Willie Taggart was fired yesterday after the team’s loss to Western Kentucky. FAU finished 5-7 on the season and out of bowl eligibility. The team had a Jekyll and Hyde personality all year. Read my Halloween-themed article on them here.
They had a 4-2 record at home beating Rice, UAB and pushing Western Kentucky to overtime. On the flip side, they had a 1-5 record on the road, losing tight games to Purdue and UTEP but getting blown out by Middle Tennessee. Taggart has never been able to repeat his success at Western Kentucky and South Florida. He took promotions to Oregon and FSU then to FAU but lost his way.
Taggart was moderately successful at FAU
Willie Taggart finishes with the second-best coaching record at FAU behind fan-favorite Lane Kiffin. He finishes with a 15-18 record. Taggart took the job in December 2019 and had to deal with the Covid pandemic in his first full season. The team couldn’t win on the road in 2021 either posting a 1-5 record. Taggart did a post game interview on the radio right after the game and stated several times that the team was very young.
He appeared to believe that he would get another year as he talked about explaining the transfer portal to young players. Taggart now has had three HC jobs in five years (Oregon, FSU, FAU) so he may not get another chance to lead a program in the FBS. In looking at fan message boards, some fans are relieved that he was fired while others expected him to get another year to prove himself. In the press release, FAU administration had nothing but praise for Taggart.
Next FAU coach
Taggart is correct that the program has a great amount of youth. The team was loaded with freshman and sophomores. The next coach that comes in will benefit as the players will be very experienced with mistakes from losing. The obvious take is that the team’s youth led to their losses. Against UTEP, the defense gave up a 13 play drive to lose the game. Yesterday against WKU, the defense held the potent Hilltopper offense to 24 points but couldn’t make a play to stop the 2 point conversion.
The offenses in Conference USA this season were hot and unstoppable. No one could go into Denton, Texas, and beat the Mean Green. Western Kentucky was averaging 483 yards of offense per game. See the Conference USA stats here. FAU leaves Conference USA for the American Athletic Conference next season. The conference will expand to a 14-team league in 2023. This season, the top five teams had over .500 records. Tulane had a resurgence and will stay but UCF, Houston and Cinncinatti will leave to the Big 12. Read the SI article on the expansion here.
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