently hired a new offensive coordinator - former Georgia assistant coach Todd Monken.
The Ravens have JK Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Ricky Person Jr. under contract entering the offseason. Dobbins led the running backs with 520 rushing yards and two touchdowns last season.
READ MORE: Florida State's full 2023 football schedule released
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