The departure of Jimbo Fisher from Florida State is finally official and the timing is, well, odd. The Seminoles still have another game to play during the 2017 season and, even if it seems rather meaningless, it will determine whether the program's new head coach has bowl practice to begin integrating some of the new culture he would desire in an overall sense.
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However, the bigger decision, of course, is just who the 'Noles will tab as Fisher's successor and, shortly after official word broke, Pete Thamel of Yahoo indicated that two names have risen above the rest when it comes to top-end candidacies.
Source: Florida State's top two candidates to replace Jimbo Fisher are Oregon's Willie Taggart and Virginia Tech's Justin Fuente.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 1, 2017
The presence of Taggart in the mix is not at all a surprise, especially given the volume of rumors about the Oregon head coach being a candidate if Fisher elected to flee Tallahassee. However, Oregon is seemingly quite keen on keeping him around and FSU may have to back up the brinks truck in order to acquire his services.
As for Fuente, he has been a popular name in the coaching profession for some time and, even after a relatively uninspiring season at Virginia Tech, it is easy to see why the Seminoles would target the 41-year-old at this point in his trajectory. It remains to be seen as to which direction the FSU leadership will go but both candidates are appealing in their own specific way and the search should be quite intriguing.
