STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State had one of the top offenses in the country before its architect moved on to another job. As the school's new co-offensive coordinator, Trooper Taylor knows his task is to maintain that level of production and not mess it up.
"Without a doubt, there will be some changes. Time brings about a change. When guys leave out and new people come in, there's going to be some change naturally," Taylor said Thursday. "But for the most part, I'm smart enough to see if it ain't broke don't fix it. They were pretty darn good."
Taylor came to Oklahoma State from Tennessee, replacing Larry Fedora on coach Mike Gundy's offensive staff. Fedora was hired as the new head coach at Southern Miss in December after guiding an Oklahoma State offense that ranked seventh in the nation in total yardage.
As a longtime friend of Gundy, Fedora and other members of Oklahoma State's staff, Taylor wants to fit right in without causing too much commotion.
"They've done a great job, and I'm not here to try to slow that down," Taylor said. "I'm here to try to improve that."
At a news conference previewing the start of the Cowboys' spring practice next week, Gundy said there won't be any changes in offensive philosophy. He expects to use the same schemes and same terminology that Fedora installed during his three years in Stillwater.
"We haven't changed anything," Gundy said.
Taylor's story was only slightly different.
"It's actually been really good because you have a set of eyes that are coming from the outside looking in, so you're able to critique, you're able to add a few different wrinkles," Taylor said. "It's been really good because I'm allowed to give my honest opinion.
"Sometimes we don't agree, sometimes we do, but the bottom line is when coach Gundy signs off on it, that's what we're going to do."
Taylor had been coaching receivers for the Volunteers, including former Tulsa high school standout Robert Meachem and former Oklahoma City high school star Gerald Jones, before getting the opportunity to reunite with friends and former colleagues on the Cowboys' staff including Curtis Luper, Joe Wickline and Gunter Brewer. Taylor and Brewer will be co-coordinators of the Oklahoma State offense.
"It's fun getting back to the spread offense and hearing the formations being called the same way and hearing some of the plays being called the same way," Taylor said. "It's like I'm speaking the same language again where before I went to Pluto and I had to learn 3 yards and a cloud of dust again."
If nothing else, Taylor said he expects players to notice a difference in his temperament. He said he's already had Oklahoma State's receiving corps sign the "Taylor Bill of Rights" and he's explained to players that he considers them all to have the last name Taylor because everyone is family.
His top priority? Whatever is best for the players.
"Right now they have a system, the way things unfold and the way that they're used to doing things," Taylor said. "I'm not going to try to come in here and try to change any of that."
For Taylor, that family approach has long been ingrained in him. He credits his late father Bonnie Taylor for inspiring him, and his backward baseball cap is a way of honoring the man who was nicknamed "Blaze."
"Every time I put it on, I think about him and the things that he taught me growing up as a young man," Taylor said. "He was taken away from me at an early age, so it's kind of a tribute to him. It's definitely not for style, it's definitely not because I've got a bad haircut, it's about respect to a man that I owe a bunch to to being who I am today."
Taylor said he was 12 years old when his father died of a heart attack.
"Nobody wants to get out of bed and be miserable about going to work. I watched my father get up and go to two different jobs starting at 5 o'clock in the morning and he hated both of them. That was my motivation," Taylor said.
"He worked in a cotton mill and he worked in a feed mill, and he had a heart attack walking from one to the next and died in the street. That's not going to happen to me, that's not going to happen to my son, that's not going to happen to anybody that I coach because I'm going to teach them about the value of education."
