Each of these 3 coaches had their backs against the wall when they took their respective jobs.
Willie Taggart came in to FSU following an ugly and abrupt end to the Jimbo Fisher drama, and off of one of FSU's poorest seasons. Plus, there were rumors that Jimbo's staff wasn't even on the recruiting trail for the final month or two of the season. Even with all of that, Willie Taggart pulled together an impressive class. After Jimbo left, FSU fell all the way to 64th in the national recruiting rankings, after yesterday, they now rank 12th.
Dan Mullen wasn't exactly left with the best base of recruits after a couple of dull and disappointing years under McElwain. You add to that the fake death threats drama, and all the sudden the state's top football school felt like anything but. Even with all that, Mullen was able to lock down a top 15 recruiting class (14), and more importantly, pilfered a couple of recruits away from Saban and Urban Meyer.
In some ways, Josh Heupel had it the easiest of all, and in some ways he had it the toughest. While he was coming into a job/program that had more buzz surrounding it than arguably any in the nation, he was also recruiting against the nations newest coaching darling, Scott Frost. Not just recruiting against him, but doing it from the same building, while Frost and his staff prepared for the Peach Bowl. With all that strife, Heupel landed the 77th recruiting ranking nationally (similar to Frost when he started @ UCF), and was one of only two schools inside the American to land a recruit rated any higher than a 3-star player.
So, who saved the day more than the rest?
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