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Coach Taggart: Expect faster USF offense next season

 
Willie Taggart
Willie Taggart
Published Dec. 24, 2014

TAMPA — Seated in a leather chair before three local reporters in his second-floor office Tuesday, expectant father Willie Taggart announced that he and wife Taneshia's third child, due this summer, will be followed by another possible bundle of joy.

A revamped offensive package.

After totaling 33 offensive touchdowns the past two seasons in a power-based, West Coast attack, the Bulls plan to shake things up.

"I think you'll see more uptempo and going faster," Taggart said. "I think you'll see us spread out a little bit. You're gonna see a lot of different things about it, but not get too far away from what our guys understand and know what we do.

"We're gonna have a little bit of everything. It will be fun, I'll say that."

Taggart's revelation arrives two weeks after he dismissed both of his coordinators, a decision he said was solely his. Since then, he has hired a new defensive coordinator (Ole Miss linebackers coach Tom Allen) and co-offensive coordinators (former Purdue coach Danny Hope, Bulls quarterbacks coach David Reaves) and named himself the play-caller.

His next orders of business: finding a defensive backs coach (he says he's close on that), staging a strong finish to the recruiting season and traveling to a handful of spread-based programs to pick some brains.

"You hear the word spread, spread, spread," Taggart said. "People do a lot of the same things. They run a lot of the same formations that we run, they just do it fast.

"I just watched us last year. When we did score … is when we went fast and spread it out, and our guys didn't think much. They went and made plays and were having fun doing it. That was really eye-opening, like, 'Hey, let's make sure they do what they want to do.' "

An upgrade in production can't arrive soon enough. Another significant due date — on bowl eligibility — is looming.

Immediately after a season-ending 16-0 loss to UCF, athletic director Mark Harlan said USF is "too special" a school to not reach a bowl game. Since then, he and Taggart, 6-18 in his first two seasons, have met at length over virtually all of the program's facets.

As he enters a pivotal year both personally and professionally, Taggart says he feels no more pressure than when he was hired two Decembers ago.

"First of all, I think we have ourselves one hell of an athletic director. He calls it like he sees it and is honest in what he sees, and you can appreciate that," said Taggart, who returns 14 starters (six on offense) from last season's 4-8 team and expects no one to transfer.

"I think he's doing a great job. We talked about a lot of different things in where we can go and where we're at and where we need to go. I think we're all on the same page."

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.