TALLAHASSEE, Fl. (WTXL) - The 1999 Florida State football team is considered by some to be one of the best teams to ever play the game. Chris Weinke, the Heisman winning quarterback, led this team to their second National title. The departure of Weinke, and Mark Richt leaving for his own head coaching job, led to the lost decade. Nine years of inconsistency at key positions, struggles against rivals Miami and Florida, and accusations of cheating in a music class in 2007, which resulted in the loss of wins in 2006 and 2007. Bobby Bowden resigned after the 2009 season, after coaching the Seminoles for 34 years.
Jimbo Fisher took over for Florida State, enjoying almost instant success. Top recruiting classes early on led Fisher to ACC Championships, a National title and another Heisman winning quarterback in Jameis Winston in 20-13. But success, marred with controversy. Winston was at the center of several scandals at Florida State, including a rape case. Lack of discipline led to problems in the locker room and one of the lowest A-P-R scores in the country.
Fisher left Florida State on December 1st, 2017 for Texas A&M. Enter Willie Taggart, who accepted the Florida State job on December 5th. It was a dream job for him, but it didn't lead to dream results. Florida State missed a Bowl game for the first time since 1976 in Taggart's first season. Year two didn't fare much better, after going 4-5 through the first nine games of the season, Taggart was fired on November 3rd.
Odell Haggins took over as interim coach for the second time in his 26 seasons coaching in Tallahassee. The Florida State alum praised Taggart's efforts to get the Seminoles on the right track, something Taggart started, but will now be left up to the new head coach to finish.
