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Stanford reacts to Taggart departure
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Stanford football will say goodbye to one of its coaches on Sunday. Running backs coach Willie Taggart was named the head coach at Western Kentucky University this week. He will remain with Stanford through the Notre Dame game, but then will leave for his new job.
His current head coach and current star pupil had nothing but great things to say about the departing coach.
“Willie has done a fantastic job here. You are sad losing a friend and a great coach and teacher that we have. The success he has had as a recruiter is because he is just so genuine. He is just such a genuine, down to earth good person. Integrity and character always comes through in the recruiting process when he is trying to get to know families and young men. I am really happy. There is a lot of joy that comes knowing that coach Taggart is now a Division-1 head coach, and at a place like Western Kentucky that the Harbaugh family has a lot of affection for. Western Kentucky got the perfect guy. He achieves that kind of success, he deserves and has earned. It was really cool. I feel like the proud older brother. Willie is a great teacher, a great coach, very enthusiastic and deathly loyal!”
Running back Toby Gerhart was also filled with nothing but positives when discussing the achievement of his position coach.
“Coach Taggart is a great coach. I definitely owe him a lot for my success. We have had a great relationship all three years he has been here. We can relate to each other, we can talk about anything. He is just a great guy. He called me on Sunday evening and let me know that he had taken the job at Western Kentucky. I was super excited for him. That is a huge thing. To go from a position coach to a head coach, he is extremely young, to go back to his alma mater where he is a legend down there. To have an opportunity to turn the program around, that is just wonderful for him and his family. I congratulated him. I am just super excited for him.”
Gerhart found out the news direct from coach Taggart.
“That just shows you the type of guy he is that he called me the night before that it went public. He told me ‘I just wanted to let you know before you found out in the media and at the press conference tomorrow.’ That is just a testament to who he is and that he cares about us as players. We are always happy for another man’s success.”
Toby was willing to get specific about exactly how his position coach has helped him become a great player.
“He has helped me tremendously in terms of understanding the game. Growing up around football, I have always known how the game works, but just the little intricate details. The different techniques the defensive lineman use to line up, the fronts, the safety rotation for blitzes, and all kinds of little subtle things that make the game go a long way. Before the ball is snapped you can tell the front, you can kind of know which way the line is going to slant, and how everyone is going to play. Those little things he has definitely helped me with. At the same time he has definitely helped me with our footwork and ball handling and all the little drills we do at practice. He has done a tremendous amount of stuff for me. I definitely owe him a lot.”
As for replacing coach Taggart, Harbaugh has not given it a lot of thought yet. His focus is on Notre Dame.
“You can hire an interim guy, you can go out and get someone else, for now we’ll handle it internally with our graduate assistant Casey Moore who I think is a fine young coaching prospect. When we get the right guy, then we’ll make the hire. But I have never been in a rush to make a hire.”
With his Western Kentucky roots, Taggart was a solid recruiter in the south for Stanford. Harbaugh said that he would take that into consideration when hiring a permanent replacement.
“That would be a factor. (Looking for southern recruiting ties). The main factor is someone who is a teacher, who is a good coach technically, that can bring the teaching and is a stud coach. We want a stud coach, a master coach, someone with high character and integrity. We want somebody that is going to be able to motivate the guys he coaches. Those are the three main ones we are looking for.
The coaching search will begin next week, after the Notre Dame game, and after Stanford waives goodbye to Willie Taggart.
WILL IT BE THEIR LAST GAME AT STANFORD STADIUM?
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