Defensive coordinators at Florida State will forever be compared to Mickey Andrews.

Andrews coached under legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden for 26 years from 1984-2009, and produced some of the best defenses and defensive players in college football history.

Even after his retirement, Andrews has stuck around the FSU program, and is starting to get to know new coach Willie Taggart.

"I met him the day of the press conference and spoke with him a short while," Andrews told the Tallahassee Democrat.

"Then I was out at practice on Tuesday. Coach (Jim) Gladden and I had a short visit with him. I’m impressed with what I see."

Taggart is a major departure from the previous coaching style of Jimbo Fisher, but Andrews compares coaches to professional golfers with the way different coaching styles work.

"None of their swings look the same and yet they can all play golf at the highest level," Andrews said.

"It’s the same way with coaches. Some people have success by encouragement. Some people are just downright hard-nosed where it’s getting kids to play hard and fight on every play in practice or the off-season program."

Fisher was a screamer.

If you walked by the practice fields during practice, you were guaranteed to hear him getting after at least one player during that time.

Now you hear music coming out of practice instead of all the screaming.

"I need some juice too," Taggart said.

"I can't be bored on the first day it was kind of dead, and it was hard to watch. I needed it more than they did. But it was great to see the difference the next practice just how they were flying around.

"It seemed like they were having a little fun flying around, but more importantly, it seemed like they were enjoying practice. It's crazy how something that small can make a difference."

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But Andrews also noted that when it came time to be disciplined, Taggart was able to flip that switch.

It was all about striking a balance with him.

"From what I understand, he’s a demanding guy," Andrews said.

"From what I can see, coach Willie is a guy that understands what it takes to be successful, and yet he’s not a holler guy. It’s just a whole different set up."

Andrews played wide receiver and defensive back at Alabama from 1961-1964 under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

So he has first-hand experience of the coaching styles of two of the greatest coaches in college football history.

"I had an opportunity to play under coach Bryant and then coach under coach Bowden for 26 years," Andrews said.

"They weren’t even close the way they coach or the way they communicated. But when you go right down to the bottom line, they were about accountability, effort, intensity, and toughness. I see that in coach Taggart. I think we’ve got ourselves a mighty good football coach."