Bridging past and present

New FSU coach Willlie Taggart connects with Bobby Bowden

TALLAHASSEE — New coach Willie Taggart said it was “really awesome” for him to hear Florida State’s record-breaking spring game crowd cheer for Bobby Bowden last week.

The ovation for Bowden was the final touch on Taggart’s efforts this spring to bridge the gap between the program’s past and present early in his tenure.

Taggart’s work has been overwhelmingly embraced and applauded by significant figures in the Florida State’s past.

Mark Richt – the Miami coach who played quarterback for the Hurricanes, but began his coaching career under Bowden at FSU – shared the same sentiment during Thursday’s spring ACC coaches’ teleconference.

“We all know that Florida State wouldn’t be where they are without Coach Bobby Bowden. He was the difference maker in a program that was struggling, quite frankly. He brought Florida State to national prominence, and the reason why they’re still there is the foundation he built,” Richt said.

“He should be back, and he should be around. I applaud Coach Taggart for doing that. It’s the right thing to do, and I’m glad to see it.”

Richt, a graduate assistant at FSU from 1985-88 and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach from 1990-2000, did not want to speculate why Bowden has kept his dis-

tance from the program.

Bowden admittedly said he did not want former coach Jimbo Fisher to think he was looking over his shoulder when Fisher held the post from 2010-17.

When Taggart first met Bowden, 88, at his home in late February, the new coach quickly extended an olive branch to the former coach. Taggart told Bowden he wanted him to look over his shoulders.

On April 4, before his spring game appearance, Bowden visited the FSU campus and watched his first Seminoles practice since retiring in 2009.

Richt is surely happy to see Bowden back.

“I know if I was at a school for 30-something years, and then retired, if you think somehow or another you might be a distraction, that might cross your mind to say the new coach needs the players to respond to him. That could’ve been it,” Richt said of Bowden.

“But I really don’t know other than he wasn’t there, and now he is, and that’s awesome.”

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney first met Taggart last spring when Taggart and his offensive staff at Oregon visited the Clemson campus.

Swinney was not aware of Taggart’s move of reaching out to Bowden, but he also applauded the gesture.

“I think that’s pretty smart – I don’t know why you would not,” Swinney said with a laugh.

“When you think of Florida State, you’re always going to think of Bobby Bowden – forever. Just like when you think of Alabama, you think of Bear Bryant – and that’s always going to be the case. And certainly, Nick Saban has carved his own identity, but I promise you if Coach Bryant was alive today, Nick Saban has him over there.

“… I don’t really know what you’re referencing to – but I’m not surprised at all if [Taggart has] reached out to Coach Bowden and embraced him, and tried to get him involved in the program. I think that’s a very smart move.”

SAFID DEEN/STAFF Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, left, watched the Seminoles practice earlier this month. It was Bowden's first football practice since retiring in 2009, he said.