ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has come to Willie Taggart’s defense for a couple of days now, even before he was fired by Florida State. In Herbstreit’s mind, it was a bad situation from the outset in Tallahassee.

In his one-plus season at FSU, Taggart had a 9-12 overall record. Taggart led FSU to a 5-7 record last season and was 4-5 in Year 2 after losing to Miami. Taggart’s overall ACC record was 6-9. His buyout is reportedly nearly $18 million.

“Anybody who knows Willie Taggart knows what a gentleman and class act he is. I think he was almost set up to fail when you look at it, because of what he inherited. He is such a likable guy,” Herbstreit said on the Herbie to Pollack podcast, according to Noles247. “… I think if you look at the end of the Jimbo Fisher that things started to go sideways — not as far as x’s and o’s but as far as kind of a ‘me, me’ individual approach to ‘hey, you know what, we’re not winning games, but I’ve still got to go and get mine. I’ve still got to be able to take care of what I need to take care of.’ I think that the program was very fractured … This was a problem from the very outset of the start to his era, and something he inherited. He tried to change it and try different things, and it just didn’t work.”

One of the issues was FSU’s 0-5 record against rivals, as the firing came one day after a loss to Miami. But Herbstreit said the eye test was another indicator.

“It got to the point where that if you watched Florida State last year and this year, they’re not just losing games. It’s how they’re playing,” he said. “You know, how undisciplined they’re playing … I just don’t think it was the right fit now that you look back at it as far as the kind of coach that Willie is, the kind of personality more importantly that he has, and what was going on at Florida State. It’s unfortunate …. (Florida State) has to clean the program up and get it back to players playing for each other and playing for that tradition and not just for themselves or just to get to the NFL. I think that’s where they’ve been the past few years.”