10 college football coaches who were better off as big fish in little ponds

5. Willie Taggart

What would have happened had Willie Taggart never left South Florida in 2017? Or what would have happened if he never left Oregon for Florida State a year later? It felt like his confidence was shot after his two unsuccessful years at Florida State where he went 9-12 overall and was fired mid-season in year two.

After that Florida State stint, he went down the road to FAU and was just 15-18 overall and 11-11 in conference play before taking the Baltimore Ravens running backs coach job.

Before all of this, however, Taggart was one of the best Group of Five coaches in the nation, going 18-7 in his final two seasons at South Florida and making two straight bowl games at Western Kentucky. He was a program-builder, but never really got a chance to show that at Florida State and then he fizzled out at Florida Atlantic.

The veteran head coach probably should have never left South Florida (how could he have known?) but realistically he shouldn't have left Oregon for Florida State either which seemed to ruin his career.