New FSU football coach Willie Taggart gives a chop to the fans while sitting between Stan and Ramona Wilcox at Wednesday's men's basketball game. (Gene Williams / Warchant.com)

It was around mid-day Friday that former Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher gave university president John Thrasher his resignation.

Four days later, the Seminoles reached a contract agreement with Fisher’s replacement. On the fifth day, Willie Taggart was in Tallahassee. After introducing Taggart to the media and public at a press conference on Wednesday, FSU athletics director Stan Wilcox described the search for Fisher’s replacement as “fast and thorough.” The fast part was obvious. But how thorough could a coaching search really be if took place over the span of roughly 100 hours? As it turns out, very thorough -- because the search actually encompassed far more than those four days. In some regard, it could be described as years in the making. But in its simplest form, it was the culmination of weeks’ worth of groundwork, three days of vetting and interviewing candidates, and more than 24 hours of back-and-forth negotiations with Taggart’s high-powered agent, Jimmy Sexton. Through interviews with several people involved in the search, primarily Wilcox and Thrasher, Warchant.com takes a behind-the-scenes look at the entire hiring process: When the search begin, who all was involved, how many candidates were considered, how long the negotiations lasted and much more. Here’s how it all went down:

Laying the groundwork

Well before it became clear that Fisher was seriously considering leaving Florida State for Texas A&M, Wilcox began laying the preliminary groundwork for what would end up being a whirlwind, four-day search.

Wilcox figured this time would come eventually. During Fisher’s first seven seasons as head coach, he already had been a prime candidate for jobs at Texas, LSU (twice) and other major college programs. So, once FSU’s administration caught wind that Texas A&M might be looking to replace head coach Kevin Sumlin and that Fisher would be high on the school’s list, Wilcox began the early stages of finding a replacement. At the time, FSU officials didn’t know if Fisher would be offered the job or how seriously he might be interested. But they knew they couldn't wait. “You’ve got to be prepared,” Wilcox said. The first order of business for FSU’s fifth-year athletics director was to examine the market. He researched which coaches already were available, which ones might be willing to consider a move and which ones might be a good fit for Florida State. As a longtime proponent of improving diversity in college athletics, he also made sure to at least consider potential minority candidates that might be overlooked by other Power Five programs. To narrow his focus, Wilcox began considering a “hierarchy of needs” for the Seminoles’ football program. “What are the things that have been lacking?” he said. “What are the things that maybe haven’t been addressed by the current regime?” Wilcox then met with FSU President John Thrasher to go over his initial pool of candidates. And Thrasher then brought Edward Burr, chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, up to speed. Together, they assessed a number of possibilities: * What could they offer Fisher to stay if he indeed received an offer from the Aggies; * What would be their tipping point in terms of salary or other possible demands; * If they couldn’t match Texas A&M’s offer financially, what other incentives could they provide to entice Fisher to stay? At this point, FSU had no concrete information that Fisher would consider leaving -- he was in the first year of an eight-year contract through the 2024 season -- but Wilcox, Thrasher and Burr all agreed it was a legitimate concern. And Wilcox was elated to hear that both Thrasher and Burr would be willing to participate closely in a potential search, should the need arise. “That helps the process go faster,” Wilcox said. “If they’re there and hearing what I’m hearing -- and we all hear the same things and agree on the same person -- that makes it all happen a lot quicker.”

Trimming the list

Although he had never before conducted a search for a head football coach, Wilcox had been preparing for this moment for more than 25 years -- since he made the transition from the legal world to a career in college athletics in 1989.

During his early years with the NCAA, the Big East Conference and in leadership roles with the Black Coaches Association, Wilcox paid very close attention to the hiring processes of many universities. He was particularly interested in helping those schools diversify their pools of candidates in a profession dominated by white men. And his work in that area gave him an inside look at how other universities conducted their searches. Drawing upon that experience, Wilcox divided his initial pool of candidates into three areas -- current head coaches; head coaches who were not currently employed but had been out of the business for only a year or two; and offensive and defensive coordinators who could be ready for head coaching jobs. Wilcox estimates there were about four or five names in each of the three categories, so maybe 12 to 14 in all. He then met with Thrasher and Burr to trim the list to the five or six strongest candidates. *ALSO SEE: 15 things we learned during Willie Taggart's introduction FSU's efforts really ramped up in mid-November after a report from USA Today quoted two unnamed sources as saying the Aggies were planning to make a run at Fisher once they fired Sumlin at the end of the season. Sumlin wouldn’t be let go for another 12 days, but Wilcox already was surging ahead with his research. FSU also hired a search firm, Collegiate Sports Associates, to speed up the vetting process -- checking coaches' backgrounds, looking for potential red flags and identifying other concerns. There was no time to waste. While conducting a quick coaching search would be desirable under any circumstances, Wilcox knew it would be more important than ever this year because the NCAA had recently approved a new early signing period for football on Dec. 20-22. That meant if Fisher left following the regular-season finale on Dec. 2, a new coach might have just days to salvage the recruiting class. “We knew we had to be fast and thorough,” Wilcox said.

Go time

Fisher’s resignation would not become official until last Friday afternoon, but FSU officials already knew they wouldn’t be able to convince him to stay in Tallahassee. So on that Thursday, with the help of the search firm, they began reaching out to a half-dozen candidates.

