That's because he went 8-5 his first year
he also wasn't brought in under the same circumstances as Taggart.
Holtz was brought in because Leavitt was fired for off-field infraction, not because Leavitt was ******** the bed with losing seasons. many of us questioned whether Leavitt could get us over the hump in conference play and take us to the next level, but at the very least he was good for a bowl berth every year.
compare that to Holtz, who was fired for poor performance. his best season was his first season, and he got progressively worse from there.
the argument cant be made that Holtz "needed more time" when he took over a winning program, won with the players left behind by the previous coach, got progressively worse as his own players were brought in to replace the previous coach's players as they graduated, and demonstrated absolutely no tangible ability to recruit solid players or coach up the players he did recruit.
that is evidenced by what Taggart has to work with, which isn't a whole hell of a lot. Holtz was left with a winning team and NFL talent at QB and on defense that Leavitt recruited. Taggart has been left with junior varsity caliber talent at QB, a horrible OLine, lazy receivers, and an underachieving defense.
Holtz was brought in to a 7-8 win team that went to bowl games annually with the expectation of getting us to the next step, 10+ wins and a BE championship.
Taggart was brought into a 3 win team with the expectation of AT LEAST getting us bowling within the first couple seasons in a newer, weaker conference. i don't see it this year, but i see no reason why it won't happen within the next year or 2.