TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Willie Taggart was born the year that Bobby Bowden took over as head coach at Florida State.
Now it's Taggart's turn to lead the Seminoles, succeeding the man who succeeded Bowden.
Taggart takes over for Jimbo Fisher, who resigned Friday to take the same job at Texas A&M.
The 41-year-old Florida native left Oregon after just one season for what he called his "dream job."
Just the third full-time head coach of the Seminoles since Bowden's first year in 1976, Taggart said he always grew up rooting for and wanting to play at FSU.
"I guess I wasn't good enough to get a scholarship to play here," Taggart said during his introductory news conference Wednesday.
Instead, he settled for Western Kentucky, where he was a standout quarterback and a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top offensive player from a Football Championship Subdivision school.
During his coaching stops at Stanford, where he was an assistant under Jim Harbaugh, South Florida, Oregon and his alma mater, Taggart always cheered for FSU. In fact, it wasn't until he got to USF that he found himself rooting against the Seminoles for the first time.
The Seminoles defeated USF 55-35 in Taggart's last year in Tampa.
Taggart recalled a conversation that he had with his brother -- "a die-hard 'Nole fan" -- before the 2016 game in Tampa.
"Sorry, I love you, but I can't go against my 'Noles," Taggart said his brother told him. "You gotta be kidding me."
Once called an "erector set," Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1950. As Florida State began to field a winning program (its last losing season was 1976) and the team's popularity grew, so did the stadium. A popular feature of the stadium in the 1980s that was lost to future expansion was the spirit spear, which measured the crowd decibel level. Doak S. Campbell Stadium donned its familiar brick faade in the early 1990s, about the time of Florida State's unprecedented success on the football field. The Seminoles won two national championships and compiled a 109-13-1 record in that decade alone. Florida State also went 10 years without a loss at home, owning a 54-game unbeaten streak from 1991-2001. The stadium topped out at 82,300, but construction of the new club seats caused capacity to be reduced to 79,560 in 2016.
Taggart said it was tough to leave Oregon, but he's appreciative that he's getting the chance "to fulfill a dream."
"All those years I wanted to be a 'Nole," Taggart said.
Now he is their leader.
Taggart has a 47-50 overall record as a coach, but he is known for turning around underachieving programs.
The Ducks were 7-5 in Taggart's lone season in Eugene.
Before taking the reins at Oregon, Taggart spent four seasons at South Florida. The Bulls doubled their win total in each of Taggart's first three years before their stellar 2016 season in which USF won 11 games (Taggart left before the bowl game) and finished ranked in the top 25 for the first time in program history.
In three seasons at Western Kentucky, Taggart took his alma mater from a two-win season in 2010 to consecutive seven-win seasons and the school's first bowl berth in 2012.
Chief Osceola and Renegade, Florida State University: The tradition of Chief Osceola planting a burning spear at midfield while riding his Appaloosa horse, Renegade, before every Florida State home game began in 1978. Conceived by Florida State alumnus Bill Durham, the pregame ritual of Osceola and Renegade is a reason for fans to get to their seats before kickoff. The tradition is so revered that the school fought the NCAA in 2005 after it added Florida State to a list of colleges whose sports teams used "hostile or abuse" Native American names and mascots.
Taggart said he had "a profound moment" during a conversation with his 16-year-old son while he was considering whether to uproot his family again in less than a year.
"He said, 'Dad, I know you're struggling with this decision and I know that's your dream job, and he said, 'You always tell me to chase my dreams and don't let anyone get in the way of it,'" Taggart said. "And he said, 'I don't think it's right for me or anyone else to stop you from chasing your dream.'"
Bowden and Fisher, who spent three seasons as Bowden's offensive coordinator before taking over in 2010, combined to win 398 games (on the field), 15 Atlantic Coast Conference championships and three national titles.
Taggart knows he has big shoes to fill. But he embraces the challenge.
"Right now it's great," Taggart said. "I'm still undefeated."
His dreams have come true.