Willie Taggart was smiling when he said it, but that doesn't mean he was joking.
During his most recent spring booster tour program in Atlanta, Taggart was asked a relatively innocuous question about the coaching staff dynamics now that he has handed the "keys to the offense" over to first-year offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.
While he didn't necessarily seem offended by the question, it did strike some sort of nerve.
The easy answer -- the answer that would have kept the conversation moving and avoided any speculation or concern -- would have been to say, "It's been great. Kendal has done an excellent job everywhere he's been. I trust him with our offense, and the nice thing about it is it frees me up to oversee the entire football team."
Taggart has made comments like that numerous time since he brought Briles on board in late December. He said it when he hired him, he said it repeatedly during spring practice, and he even said it during the first couple of stops during his spring tour.
But Taggart's response was a little different this time. And because it was different, it took some observers by surprise.
"I don't get the turning-the-keys-over thing," the head coach said during Wednesday's booster event in Atlanta. "This is our team. … We're going to do things I want done."
When you read those words in print, they can come across as defiant. As if Taggart is bristling at the notion that Briles has complete control of the Florida State offense and wants to set the record straight.
At the very least, they lend themselves to interpretation. Was it a sign that Taggart plans on taking a more active role in the offense when the fall rolls around? Does it mean he's going to step in when the offense is enduring an inevitable sluggish performance?
One can certainly understand why Florida State fans would be concerned. After watching FSU's abysmal offensive performance last season, they are 100 percent ready for something new. They weren't sad to hear in December that former offensive coordinator Walt Bell was taking a new job -- I'm guessing more than a few would have volunteered to load the moving truck and drive it to Massachusetts -- and they were ecstatic later that month to hear Briles was coming to town.
The fact that Briles was going to be given play-calling duties -- something that was even outlined in the Dec. 23 press release announcing his hire -- was like an early Christmas present. And fans were thrilled to learn that even more new blood was coming to the offense, in the form of offensive line coach Randy Clements and receivers coach Ron Dugans.
While it's not necessarily fair to blame the 2018 offensive coaching staff for all of FSU's problems last season -- there were undeniable shortcomings from a personnel standpoint -- it's also not unreasonable for fans to want a total overhaul.
They're not looking for a tune-up. They want a new engine and tires.
It's also important to remember that Florida State fans are likely more sensitive to this topic than most. The Seminoles have had just three head coaches in the last 43 years, and all three have had complicated relationships with their offensive coordinators.
While younger FSU fans might only remember the later stages of Bowden's tenure, when he relinquished total control of his offense to Jimbo Fisher, that was not his standard operating procedure. For years and years, Bowden's various offensive coordinators complained privately about his meddling during games. And Fisher was even worse of a micromanager. His offensive coordinators were coordinators in name only.
