New coordinator Bell thrilled to lead offense

TALLAHASSEE — New Florida State offensive coordinator Walt Bell admits he did not know much about his new boss.

But an opportunity to work at FSU was one he simply could not pass up.

“I don’t mean this as a slight to Coach [Willie] Taggart at all — I know that guy has scored a ton of points and his kids love him. And to me, that’s all that I really needed,” Bell said Sunday in his first interviews with media since taking the job in January.

“More importantly than that is it’s Florida State,” he continued.

“I don’t mean that as a slight to Coach Taggart at all — I used to run around my front yard and be Charlie Ward. There are six or seven places in the world that when they ask you to come, you just go, and this is one of them.”

Bell, who was offensive coordinator at Maryland for the past two seasons, says Taggart reached out to him via text messages on two occasions and he was offered the job in late December.

Bell left a recruiting trip in Atlanta, rented a car to drive to Tallahassee, stayed at a Red Roof Inn because other hotels in the area were occupied and reported to work at the Florida State offices the next morning.

Bell will not call plays as he has in his previous posts, but he is enthusiastic about his new role. He will also coach quarterbacks Deondre Francois, James Blackman, and Bailey Hockman as they vie for the starting job.

Taggart’s first impressions of Bell were confirmed after he interviewed for the position.

“I don’t think we had our entire staff there yet,” Taggart said. “But whoever was in the room, I think we all [were] impressed with him and felt like he’ll be a good fit for what we were doing.”

Florida State begins its preseason camp today.

’Noles to hit road

Taggart is taking a page out of friend and mentor Jim Harbaugh’s book.

The Seminoles football team will spend its second week of preseason camp at IMG Academy in Bradenton, one of the nation’s premier college preparatory boarding schools for athletics. They will train at the school from Aug. 12-16.

According to NCAA regulations, FSU is not permitted to publicize or promote preseason practices at IMG. So, FSU announced Sunday its intention to practice at an “off-campus site.”

Taggart, a Palmetto native and former USF head coach, will lead the Seminoles roughly 300 miles away from the FSU campus to IMG with hopes of further bolstering team comradery.

The practices will also be closed to the public and media.

“It’s going to be really important to our football team, and I’m looking forward to it,” Taggart said a day before the Seminoles begin fall camp on Monday.

Harbaugh, in his first season as Michigan coach, took the Wolverines to IMG for a week during spring practice March 2016 with those same intentions, gaining national exposure and media scrutiny in the process.