FAU Athletics announces a program that promotes reading to the youth

The program’s mission is to encourage local students to continue reading over the summer break.

This fall will mark the first season with Taggart as the head coach for the Owls. Photo by Alex Liscio.

Jensen Jennings, Staff Writer
May 23, 2020

First year head coach Willie Taggart is championing a summer mission to encourage students from kindergarten through eighth grade to continue reading. 

Coach Taggart’s Touchdown Readers is a program where students must read four grade appropriate books in order to receive two free tickets to the first FAU home football game of the season against Stony Brook on Sep. 12. They will also receive a t-shirt and have a photo opportunity on the field after the game. 

“The mission of the program is designed to encourage elementary-and middle school-age students to continue reading, with a goal of completing four grade-level appropriate books,” the press release said.

To participate in the program, a parent or guardian will have to log on to the book tracking form where they will write down the titles of the four books and sign their name confirming the student has completed each book. 

Once the completed form has been submitted by a parent or guardian, “The FAU ticket office will follow up with two FAU football tickets,” the press release said.

“Very excited about this new program,” Vice President and Director of Athletics Brian White said on his Twitter account.

The 2020 season will be coach Taggart’s first season at FAU. He was hired by FAU on Dec. 11, 2019 after former head coach Lane Kiffin left to take the head coaching job at the University of Mississippi. Taggart was previously the head coach at Florida State University where he was fired on Nov. 3, 2019. 

FAU is looking to defend their C-USA title in the 2020 season after finishing the 2019 season with a record of 11-3, a C-USA championship and a victory over SMU in the Boca Raton Bowl.

The owls are scheduled to kick off their season Sep. 3 at TCF Bank Stadium against the University of Minnesota. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it is still unclear how the upcoming football season may be affected.

Jensen Jennings is a staff writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @Jensen_Jennings.