With Haggins at the helm, Florida State finds reason to fight

It was about a group of players and coaches -- many of whom don't know what the future holds or whether they will have a job at Florida State in a few weeks -- rallying together after their head coach was fired six days ago. It was about leaning on each other when they felt as if they had little support left on the outside.

"I honestly feel like nobody has been through what we've been through," sophomore quarterback James Blackman said after the Seminoles improved to 5-5 on the season Saturday. "Coaching changes. The ups and downs of winning games. We just had to come together, and that's what we did today."

Come together, they did. Around an interim head coach named Odell Haggins, who has devoted more than half of his life to either playing for the Seminoles or coaching them.

It was a situation both familiar and yet unusual.

Nearly two years ago, Haggins stepped up when former head coach Jimbo Fisher accepted a head coaching job at another school before the season was even complete. All Haggins did then was lead the Seminoles to a regular season-ending win over Lousiana-Monroe and then another victory against Southern Miss in a bowl game.

As impressive as that was, it was more of a tap-in putt than a 15-footer for birdie.

This was different.

This was convincing the older players to not give up and the younger players to keep caring. It was about going on the road and attempting to win a conference game -- something the Seminoles had managed to do just once in nearly two years under Willie Taggart.

This wasn't consoling players who had watched their head coach walk out; it was convincing them to give everything they have for a university that fired the guy who brought many of them here.

"I'm very proud of these young men," Haggins said. "They were very resilient. Very resilient. They didn't flinch."

When it happened -- when Taggart was dismissed early last Sunday afternoon -- Haggins wasn't exactly sure how the Seminoles would respond. Many of them were confused and upset.