Willie Taggart, USF Agree to New Contract: Latest Details, Comments and Reaction

According to Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde, the University of South Florida announced Monday morning it agreed to a contract extension with head football coach Willie Taggart through 2020.   

The announcement comes hours before the Bulls take on Western Kentucky in the Miami Beach Bowl at 2:30 p.m. ET. Taggart led South Florida to its first winning season since 2010. 

Per ESPN.com's Brett McMurphy, Taggart's full deal, including the extension, comes out to five years and $9 million.

Per FoxSports.com's Bruce Feldman, it was an extension well deserved:

In his first two seasons with the Bulls, Taggart compiled a 6-18 record, and things didn't look much better after the team began this season with three losses in its first four games. Those losses did come to quality opponents like Florida State, who was ranked 11th at the time, and Memphis, a team led by NFL quarterback prospect Paxton Lynch. 

At 1-3, the team was trying to digest plenty of changes, as Feldman pointed out:

"

He overhauled his staff in the offseason. He also had made a big change on offense going from the pro-style attack that the Jim Harbaugh protégé had to a version of the spread he dubbed the Gulf Coast Offense, where it would go up-tempo and run zone read about 20 percent of the time and now with a dynamic young quarterback in sophomore Quinton Flowers. Taggart also took over as play-caller — something he did back when he was the coach at Western Kentucky.

"

But Taggart and the Bulls hung tough and reeled off seven wins in their final eight games. They scored 35 points or more in five of them, including a 44-23 win against No. 21 Temple on Nov. 14.

Young quarterback Quinton Flowers rushed for 883 yards to go with over 2,000 through the air as the Bulls developed a potent running attack that saw them average 242.9 yards per game.

Speaking with Feldman, Taggart knew it was just a matter of time before things began to click: "We stuck to what we believe in, and we could see it coming from what we were seeing daily in practice. Our guys are growing up and they see I have a great staff and how close we are, and they’re all in."

If the turnaround in record wasn't vindication enough, the vote of confidence from the school should be as the 39-year-old now has at least five more years to develop South Florida into even more of a threat in the American Athletic Conference. 

With new contract in hand, Taggart now has a chance to deliver South Florida its first bowl victory since the Meineke Car Care Bowl in 2010 and its first nine-win season since 2007 against his former team. 

Stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com