Helfrich coached the Ducks to a 37-16 record after taking over for Kelly in 2013.
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After about a week’s worth of speculation, it appears that the Oregon Ducks have found their next head football coach in Taggart. “He is charismatic and likes to have fun”.
Taggart replaces Mark Helfrich at OR after Helfrich finished 4-8 this season, just two years removed from a Heisman Trophy victor and a College Football Championship appearance. His father, Tony, gave Taggart a recommendation for the job.
South Florida finished 10-2 this season.
“I was just thinking he’s ideal for they want to do out there”.
Taggart has become quite popular in the Bay area atfer turning around a USF program that seemed to hit rock bottom a few years back. South Florida co-offensive coordinator T.J. Weist was named interim coach and will lead the 25th-ranked Bulls in the Birmingham Bowl. “I remember our first practice in training camp and he was out throwing passes in one-one-one drills”.
OR fans shouldn’t get their knickers in a twist if the program starts off next year and the struggle is real. Between 2009 and 2014, OR also won four Pac-12 championships, won two Rose Bowls and had its only Heisman Trophy victor in program history – quarterback Marcus Mariota. Taggart has a history out West; coaching the Stanford running backs under Jim Harbaugh.
One of Taggart’s first responsibilities will be reaching out to the committed players and then contacting some of the most wanted targets. I wasn’t in the program the last two years, but I saw from a distance it resembled OR more.
Taggart had been gaining much attention for a Power 5 gig after winning 17 of his last 21 games after a 7-21 start.
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Taggart should be able to throw another log on the embers of some of those connections and OR shouldn’t suffer in recruiting in the short-term the way you sometimes do when you make a coaching change. “He got great athletes to USF and Western Kentucky. And having someone they can hang their hat on, somebody who they can say ‘he’s our guy, let’s move forward, ‘ I think will be a good, unifying factor”. “Things will change a lot, I’m sure, at OR, so it will be cool what happens there”.
