DELL COMMENTARY: Taggart had hand in getting USF and WKU to bowl game

If Willie Taggart was an artist, the Miami Beach Bowl would be his Sistine Chapel.

That's not to say Taggart is Michelangelo. He didn't the paint the ceiling of the chapel and alter the course of art history.

But he did change the culture of the football programs at USF and Western Kentucky, and that is no small achievement.

Those two schools will meet Monday in the bowl game at Marlins Park in Miami, and the game provides a canvas for Taggart to present his work.

Taggart has come a long way from the kid who showed up as a spindly freshman at Manatee High in the early 1990s, looking more like a cross-country runner than the great quarterback he would become.

Taggart resurrected Western Kentucky three times: as a player, as offensive coordinator when the Hilltoppers won the NCAA I-AA national title in 2002, and as a head coach when he took over a team that was 2-22.

As a player, he started four years at WKU and had his number retired after setting 11 school records, He left as the all-time leading rushing quarterback in NCAA history.

However, Taggart's latest work might just be his best.

He inherited a broken program at USF three years ago and after two years of struggles, he has the Bulls in a bowl game at 8-4.

WKU is 11-2 and ranked 25th nationally by the AP.

Metaphorically speaking, Taggart is going to back to the future for this one. And he is taking some of the most important people in his life along with him in Manatee High's legendary

football coach, Joe Kinnan, and Palmetto High's standout player and former coach, Ray Woodie.

Both are USF assistants. Kinnan is senior offensive consultant in what might be described as a clandestine job with big responsibilities. Woodie is assistant head coach and coordinator of USF special teams, which rank among the best in the country.

"I am happy for Western and their success and where they're at, but I'm very happy and proud of the Bulls, of where we're at and where we're going," Taggart said. "(WKU) is my alma mater and it's different because of that relationship, but for me personally it's just keeping everything in perspective. Both schools have an opportunity to finish off their season in the right way."

This is Taggart's inaugural bowl game as a head coach. He coached WKU to its first bowl invitation, but left for USF before the game.

When Taggart arrived at USF, not many people realized had badly the program had fallen from the days of the Bulls' first coach, Jim Leavitt.

Taggart saw it immediately, but kept his feelings private. He knew the resurrection involved a cultural change that would take time.

"It's been a long time coming. It's been a time the wife and I, and the kids, have been waiting for," Taggart said. "Getting a job here, it's one thing they said. 'We've got to go to a bowl game,' and we're doing that. I am excited about doing that here at USF."

The Bulls finished the regular season winning seven of eight after starting 1-3. They were 2-10 and 4-8 in Taggart's first two years and a lot of people were calling for his head. Instead, those fans will enjoy USF's first bowl game since 2010.

"I didn't listen. I just did what I believed in, but you know it's out there. This program had a lot of success early and the fans wanted that," Taggart said.

There are a lot of reasons for the turnaround, but the biggest is the insertion of Quinton Flowers at quarterback. Taggart saw another Tommie Frazier in him and flew with it.

He might have said he saw another Willie Taggart in him, but Frazier was good enough. Those are two of the greatest quarterbacks in Manatee County history who went on to continued success in college. Frazier was a Heisman runner-up and Taggart was runner-up for the Walter Payton Award, annually given to the best player in NCAA Division I-AA (now called FCS).

Taggart has been an opportunist all his life, which is the reason he is the only person from Manatee County to become head coach of a major college football program.

Homecoming for QB, others

The bowl game will be a homecoming for Flowers and nine of his teammates who grew up in the Miami area.

"Your whole family can make the game. You're right there, it's not far away from home," Flowers said. "We played for one another and as we did that, you saw that we had a lot of success on the field. If we keep playing for each other, good things will happen."

Both teams can put points on the board, but USF appears to have the stronger defense. WKU is sixth nationally in passing (365.4 yards per game) and 10th in total offense (519.8 ypg). Quarterback Brandon Doughty, who Taggart recruited for WKU, leads the FBS with 45 touchdown passes. Flowers set a program record with 21 TD passes and is the Bulls' second-leading rusher behind Sarasota Booker product Marlon Mack.

Flowers ranks fourth nationally in rushing yards by a quarterback with 883, slightly behind Heisman finalist DeShaun Watson (887 yards in 13 games), and has 10 rushing TDs.

"We don't get caught up in all the statistics," Taggart said. "We just try to make sure we're good at what we do. That's been our thing all year long, is trying to be really good at being USF and being the best we can, no matter who we play.

"This is home and we are building something special here. We had a vision and a plan and most importantly patience."

Alan Dell, Herald sports writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter at @ADellSports.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "DELL COMMENTARY: Taggart had hand in getting USF and WKU to bowl game ."