My Two Cents: Should Indiana be Worried About the Opening at Florida State?
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Florida State, one of the most iconic brands in college football the past 40 years, fired coach Willie Taggart on Sunday. His tenure in Tallahassee didn't even last two years, and it was an unmitigated disaster.
There were issues — major issues — with player discipline and performance during Taggart's 23 months on the job. There were issues — massive issues — with a loyal fan base spoiled by winning that could not stomach Taggart's 9-12 record since the start of 2018, especially since the Seminoles, often the scariest team in the country on both sides of the ball, played like they had no idea what they were doing week after week.
Hence, the midseason firing, which takes a lot considering Taggart's buyout was a reported $18 million and change. That's a huge check to write.
So Florida State, which has won national championships in 1993, 1999 and 2013 and once finished ranked in the top-4 in the country a record 15 years in a row, is now looking for a head coach for the second time in two years since Jimbo Fisher left for Texas A&M and its $75 contract offer.
Here's what Florida State will be looking for:
- A coach who can successfully recruit the state of Florida.
- A coach who has longstanding ties to the state of Florida.
- A coach who will run a program the right way, with players who follow rules, act responsibly and love each other.
- A coach who can hire the right staff and bring assistants in who can be creative but also teach well enough to get the best out of every player on their roster.
- A coach that fans will love to be around and embrace as one of their own.
- A coach who reminds them of Florida State legend Bobby Bowden, the man who basically created this successful program and always did it with a faith-based plan to everything he did.
- A coach who has proven he can quickly fix unstable programs.
Does that sound like someone we know here at Indiana?
That sounds like Indiana coach Tom Allen to me.
The connection with Florida State and Indiana
Let me clear up a few things for you quickly. On the day of Taggart's firing, there has been no mention of Tom Allen in any of the the obligatory "Who will replace Wille Taggart'' stories coming out of Tallahassee. He's not on anyone's top-5 wish list that I saw.
But there are too many things that make sense.
I bring a rare and unique perspective to this story because during my 40-plus years of doing this sports and writing stuff, the two schools that I have paid the most attention to — by far, and it's not even close — are Indiana and Florida State.
As an Indiana alum, I have seen a lot of bad football in my lifetime, both from the stands and the press box. There have been a few moments, of course, and Tom Allen is the best thing to happen to Indiana football since Bill Mallory. Before I started covering Allen and Indiana on Aug. 1 for Sports Illustrated Indiana, I was an IU grad who was just a fan for many of those years. I was a big fan, for a lifetime.
And my Florida State history? It's four decades worth, too. As a young reporter at the St. Petersburg Times, many of the high school kids I covered went to Florida State, so I was up there often writing stories and covering games. I covered dozens of FSU games for years, and coordinated college coverage in Florida for many more years, as well.
But in between newspaper careers, I became a fan, too. I sat in the stands a lot at Doak Campbell Stadium with my close friends who were season-ticket holders. My three kids who grew up in Florida all became Florida State fans with me. Two of them are FSU graduates, and the third might love the Seminoles the most, at least at one time. She married a Gator, so that's waning now.
I took my son to his first Florida State game when he was 6 years old — Florida State 47, Miami 0 in 1997 — and we both never forget it. Been to dozens of games together since then.
The fan in me loved Bobby Bowden, a great coach and an even better man. I also loved that Jimbo Fisher was hired to replace him, and I thought he'd be there forever. He won a national title and I figured he'd win more. I hated the Willie Taggart hire from the get-go, but figured I'd let it play out. It was horrific and sickening, in every possible way. It had to end swiftly.
So now the search begins. The obvious names floated out there are former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, by far the first choice among FSU fans, Iowa State's Matt Campbell, Minnesota's P.J. Fleck and even Kentucky's Mark Stoops. Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venebles, the highest-paid coordinator ($2.2 million) in the country, was mentioned. as well.
Tom Allen was not.
But the fit seems so obvious.
I've seen him work every day this year, and even though he actually worked as Taggart's defensive coordinator for a year at the University of South Florida in Tampa, they are completely different.
Tom Allen the person would be as close to Bowden as Florida State could ever get. His faith is real. Tom Allen the coach has proven a lot this year, both in player development but also in knowing when he needed to improve his coaching staff. His hire of Kalen DeBoer as offensive coordinator might have been the best coaching move in the nation this year.
Should this current success for Allen and his staff be a problem for Indiana?
Maybe. That's what winning does.
Success at Indiana catches the eye of other bigger programs
When coaches lose at any level in college football, they get fired. When they win, they get paid more, and/or get hired by bigger or more high-profile programs. With Allen turning this program around during this 7-2 season, people are paying attention, to him, and to his assistant coaches.
And the Allen fit at Florida State, especially if he brought DeBoer and others with him, makes a lot of sense. After all, of those seven things mentioned about what is on Florida State's wish list, Allen CHECKS ALL SEVEN BOXES.
Factor this in, too. Tom Allen is the lowest-paid coach in the Big Ten. He's making only $1.8 million, though bonuses are kicking in nicely once the Hoosiers passed the six-win threshold this season.
At Florida State, Taggart made $5 million.
The next coach will make that much, or more.
Let me also say this. Tom Allen loves being the head coach at Indiana. I am 100 percent CERTAIN that he doesn't even think about leaving here right now because, with his Indiana roots as well, he wants to make this turnaround a reality.
But let's also be real. He has Florida roots, too, as a high school and college coach and recruiter. He has turned this program around at Indiana primarily because he has 25 kids from Florida on his roster. His starting quarterback, all of his starting receivers, two or three of his best defensive players, they are ALL from Florida.
And people notice that, too. Even in Florida.
Success often has a price. At the very least, Indiana athletic director Fred Glass knows that it's going to be time at the end of the year to tear up Allen's cheap contract — at least by comparison — and pay him appropriately.
It might have to be even sooner — like this week during Indiana's bye week.
The Indiana guy in me says he hopes Tom Allen stays in Bloomington forever and accomplishes all of his goals. The Florida State guy in me can envision all the possibilities he would bring. There's a whole lot of Bobby Bowden in Tom Allen, and I'm sure he would take that as a big compliment.
Maybe I'm way off base, but on this Sunday afternoon in November, it just makes too much sense to me to not be worried about it for Indiana.
Maybe not to anyone else, but I can see it.
Can you?
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