Willie Taggart to be named next head coach at Oregon

University of South Florida head coach Willie Taggart has reportedly been named the next coach at Oregon.

According to a report from ESPN’s Brett McMurphy, Taggart will replace the recently-fired Mark Helfrich. Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen was the other finalist for the Ducks job.

Taggart has coached at USF for the past four seasons, and the Bulls’ 10-2 record this season is the best in program history. Tony Dungy, whose son played at Oregon before transferring to USF to play for Taggart, endorsed Taggart while speaking to ESPN last week.

“He knows the West Coast, having been at Stanford,” Dungy said. “He has all the elements Oregon is looking for. He’s a bright, young coach, and it makes him easy to recommend.”

As Dungy mentioned, Taggart was an assistant coach at Stanford from 2007-2009 and worked under Jim Harbaugh.