The beginning of Willie Taggart's Florida State career hasn't gone according to anybody's plan. The Seminoles missed a bowl game for the first time in 36 years following a 2018 season that included blowout losses at the hands of Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida, and his second season hasn't been much better thus far. Now, even the kids are upset with Taggart.
The Tallahassee Democrat reports that Clayton Grant, a 4-year-old Florida State fan who lives in Tallahassee, set up a "Free Willie" lemonade stand in front of his grandmother's house. He charged $20 per cup and raised $241 in three hours, which his father matched and donated to Seminole Boosters. The Grants sent a letter with the check that explained its purpose.
"I am tired of losing football games and being made fun of at school for being a Seminole fan," Grant wrote. "At four, I am already starting to gravitate towards the color orange. You don't want that for an innocent kid like me…."
The Seminoles lost to Virginia 31-24 on Saturday night, and looked extremely ill-prepared when trying to get one final play off inside the 5-yard-line with the clock ticking down. They blew an 18-point lead in a home loss to Boise State to open the season and beat Louisiana-Monroe in overtime in Week 2 after the Warhawks missed an extra point to end the game.
Florida State would owe Taggart 85 percent of the remaining sum of his contract if they fired him, according to Football Scoop. That would be roughly $17 million if it were to occur right now.
There's still time to for the Seminoles to get things going in the right direction. They were in a tight battle with the Cavaliers on Saturday before coming up short in the closing seconds, and they opened as 8-point favorites over Louisville in Week 4.
