Yahoo Sports Florida State AD: We wouldn't go after Urban Meyer if Willie Taggart was 'hit by a bus tomorrow'
It seems safe to believe that Florida State has no interest in pursuing the services of former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer if the team parts ways with Willie Taggart.
Florida State athletic director David Coburn made quite the, uh, impassioned statement when he was asked about Meyer by the Tallahassee Democrat in an interview Tuesday. Meyer’s name was floated by a football website as a possible candidate at FSU if Taggart was fired at the end of the season.
Coburn said in the interview that there was a lot of “complete nonsense floating around out there right now” and that apparently includes the idea of Meyer ever coaching at Florida State.
"If Coach were hit by a bus tomorrow, we would not target Coach Meyer, period," Coburn told the Democrat. "I say that with all due respect to Coach Meyer, but we would not target Steve Spurrier either."
I think we can all hope that Taggart is not hit by a bus anytime soon. Or ever, for that matter.
Florida State lost to Wake Forest on Saturday
FSU dropped to 3-4 in 2019 and 8-11 in Taggart’s tenure after a 22-20 loss to Wake Forest in Week 8. The Seminoles had two chances to take the lead after what turned out to be Wake Forest’s game-winning field goal. But the first possession came up empty after a long field goal went wide and then QB James Blackman fumbled the Seminoles’ final two snaps of the game.
In addition to Wake Forest, Florida State has also lost to Clemson, Virginia and Boise State. After the Boise State game, which came in Week 1, Taggart wondered aloud if Florida State players had hydration issues.
Taggart came to Florida State ahead of the 2018 season after spending one season at Oregon. The Seminoles went 5-7 a year ago and missed a bowl game for the first time since Bobby Bowden’s sixth season in 1981.
Coburn noted in the interview that the school has had no discussions with Taggart’s agents. FSU should be favored in its next four games until the season finale against Florida on Nov. 30.
Meyer working at Fox
After he retired from his post at Ohio State following the 2018 season, Meyer is spending the 2019 season in the studio as an analyst for Fox. He’s been a fantastic addition to Fox’s coverage with informed and educational analysis, especially about X’s and O’s.
Meyer’s tenure at Fox is his second stint in the TV world. He spent a season at ESPN between leaving Florida for health issues and joining Ohio State.
Meyer said when he retired from Ohio State that he believed that he was done coaching. But given that he’s already done television before getting back into the game, there are some who refuse to believe Meyer is done coaching.
And because of that, he’s been mentioned as a target at USC if the school fires Clay Helton at the end of the season. Meyer also said Friday on Fox Sports 1 that he would “absolutely” listen to the Dallas Cowboys if they hypothetically called him about their coaching job. Those comments came two days before the Cowboys throttled the Eagles to move to 4-3 on the season.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports
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