Willie Taggart Won't Join Deion Sanders At Colorado As 13-Year College Head Coach Enters NFL Ranks For First Time

Willie Taggart will not be joining Deion Sanders' staff at Colorado after all. The 46-year-old decided to go in a different direction for a better position in the NFL.

Taggart, who spent the last three years as head coach at Florida Atlantic, was fired by the Owls in late November. He is now set to join the Ravens staff as their running backs coach.

The move is certainly notable. Prior to his time in Boca Raton, Taggart was the head coach at Western Kentucky, South Florida, Oregon and Florida State.

Although his 71-82 record as a collegiate head coach is less-than-stellar, he has served in that role for more than a decade and will provide a unique perspective to his role in Baltimore. Taggart is considered a brilliant offensive mind and served as the running backs coach at Stanford from 2007 to 2009, so he is familiar with coaching the position.

Whether the move works out or not, it is very different than what was previously expected.

Willie Taggart will not coach at Colorado.

At the end of January, Coach Prime spoke candidly about forthcoming additions to his Buffaloes staff. He said that Mike Zimmer, who coached with him at Jackson State, and Taggart were set to head out West as assistants and/or analysts in Boulder.

That, clearly, is no longer the case. The Zimmer hire has yet to be formally announced, but still could be coming. The Taggart hire will not be formally announced. He is headed to the professional ranks for the first time in his career!

He will try to provide a spark to an offense run by former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Taggart will oversee a talented running backs room that includes J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Justice Hill and Kenyan Drake.

Colorado and Sanders missed on Taggart, but for good reason! The NFL was calling.