1. Missing the initial message

“It's different for me because this is not a rebuild. This is more of a realignment, if anything. Got to realign some things to get it going again, but it's exciting knowing that you have some really good football players in here. I'm excited about the challenges that are in front of us and bringing a group of people together for the same common cause, which is to win a championship. And I'm excited about doing that.”

Taggart set high expectations for the program, and himself, when he was announced as FSU’s head coach on Dec. 6 of 2017.

The press conference was an amazing scene. Taggart arrived to the Marching Chiefs playing the War Chant, chopping in front of hundreds of supporters who came to see their new head coach. Later, behind the podium, Taggart hit all the right notes for a fan base that desperately wanted to be embraced following the ugly departure of Jimbo Fisher.

Lethal Simplicity. War Daddies and Bad Asses. Talk of returning FSU to its glory days in the 1990s.

There was nothing wrong with selling the future and his vision for the program.

The miscalculation, however, was not tempering expectations. Taggart believed that this would be a quick fix upon arriving at FSU and still had a similar thought process even leading into the 2018 season opener against Virginia Tech.

The ‘Noles were humbled 24-3 in Taggart’s debut, and the coach seemed absolutely stunned by the showing.

This miscalculation was a costly one for various reasons, but perhaps the biggest was how the general public ended up perceiving Taggart. Taggart recently said he felt FSU was ‘on schedule’ but a large overhaul isn’t what was sold initially to this fan base.

Some felt misled, and it can be difficult to recover from that.