FSU yesterday fired football coach Willie Taggart less than two years after hiring him, and the school "will owe" Taggart just over $18M by "firing him in November," according to a front-page piece by Wayne McGahee III of the TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT. Taggart had "more than four years remaining on his contract and will receive 85% of his remaining salary in compensation." Despite the large buyout, FSU "had to make the call to move on from Taggart." FSU was 9-12 under Taggart following Saturday's 27-10 home loss to Miami, and fans "have stopped coming to games." The football program is "losing money because of the product on the field," and it was determined that money -- "and the money FSU would likely have lost in the future -- outweighed Taggart's buyout" (TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT, 11/4). ESPN's Mark Schlabach cited sources as saying that FSU has raised about $20M "in private donations to buy out what was left of Taggart's contract." However, one FSU official "denied that the money was raised" for the buyout (ESPN.com, 11/3).
NO OTHER CHOICE: WARCHANT.com's Corey Clark wrote FSU President John Thrasher "felt there was 'no choice' but to make a change" after considering the impact of both "season-ticket sales for 2020 and beyond" and booster money. The on-field product on Saturday, combined with Doak Campbell Stadium being "not even close to capacity, again, ... was the absolute final straw" in making the decision (WARCHANT.com, 11/3). USA TODAY's George Schroeder notes the average attendance at the 79,560-seat Doak Campbell Stadium this year has "dropped to 54,213, the lowest in more than 30 years." The total payout when combining Taggart's buyout with that for assistant coaches will be around $22M and "hiring the next coaching staff probably pushes the total outlay to $30 million." However, after doing a "cost-benefit analysis, the Seminoles couldn’t afford not to make a change" (USA TODAY, 11/4).
