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The Willie Taggart decision is in and he has decided to leave Oregon after just one year at the program. Now that has been made clear, what do we know and what is being speculated in terms of Taggart's successor in the short and long term of things?
Before we begin, here are some key dates in the calendar to keep up with:
December 16: Las Vegas Bowl against Boise State 2:30 PM
December 20-22: Recruits have a 72 hour window to sign their letters of intent early, hence the name Early Signing Period
What we do know for sure?
- Reportedly, Oregon DC Jim Leavitt is leaving Eugene to join Taggart's staff in Tallahassee. It remains to be seen who will also follow Taggart to his new job.
Source tells me Jim Leavitt is expected to head to FSU with Taggart.
— Steve Mims (@SteveMims_RG) December 5, 2017
- According to Jen Beryle of the Oregonian, OL coach and Co-OC Mario Cristobal will be the interim HC for the bowl game.
Sources: Mario Cristobal has been named Oregon's interim head coach for the Las Vegas Bowl
— Jen Beyrle (@JenBeyrle) December 5, 2017
- The terms for Coach Taggart's initial contract at Florida State are out via SI's Pete Thamel
Source: Willie Taggart’s terms at FLORIDA STATE are 6 years and $30 million. (He has obviously taken that job and left Oregon. Long day).
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 5, 2017
What are some of the names on the rumor mill?
- Canzano has some names that are expected to be thrown about as the search heats up
Some names of interest for Oregon Ducks replacement of Willie Taggart: Mario Cristobal, Jim Leavitt, Boise State’s Bryan Harsin, WSU’s Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin.
— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) December 5, 2017
- Andrew Nemec of the Oregonian has some thoughts from the players regarding the next hire
Multiple Oregon players want @coach_cristobal to become the permanent head coach. When Rob Mullens spoke to players, they shared sentiment that a current coach made sense, referring to Cristobal.
— Andrew Nemec (@AndrewNemec) December 6, 2017
Misc. Info
- It's been reported that the entirety of the coaching staff will remain in place for the bowl game.
- Matt Prehm of 247 Sports provides us with a breakdown of the timeline in which everything took place
The timeline of when Florida State reached out to Oregon and AD Rob Mullens doesn't mesh with what Willie Taggart was saying this weekend https://t.co/4Zn6fjP4pH
— Matt Prehm (@Prehmmr247) December 6, 2017
- If you missed it, here's a link to the coaching hot board post, you can find it here
- The timing of everything is interesting in terms of the gap between Oregon's bowl game and Florida State's bowl game. Not to mention who or when Oregon will hire as a replacement. For assistant coach retention or new hires should the new coach undoubtedly want to bring his own guys in.