CHARLOTTE -- New FSU head coach Willie Taggart took the stage moments ago at the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, and the Seminole's coach had some nice praise for division rival Clemson and Dabo Swinney.
Taggart, who recently invited Bobby Bowden back for a practice during the spring, is doing things the right way. It was Bowden's first visit to a practice in nine years and from the outside looking in it seems he is embracing the elder Bowden, recognizing his impact on Florida State football and the culture that it can create.
Oddly, the Atlantic Division's newest head coach stopped by Clemson a year ago. Just after taking the job at Oregon, Taggart was on a mission to learn more about the Clemson program and how Swinney created Clemson into what it is today.
Asked if he knew we would have been in the ACC a year later, Taggert stated, "I wouldn't say I would have paid a lot more attention. I paid a lot of attention while I was there."
A year before that, Taggart met with Clemson offensive coordinator Jeff Scott but wanted to meet the man who started it all while he was in town.
"Coach Swinney has done a great job at Clemson. I loved how he ran his program," Taggart noted. "I had a chance to meet with his offensive coordinator the year before and was really impressed with him. And I think after meeting Coach Scott, I was like, I want to meet Coach Swinney and see how all this thing originated."
Getting the chance, Taggart met with Swinney and picked his brain over the culture that has been created in Clemson.
"They've done a great job over the years, and once you go there and you get around the program, and you see the environment, you see the culture, you can understand why they're having a lot of success at Clemson."
For Taggart, culture ultimately became the reason for the visit.
"That was the purpose of going there, and to kind of -- for me personally, just as a young coach and moving his way up, kind of clarify some things to me that we're already doing it the right way where we're at and continuing to do things the way we're doing it, we'll get to where we all want to go."
