Western Kentucky coach Willie Taggart sat down with the media Wednesday to discuss Saturday’s game against Troy. The second-year coach came into his office carrying a picture of the flag raising at Iwo Jima (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a1/WW2_Iwo_Jima_flag_raising.jpg/400px-WW2_Iwo_Jima_flag_raising.jpg). He wants his team to plant a symbolic flag as a symbol to the rest of the Sun Belt Conference is here and here to stay. Kickoff on Saturday is at 11:30 a.m.
Also, Jared Clendenin, who has been out with an alleged broken toe, really has a broken foot. Didn’t want to make “The Club” sound softer than he is.
Willie Taggart
Emotions this week: “Good. To be honest with you, it hasn’t been much different. We’ve been having a senior get up each day and give the team some wise words and that’s been really nice, just to hear the guys speak from their heart and what Western has meant to them. Me personally, I was telling our staff last night, I was sitting around thinking that – all this success we’re having here and now wouldn’t have been possible if these seniors wouldn’t have bought it to our vision and our goals and what we want to two as a football program. Those guys could have easily – especially after 0-4 – packed it in and moved on. The new guys, all they know is what we’ve been doing. Those others guys have seen a lot more. I think that’s something that’s getting left out that needs to be stated, that these guys have bought in to what we’re doing and it’s one big reason we’re ahead of schedule in what were doing in building our football program.”
Seniors: “I think it’ll hit ‘em on Saturday. I watched some of them, I thought some of them would be a little more emotional than they are. But they’re all locked in and flying around. Practice is like the first practice of the year. It’s upbeat and enthusiastic and that’s good to see. This time of the year is normally not like that – especially around here. Usually we’re not playing for anything. That’s good to see, and like I said, I think for a lot of those guys it’ll hit ‘em on Saturday when they realize they’ll never play another game at Houchens-L.T. Smith Stadium.”
Bowl situation: “All we can focus on is Troy. We can worry about anything else. It’s out of our hands. I always talk to our kids about controlling the things they can control. That’s there attitude and work ethic. That’s what were trying to do now, control the things that we can. That’s our attitude and the way we work to see to it that we can go out there and take care of business on Saturday. And then, after that, whatever happens happens. We did what we can do. After starting 0-4 and to finish the way we did, that’s huge for the football program.”
Kawaun Jakes really want to beat Troy: “Probably because he hasn’t beaten ‘em yet. It’s the last game of the year, and again, 7-5 sounds a lot better than 6-6. It looks a lot better than that, too. I think all those reasons and never beating them and playing for his seniors. When I talk to Kawaun, ‘Good job Kawaun’. ‘Coach, I just do it for the Tops’. I think he wants to do it for the Hilltoppers.”
Beating Troy: “It’d be huge. I said it last year, when I came here, we wanna be like Troy and Middle, they’ve been the teams at the top of this conference. That’s where we want our program at. Troy still knows how to win. You look at some of their losses, there hasn’t been any bad losses. There’s been some close losses and they’re still a good football team. You hear that always, ‘They’re record doesn’t show that’. It’s true. They have some players over there and those guys can run, too. They’re fast and they put up a lot of points. You look at they lost to North Texas, but they bounce back the following week and get a big win. It’s gonna be important for us to come out with a lot of enthusiasm, locked in and focused toward what we’re doing.”
A must win: “No doubt it is. I feel like it is a must-win for us. It’s a must win because we’re trying to get to seven. Again, that’s what we’re focusing on. After Saturday, you can ask me all those bowl questions and I’ll have a lot of answers for you then. It doesn’t matter. I really try and not spend a lot of time on it. It doesn’t matter if we don’t take care of business Saturday. It’s important to our seniors that we do that more than anything. I’d love a bowl game, but I’d love even more to get this win for our seniors. That’d be a great way for them to leave here, their last home game as winners. Really trying to get our guys locked in to that and then after that we’ll sit around and find out everything we can about a bowl game.”
Bowl distraction: “No. Again, we have our goals and we’re locked in to what our goals are. I really think that’s why we’ve had the success that we’ve had. We’ve been locked in on one thing and that’s winning the conference and then taking it one foothold at a time. It’s been good for our guys and it’s been good to see that this week we can continue to do what we’ve been doing all year and not have a distraction. That cocoon is pretty darn stern, now. We had a lot of distractions along the way and our kids haven’t let any of that distract them. Another great sign of this football team growing up and what they’re becoming.”
Final message Saturday: “It’s time to go plant the flag and let everyone know that we’re here to stay. We got an opportunity to do that on Saturday and we need to do that. We’re not trying to be a one-hit wonder around here. This is something we’re trying to do and be here awhile and people start talking about WKU as the team to beat in the Sun Belt.”
Fan turnout: “This is what they all wanted. When we were losing, they all didn’t like it. This is what they all wanted, for us to be playing for something. For us to go out and have a winning football team. I think it’s time for them to show up and do their part, too, and do it for these seniors. Again, I keep going back to these guys. The job they’ve done with this football team and what they’ve been through is remarkable and they deserve a packed house – rain, sleet or snow. Those kids deserve that. They’ve been beaten down throughout and they’ve finally done what everybody wanted them to do. There’d be no better way than to show them their appreciation, the fans’ appreciation for what our guys have done. It’s the right thing to do. From my understanding, that’s what we all want here in Bowling Green and the Hilltopper nation is to have a winning program. We need to do that to show that we can pack this place and we can travel well and we can do all the things that people say we can’t do. Our football team has done it. We can do it, too, as fans.”
Attendance numbers frustrating: “No. I said at the beginning of the year, I told our fans, ‘Let us earn your respect. Let us earn that support’. I think our kids are doing it now, so hopefully, we do that. We had to do our part. We understood why folks wasn’t coming, we wasn’t doing our part. Now we’re doing our part and hopefully we can gain their support. If we don’t, we’re gonna continue to keep trying and not get caught up in all that. We’ll just keep winning and keep doing what we’re doing and continue to control what we can. Hopefully we have some new fans and we have the same ones that we have and continue to bring more and everyone gets excited. This can be big time, but it’s not gonna be big time just by our football team. It’s gonna be big time because of the support and how everybody’s all about Hilltopper football.”
