WKU / Taggart

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 24, 2012

On the heels of 2-10 and 0-12 seasons in 2008 and 2009, WKU hired Taggart from Stanford.

Improved from 0-12 to 2-10 in 2010.

Improved from 2-10 to 7-5 in 2011.

Have begun 2012 with a 3-1 mark with wins over Kentucky and Southern Miss.

Since beginning the 2011 season 0-4, WKU has gone 10-2. And, those two losses were to...LSU in 2011 and Alabama this season.

I've got to admit, what Taggart has done in short order has been very impressive. He couldn't have had much more in the cupboard than we had when McCarney took over.

WKU plays both Arkansas State and Lousiana on the road. Those will be the games that decide the Sun Belt.

This weekend's Sun Belt slate will feature the top four contenders playing one another with FIU at Louisiana and WKU are Arkansas State.

Edited September 24, 2012 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

dahbeed · September 24, 2012

fake lonnie...we all knew what willie the player was made of. but he was just the running backs coach at stanford. i don't think anyone saw this turnaround this quick.

he has raided flarda so much i call us the west flarda hilltoppers. i believe we now have 31 recruits from the sunshine state. an occasional kid outta miami or lakeland or orlando but the majority out of his hometown of bradenton. add in the tampa st. pete area.

last year he brought on raymond woodie as an assistant coach. he's prolly in his 50's and was a high school legend as a coach down there. last year we had more flarda players than any other non flarda school.

he's installed the stanford west coast attack in an era where everyone is running a spread. when we lost to fcs isu last year i questioned if he was in over his head. we were using every timeout just to get plays in. but we clicked in the next game against asu even though we lost. we didn't lose another sun belt game the rest of the year.

everyone said we'd fall back due to the loss of rainey. this year's team is much better than last year's squad. jakes is the 19th rated qb in the country and playing like a 5th year senior.

antonio andrews....mr. kentucky his senior year is doing a bobby rainey imitation. i believe he's second in the country in all purpose yards as he's a hella receiver out of the backfield. uk didn't even offer andrews.

the kid i've been telling folks about is true freshman leon allen. he's 6'0 and 230 and better speed than rainey had.

our true strength lies in both lines. we've manhandled everyone's lines except bammer and i believe that one was a draw. anyone that knows football knows it all starts with your lines.

i hear we can go as high as a million per for him if we have a great season. but i suspect that won't be enough to keep him. i figure he's gone. i'd love to keep him one more year but that's kinda dreaming.

UNTFan23 · September 24, 2012

This weekend's Sun Belt slate will feature the top four contenders playing one another with FIU at Louisiana and WKU are Arkansas State.

Those are the 2 toughest picks this week in Sun Belt play. I need to do some more research to try to figure out who might win, especially since I want to keep in 3rd place in the GMG.com Pick-Ems contest.

Mean Green 93-98 · September 24, 2012

Taggart's recruiting has been lights out. In the time he has been at WKU, two years he has had the best class in the Belt per Rivals, and another time the #2 class. I don't know how you could say anybody is a better recruiting HC in the Belt. Not only that, he's showing now that he can win with the talent he's assembled.

Edited September 24, 2012 by Mean Green 93-98

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 24, 2012

dahbeed,

Congrats. Your guy really has the Hilltoppers going along well. There has to be some concern that schools up the chain will take notice and try to hire him away. Is the WKU administration doing anything to make his contract more lucrative? Or, is his loyaty to the alma mater strong enough to keep him there?

dahbeed · September 25, 2012

fake lonnie, they upped him from ~250 last year to around 485 this year to beat back memphis overtures. i hear rumors we could put together 1 million per if someone else comes calling. with the money the big boys throw around i doubt that would be enough. jack harbaugh basically adopted willie. jack had a tempestuous relationship at best here. he was all smiles saturday night when the stadium club was named after him but i'm not sure what direction he'd nudge willie with fatherly advice.

p.s. on a personal note....i'm a real lonnie.....that's my middle name so your posts have always amused me.

UNT90 · September 25, 2012

fake lonnie...we all knew what willie the player was made of. but he was just the running backs coach at stanford. i don't think anyone saw this turnaround this quick.

he has raided flarda so much i call us the west flarda hilltoppers. i believe we now have 31 recruits from the sunshine state. an occasional kid outta miami or lakeland or orlando but the majority out of his hometown of bradenton. add in the tampa st. pete area.

last year he brought on raymond woodie as an assistant coach. he's prolly in his 50's and was a high school legend as a coach down there. last year we had more flarda players than any other non flarda school.

he's installed the stanford west coast attack in an era where everyone is running a spread. when we lost to fcs isu last year i questioned if he was in over his head. we were using every timeout just to get plays in. but we clicked in the next game against asu even though we lost. we didn't lose another sun belt game the rest of the year.

everyone said we'd fall back due to the loss of rainey. this year's team is much better than last year's squad. jakes is the 19th rated qb in the country and playing like a 5th year senior.

antonio andrews....mr. kentucky his senior year is doing a bobby rainey imitation. i believe he's second in the country in all purpose yards as he's a hella receiver out of the backfield. uk didn't even offer andrews.

the kid i've been telling folks about is true freshman leon allen. he's 6'0 and 230 and better speed than rainey had.

our true strength lies in both lines. we've manhandled everyone's lines except bammer and i believe that one was a draw. anyone that knows football knows it all starts with your lines.

i hear we can go as high as a million per for him if we have a great season. but i suspect that won't be enough to keep him. i figure he's gone. i'd love to keep him one more year but that's kinda dreaming.

I think you gyuys manhandle ASU this week and open some eyes inside the conference.

But, then again, I predicted we would beat Troy 42-14, so take it FWIW.

(at least I got the 14 right).

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 26, 2012

From Pat Forde this week:

Willie Taggart (15). Base salary for the Western Kentucky coach: $475,000. Expect that to change when the bigger schools come after Taggart in a hurry at season's end. Since taking over an 0-12 Sun Belt program in 2010, Taggart has gone 2-10, then 7-5 and now is 3-1 with victories over Kentucky and Southern Mississippi. The Hilltoppers bludgeoned Southern Miss 42-17, racking up 560 offensive yards against one of the more accomplished mid-major programs. Taggart played under Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky and coached under his son Jim at Stanford. He brings a Harbaugh-esque level of confidence and charisma to the job.