They started by letting each school know they would be calling. “My philosophy is that I want to treat people like I want to be treated,” Wilcox said. “Before we would call anybody, I would talk to the athletic director of that university and basically ask for permission.” After each athletics director gave Wilcox permission -- and they all did -- the search firm contacted the coaches and/or their agents to see if they would have interest in becoming the next head football coach at Florida State. Not everyone did. At least two declined because either the timing wasn’t right or they were content in their current positions. A group of about three or four -- Wilcox would not confirm the exact number -- agreed to interview for the position. With the help of the search firm's president, Todd Turner, a group of four FSU officials (Wilcox, Thrasher, Burr and Senior Associate Athletics Director Jim Curry) then devised a plan for conducting those interviews as discreetly and quickly as possible. “We’re trying to not let anything get out publicly and disrupt anybody else’s season,” Wilcox said. “You’re concerned about that coach and that school -- their players. You always try not to disturb another team’s season.” Once Fisher tendered his resignation on Friday, FSU's search kicked into high gear. While taking time out for their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon against Louisiana-Monroe, the Seminoles would conduct at least three interviews in different parts of the country over the next 72 hours. At least one of those interviews had to be handled over the phone because of scheduling constraints, but the rest were conducted in person.

Last but not least

FSU officials were impressed with each of the interviews, but the last one stood out from the rest.

Willie Taggart, a Florida native who was finishing up his first season at Oregon after four years at South Florida and three at Western Kentucky, had been on the Seminoles’ radar for quite some time. Wilcox remembers first taking note during Taggart’s successful stint at Western Kentucky. He became more interested when the young head coach was hired at USF and began enjoying success there. The Seminoles actually played a home-and-home series against Taggart and the Bulls in 2015 and 2016, and USF was competitive early in both games. “There was a big buzz around him,” Thrasher said of Taggart's time in Tampa. The fact that Taggart then was hired by Oregon at just 40 years of age did not go unnoticed by FSU's top brass. The administrators loved everything about Taggart’s resume -- the fact that his career was on an upward trajectory, that he was young and energetic, that he was a great recruiter, and that he had a proven track record when it came to signing players from South Florida. The Seminoles' reference checks only made them more interested. When Wilcox called a friend who works at USF to get some insights, that person offered a glowing recommendation: “He’s the best coach I ever worked with. He’s really sharp.” Thrasher heard similarly strong comments when he reached out to USF President Judy Genshaft. Wilcox’s feelings grew even stronger when he spoke to Taggart on the phone over the weekend. But it wasn’t until FSU officials met with Taggart in person on Monday in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- where the then-Oregon coach was making a recruiting visit -- that they knew they found their man. During a lengthy meeting, the FSU contingent spoke with Taggart as a group and then individually, and the Seminoles could not have been more impressed. “When you added everything together, it was, ‘OK, we have to have this guy,’” Wilcox said. “We have to have him.” Said Thrasher: “I felt really good about where we were. I felt good about his philosophy. I felt exceptionally good about how he feels about relating to young people today. That, to me, is very important -- both from the academic standpoint as well as their success on the football field.” Less than 72 hours after they started reaching out to candidates, the Seminoles were ready to begin contract negotiations. They told Taggart right then that they wanted to make a deal, which initially seemed to surprise the 41-year-old coach. FSU understood it wouldn’t be easy to lure Taggart away from Oregon. “We knew that we weren’t going to be able to get into a bidding war with (Nike founder and Oregon supporter) Phil Knight,” Wilcox said. But the ‘Noles also figured they had some home-field advantages. Taggart grew up in Palmetto, Fla., about 300 miles south of Tallahassee. He was a lifelong Florida State fan and was very familiar with the program. And given the passing of his father this past summer, there likely would be a desire to be closer to his mother, who still lived in his hometown. “The stars just really aligned for Willie, and they aligned for us,” Wilcox said. “Willie knew it. We knew it. Then it came down to working with his agent, Jimmy Sexton, and finally coming up with a signed document.”

Non-stop negotiations

After the meeting in Arizona, Taggart returned home Monday night to Oregon to talk things over his wife, Taneshia, and family. He was certainly interested in the job, but he felt bad about leaving the Ducks after just one season. He also was concerned about uprooting his family yet again – it would be the second time in 12 months and the third time in five years.

There was no decision to make just yet, however. The negotiations would go on for more than 24 hours. The FSU contingent felt strongly all along that Taggart would like to take the job, but they also knew that Sexton would push hard to make sure his client was well-compensated. “You’re always concerned until you get the signature,” Wilcox said. The salary would end up being $5 million annually, about 10 percent less than Fisher was making, and the contract would run for six years. So the total value of the deal would be more than $10 million less than the Seminoles had committed to Fisher. It would be about $10 million more than the reported five-year deal being offered by Oregon following Taggart’s first season. Most of the details in the negotiations were handled by the attorneys for each side, but all of the parties were heavily involved throughout. There were calls between Burr and Sexton, Wilcox and Sexton, Wilcox and Taggart, conference calls including all the parties, and on and on. The discussions went well into the wee hours of Tuesday morning and kicked back up at the break of dawn. “Everybody put their nose to the grindstone,” Thrasher said. “Nobody slept for a couple of days … including my chairman, Ed Burr, who I give incredible credit to because of the importance he put on this hiring. “I’m old,” Thrasher said with a laugh. “This wore me out. I’ll be 74 in two weeks, and I don’t want to go through it again. That’s why I think we got the best coach we could get.” For a variety of reasons, including the looming early signing period and the chances someone could have a change of heart, Wilcox said everyone was determined to work around the clock to come to an agreement. “You want to get it done as fast as you possibly can,” he said. “You don’t want to lose the momentum.” At times, there was confidence. At other moments, trepidation. But it was during one private call between Wilcox and Taggart that the Seminoles’ athletics director finally felt at ease. “We both agreed that he wanted to be here as much as I wanted him to be here,” Wilcox said. “So we agreed that we were going to get it done.”

'It was meant to be'