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Willie Taggart, Florida's head coach, greets supporters after the spring game.(Photo: Melina Myers, USA TODAY Sports)
Three games in his coaching career at Florida State, head coach Willie Taggart is looking for answers.
He began his press conference Monday after Saturday's defeat in Syracuse with a prepared statement.
"Our fans have every right to expect a lot from our program and I can assure you that no one is waiting for me," said Taggart.
"Our fans, students, alumni, former players, deserve a team that plays better than we have had this season."
The loss of Syracuse was the next step in what was an unbearable beginning of the Taggart era in Tallahassee.
The Seminoles went for a brace and had to come back in the fourth quarter to defeat FCS Samford's opponent in their only win.
Against the FBS teams, the FSU has an average of five points per game, which is the worst of the 130 FBS programs.
The lack of improvement of the FSU through three games has plunged the series of winning seasons from the FSU – far from the NCAA record to 41 – in a serious doubt.
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"We are proud of our football history and tradition at FSU and we have the torch to continue the torch," said Taggart.
"Our program has great young men who are determined to get it fixed and are determined to reverse the situation and a group of coaches who are looking at everything, including ourselves."
Taggart said in his statement that he had watched the Syracuse game five times in less than 48 hours since the end of the match at the time of his press conference.
His attack has not yet been synchronized this season, but the Seminoles' attack has had its worst performance of the season against Orange.
The Syracuse defense that allowed 9.7 yards per game against Michigan West allowed the FSU to reach 240 yards on 60 games (4.0 yards per game).
"We have spent the last 48 hours as a team identifying areas for improvement, evaluating ourselves, doing what we do, and working hard in practice with a renewed goal," said Taggart.
"I'm sure we'll get there, but all the words and the coaching shots that we need to do better will not help us play better, which translates into coaching.
"It's up to me and our assistants to do it right and we'll do it, I believe in this team and I believe this team will succeed."
The reaction of FSU fans on social media was immediate and quite fierce.
Several GoFundMe readers attempting to raise funds for the Taggart takeover were created on Saturday night.
"I'm busy doing it by not being on (social networks) .It's pretty simple for me," said Taggart about the critics.
"You understand when you do not play well, people will say negative things.It is part of it.If we do not want them to say negative things, we have to play better."
Under Jimbo Fisher, members of the football team have all agreed not to use social media from the beginning of the fall camp until the end of the regular season.
Taggart allows its players to use social media during the season and some of the players have responded negatively to fans on social networks.
Taggart talked about how he wants his team to tackle these issues.
"With our players, it's the same thing.We tell them the same thing.It's part of the world we live in. Everyone has an opinion.You can not let the opinion of everyone influence what you do. " Taggart said.
"We play badly, they will say bad things and you can not get upset, we should be angry at ourselves, we want them to say good things about us so we will play well and they Our guys understand They understand that we have to take care of our business if that is what we want.
"For me, they are upset because they know we can play better than we do and we do not play the way we are supposed to, they are absolutely right to be upset and we have to change. we can not ask them to change their thinking, we can win their support and earn their respect by the way we play. "
Despite all the adversity the FSU is facing at this time, Taggart ended his press conference with the same positivity with which he started.
"I believe in this football team," Taggart said.
"I think they'll do it right and we'll all do it right."
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