Is Willie Taggart really ready for Florida State

Goodbye, Jimbo.

Hello, Willie?

Say it ain't so. I'm talking about both.

It's still hard to believe that Jimbo Fisher will pack up his whistle, playbook and resume with a national championship and Heisman Trophy winner and head off to Texas A&M. We always thought Jimbo would be at Florida State forever, just like Coach Bowden. If Jimbo ever did leave, it would be for LSU or Alabama. Maybe the NFL. Not Texas A&M.

Texas A&M? Really?

How is this happening? Why leave, Jimbo? Why let him leave, FSU? None of this makes any sense.

Florida State is a destination job, not a job you take on your way to a place like Texas A&M. FSU is going to find out that you can't do much better than a guy like Jimbo. About the same time, Jimbo is going to find out that there aren't many places better to coach than FSU. And Texas A&M isn't one of them.

Jimbo should be in Tallahassee. But egos got in the way and feelings got hurt and now both parties are acting like a couple of spoiled brats marching off in opposite directions with arms folded and yelling, "Good!''

This is anything but good. For either side.

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Remember this moment. If Jimbo leaves, FSU might never be the same. It might never be this good again. A lot will depend on who would replace Jimbo.

The name that keeps coming up is Willie Taggart. You remember Willie. He fixed USF after Skip Holtz ran that program into the ground. That got him a job at Oregon, where he just wrapped up a 7-5 regular season.

So can Willie fix an FSU program that suddenly finds itself at a crossroads?

Call me skeptical. Call it a gut feeling. I just don't know that he's ready for Florida State.

Look, I like Willie as a guy. During his time at USF, I co-hosted a radio show and Taggart was a guest every week during football season. Win or lose, in good times and bad, he was friendly, cooperative and honest. He used to close every interview with a line that has become one of my favorite all-time lines:

"Have a great day if you want to.''

I love that. It says that you are in control of your own happiness, that you decide how you're going to live your life.

And Taggart certainly has done a lot with his. He was a football star down the road in Bradenton. He learned how to coach working with the Harbaughs, a royal family of coaching. He made enough noise at little Western Kentucky to land the USF job. And that job got him the Oregon job.

But let's not forget how USF almost went off the cliff with Taggart in charge. I'm typing this column into the same computer that also holds another column written Oct. 10, 2015. That column was about Taggart being fired, which assuredly would have happened if USF had lost to Syracuse that day. But USF won. The column never ran. He won six of the next seven, went to a bowl game and saved his job.

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Then came a stunning 11-2, the best season USF has ever had.

I still wonder how Taggart would be as a coach if quarterback Quinton Flowers had never been born.

Then again, Taggart gets to take credit for recruiting Flowers to play quarterback, which no one else was willing to do. He also gets credit for beating Syracuse when his job was in jeopardy, as well as leading USF to an 11-2 record last season, as well as pointing Oregon in the right direction this season.

Yet it still seems like Taggart has risen too far too fast. The bulk of his resume is about last year's record in a small conference, and shouldn't we be cautious about any coach who hangs his career on, basically, one lightning-in-a-bottle season in the American Athletic Conference?

We've seen him take a wobbly program and turn it into a respectable one. But can he take a good program and make it great? It's not easy to win 11 games in a Power Five conference and play for national titles. That will be expected at FSU.

There is reason for optimism, starting with the fact that Taggart is known as a heck of a recruiter, especially in this state. Getting talent is half the battle in college football. But the other half is coaching on Saturdays, dealing with obnoxious boosters and unreasonable fans. That's the part that gives me pause.

I'm not saying he can't do it, but I am saying that I'm not sure he can. And when you're talking about an elite program such as Florida State, aren't you supposed to be sure?

Maybe he's the best of available coaches. Lane Kiffin has baggage. Justin Fuente hasn't really done a whole lot more than Taggart has. Kevin Sumlin and Charlie Strong might be too old for FSU's tastes, although I like both of those coaches. Maybe Taggart is the best of the bunch.

Then again, I think I have the perfect candidate for FSU: Jimbo Fisher.

Think he would leave Texas A&M?

Contact Tom Jones at tjones@tampabay.com. Follow @tomwjones.