Florida

Willie Taggart Tunes Out Rebuild Talk in Year Two at Florida State

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  • That rough first season has led to at least some question about Taggart's long-term future at FSU.

No one has to tell Willie Taggart that he faces pressure to fix turn things around at Florida State after the Seminoles failed to reach a bowl game for the first time since 1981.

It was an inauspicious beginning for Taggart.

In his first year as the head coach, the Seminoles finished with a 5-7 record. The season included a humbling home loss to eventual national champion Clemson along with lopsided margins in losses to Virginia Tech, Syracuse, North Carolina State, Notre Dame and Florida. But Taggart said his perception of the program remains the same, even after last year's stumble.

"I expect Florida State to win and that hadn't changed," Taggart said Wednesday during the Atlantic Coast Conference's preseason media days. "And I expect we'll do those things."

That rough first season has led to at least some question about Taggart's long-term future at FSU. Taggart was asked what his reaction is when he sees is name on the "hot seat."

"I don't see that, and I'm sure nobody will come tell me that," he said. "But I hear it when I talk to you all or you ask that question. That's part of the business. We all know what we were signing up for when we decided to become coaches."

"That's part of the whole landscape of it, where you talk about guys' jobs and whether they're on the hot seat or not. But you can't focus on that, you've got to stay locked in to what you're doing."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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