Taggart takes advice from son before joining Seminoles

3 Aggies named 1st-team all-league

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — As soon as Willie Taggart walked onto a stage to be introduced as Florida State’s new football coach Wednesday, he immediately walked right off the other end to embrace his mother, Gloria, sitting nearby in a garnet Seminoles shirt.

In the midst of thanking many people who helped Taggart, 41, reach this new high point in his coaching career, he also thanked his late father, John, who died in August, for “putting a good word in” for him to move back closer to home to be around his family.

Perhaps the most profound moment that sealed the deal for Taggart to leave Oregon after just one season for the vacant Florida State coaching job was a conversation with his 16-year-old son, Willie Taggart Jr., on Sunday night.

“He said, ‘Dad, I know you’re struggling with this decision and I know it’s your dream job,’ ” recalled Taggart, a Palmetto native who coached four seasons at USF. “‘You always tell me to chase my dreams and don’t let anybody get in the way of it.’ … He said, ‘I don’t want to leave, Dad, but if you’re going to chase your dreams, then I’m going to ride with you.’

“And that meant a lot to me. It was like me talking to him. It

was like he was my father, talking to me.”

NEW MEXICO STATE: Receiver Jaleel Scott, defensive end Cedric Wilcots II and linebacker Dalton Herrington were named first-team All-Sun Belt Conference on Wednesday.

Running back Larry Rose III and safety Ron LaForce landed on the second team, quarterback Tyler Rogers and defensive back Shamad Lomax on the third team, and receiver O.J. Clark, linebacker Terrill Hanks, defensive lineman Roy Lopez and receiver Anthony Muse were named honorable mention.

LaForce, a junior from Bayou La Batre, Ala., who intercepted two passes in a win over New Mexico in his debut, was tabbled Newcomer of the Year.

It is the last year in the Sun Belt before going independent for the Aggies, who face Utah State on Dec. 29 in Tucson at the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl.

UNM: Vince Natali, UNM’s football recruiting coordinator the past two years, has resigned. The news, confirmed on Wednesday by UNM, was first reported by footballscoop. com.

Natali, a former Lobo offensive lineman, was hired in April 2016 after the resignation of Josh Sternquist.

UTEP: Dana Dimel, the offensive coordinator at Kansas State and a former head coach at Wyoming and Houston, will be introduced today as the Miners’ new head coach, the El Paso Times reports.

His hire marks a quick turnaround from the hiring of Jim Senter as athletic director on Nov. 23 and his introduction five days later.

ENMU: Running back Kamal Cass of Clovis became a threetime All-American after being named to the the AFCA’s first team. The senior led the Lone Star Conference in rushing in each of the last three seasons.

ARKANSAS: SMU’s Chad Morris was named head coach, ending nearly two weeks of uncertainty following Bret Bielema’s firing moments after the season ended. The 49-yearold Morris inherits a program in disarray, though his arrival — along with the hiring earlier in the week of new athletic director Hunter Yurachek — represents a fresh start for a program desperately in need of it.

Morris agreed to a six-year contract worth $3.5 million annually.

RICE: Mike Bloomgren has been hired as head coach at Rice. Bloomgren agreed to a five-year contract with the Owls after spending last season as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Stanford.

COACH OF YEAR: Scott Frost has been named the 2017 Home Depot Coach of the Year for his part in leading UCF football to a 12-0 record just two years after finishing 0-12 under the previous administration.