Former Miami assistant and Seminole great joins FSU staff

First Willie Taggart made a homecoming, returning to his native Florida to take over as the head coach of the Seminoles. Now, Ron Dugans is coming back to his hometown of Tallahassee and his alma mater, Florida State.

Dugans was a sure-handed star receiver for FSU in the late 90s, playing for the ’Noles from 1995-1999. He shared time at the position with Andre Cooper, E.G. Green, and Peter Warrick, ultimately winning the 1999 national title with the latter. And Dugans was a critical of that championship win in the Sugar Bowl, hauling in five passes for 99 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Virginia Tech.

Dugans then went on to play a few years for the Cincinnati Bengals before turning to coaching. After beginning as a graduate assistant for the ’Noles in 2005-2006, and a brief assistantship with the Bengals in 2007, Dugans was the receivers coach for Georgia Southern from 2008-2009. During Dugans’ time in Statsboro, WR Raja Andrews flourished and set several school records. Dugans then moved on to Louisville, where he served in the same capacity under Charlie Strong from 2010-2013, mentoring WR DeVante Parker.

After that, Dugans met up with Taggart at South Florida from 2014-2015, where he was the receivers coach once again. In Tampa, Dugans helped to develop WR Rodney Adams. He then assumed the same role at Miami, where he’s been since 2016. He began as the Hurricanes’ wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator, but last year, Dugans added the title of co-offensive coordinator to his WR coaching responsibilities in Coral Gables. While with the ’Canes, Dugans worked with receivers Braxton Berrios, Ahmmon Richards, and Stacy Coley.

The position of WR coach had been held by David Kelly, so we’ll have to see how the staff is reconfigured. Kelly may be moving off the field to head up recruiting, as he has before.

Taggart and Dugans spoke about the hire after it was formally announced by FSU.