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BOCA RATON – Florida Atlantic announced on Thursday the hiring of two more assistants to new football coach Willie Taggart’s staff.
Taggart reached into his recent past for both hires.
Raymond Woodie and Stanford Samuels were part of Taggart’s staff at Florida St.
Woodie’s been with Taggart at all four stops, coaching defensive ends and linebackers at Western Kentucky, linebackers at South Florida where he ultimately coordinated the defense, and special teams and linebackers at Oregon.
He’ll coach outside linebackers at FAU. Woodie’s hiring prompted Taggart to move newly hired assistant Kevin Patrick from outside linebackers to defensive line.
Samuels will coach defensive backs. He spent last season as a defensive analyst at FSU. This will be his first on-field coaching job.
At his mid-December introductory press conference Taggart expressed a desire to have his entire coaching staff in place by Jan. 1. The hiring of Woodie and Samuels leaves one vacant spot on his staff.
FAU is coming off an 11-3 season, winning the Conference USA championship and the Boca Raton Bowl for the second time in three years.
Following the C-USA championship game coach Lane Kiffin left FAU for Mississippi. FAU hired Taggart as Kiffin’s replacement.
Taggart retained three of Kiffin’s on-field assistants – Jeff Norrid, Clint Trickett and Jaron Fairman – and promoted Chris Perkins to running backs coach. Trickett is moving from tight ends to quarterbacks/co-offensive coordinator. Fairman added tight end responsibilities while retaining his special teams coordinator role. Norrid remains the offensive line coach.
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