Commentary | Commend USF head coach Willie Taggart in wake of killing of former football player
TAMPA
Early Sunday morning South Florida football coach Willie Taggart made a phone call every coach dreads.
Then, after telling the parents of Elkino Watson that their son was killed outside of nightclub in Tampa's Ybor City district, Taggart met with his players in an another emotional encounter.
"Our guys were crushed. They were hurt bad, and as a coach and a father figure, there is no plan to make it go on a smooth path," Taggart said. "We've just got to lean on each other and stay together. But to see how beat up they were."
Watson played for USF in 2014, but remained close to the program and was behind the bench in the Bulls' victory over Florida A&M on Saturday night.
On his American Athletic Conference call Monday in answer to a question, he said Ybor City would be off limits to his players.
It ignited a firestorm.
USF athletic director Mark Harlan received a phone call from an influential businessman in Ybor City and soon afterward declared none of the USF players would be banned from that area.
Taggart, the former Manatee High quarterback great who grew up under migrant farm workers in Manatee County, was suddenly a target. Comments appeared in the media from business owners critical of his remarks.
In his press conference on Tuesday, Taggart's eyes were red, and his usual jovial manner was subdued. With a cracked voice at times he tried to answer more questions.
He was just trying to keep his players safe and odds are every parent of every one of his players was glad he issued his initial directive.
Taggart said the question surprised him, and he didn't answer in a way he probably should have.
The 23 year-old Watson was stabbed to death outside the Orpheum nightclub in Ybor City. Reports said the incident spilled over from an altercation that began inside the club at about 3 a.m.
Taggart is not a politician. He is a just a coach who wears his emotion on his sleeves and wants to protect his players. In his role as AD, Harlan has a different agenda, though he claimed otherwise on Tuesday.
You never want to offend boosters and parts of the community, but where is the line drawn?
Taggart backed off his Ybor City comments Tuesday, and Harlan insisted everything was good between him and his head football coach, though the perception in the community might be different.
At the press conference, Harlan seemed to be walking a tightrope trying to appease his popular coach and the players while caving in to the business community in Ybor City.
A legitimate question is whether Harlan should've given Taggart an opportunity to amend his original statement before the AD publicly reversed him.
"It's a fair point, and I think we talked about it," Harlan said. "But at the end of the day, it was something that I was driving and the way I run this department. I felt I needed to correct the record and do it quickly."
Harlan admitted that he learned about Taggart's comments after he received an email from Richard Gonzmart, an Ybor city businessman and prominent USF booster, but insisted it did not influence his decision.
"This is a fundamental belief that I've had. We work at a public institution, and banning things is not the way you teach anybody anything," Harlan said
Taggart said on Tuesday he agreed with his athletic director. But we should be careful here. If players still go to Ybor City and another tragic incident occurs, does that exonerate Taggart and put his critics in an unfavorable light?
Taggart has no agenda other than to make sure his players are safe and stay out of harm's way during off hours.
He should be applauded and not attacked. His critics should show some compassion and understand the circumstances he was in when he answered the Ybor City question.
"I should've been more specific about what i was saying. Ybor is a great place, and I have taken my wife and my boys there," Taggart said. "Banning is not making the situation better, but teaching them how to handle things and get out of certain situations -- all of our guys have to understand to know to walk away because those things can happen anywhere so no offense to anyone and any place."
Harlan called his relationship with Taggart very strong and complimented the coach and his staff for a doing a "remarkable job" in a very trying situation."
"If there is an establishment in town or a place that is not safe based on history or based on security, that is a whole different matter than a city or region of a town," Harlan said. "We are grieving and have been going through that ever since our phones collectively rang Sunday morning. I am real proud of coach and the rest of the staff and how they've been working with our young people."
Alan Dell, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports.
This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Commentary | Commend USF head coach Willie Taggart in wake of killing of former football player ."