Florida State football: 5 fixes to make before 2019 season

1. Realistic expectations  

Taggart needs to repair the culture at Florida State, but it’s unclear whether he’ll be afforded the time to do it.

“Rebuild” wasn’t the perception when Taggart was hired. The perception was, Florida State is a program ready to win with a coach who just left. Let’s bring in a fresh face, liven up the place, and all will be okay.

The reality is, Taggart walked into a bad situation. No one realized how bad except Jimbo Fisher, who was already out the door. So of course expectations were sky high, because it’s Florida State and Taggart hyped the season.

Now there’s a huge gap between perception and reality and Taggart will have to reconcile that.

Florida State is not a program used to losing. The 2012-2014 seasons spoiled a generation of Noles in the same way the 80s and 90s spoiled a generation before them. This is the first real adversity the Noles have faced since Bobby Bowden took over in the 70s.

It would be unfortunate to see the Noles go the way of the Texas Longhorns, whose fans and boosters never really seemed to warm to Charlie Strong, making it difficult to operate freely in the way he and his staff might have liked to.

If the Noles are going to return to winning, Taggart needs time and patience. He can make things easier on himself by setting realistic expectations.