Florida State lands Taggart as new coach

It didn’t take long for Florida State to replace Jimbo Fisher.

Less than a week after Fisher resigned to take the head coaching position at Texas A&M, the Seminoles hired former Oregon coach Willie Taggart as their new coach, the school announced Tuesday.

Taggart, 41, replaced Mark Helfrich at Oregon last season and guided the Ducks to a 7-5 record and an upcoming trip to the Las Vegas Bowl to face 25th-ranked Boise State.

A Florida native, Taggart spent four seasons as the coach at South Florida from 2013-16, going 24-25, and was the coach at Western Kentucky (16-20) for three seasons prior to that.

Taggart has an overall coaching record of 47-50 over eight seasons. He has helped his teams become bowl-eligible in four of those seasons, including three straight between South Florida and Oregon.

Oregon made an attempt to retain Taggart even before the Florida State job opened up, offering a one-year extension on his contract that runs through the 2020 season to boost the value of his five-year deal to $18 million, former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy reports.

McMurphy also cited sources saying returning to his home state of Florida was a factor in Taggart’s decision.

Florida State finished 6-6 in 2017, winning its regular-season finale against Louisiana-Monroe to extend its bowl streak to 36 consecutive seasons.

Fisher went 82-23 in eight seasons at Florida State, leading the Seminoles to eight straights bowls and a BCS National Championship Game victory against Auburn in 2013.