Florida State has yet to announce Willie Taggart as its new head coach, but Oregon has announce he’s no longer theirs. The Ducks acknowledged Taggart’s impending departure in a news release Tuesday, and named offensive coordinator Mario Cristobal as interim head coach.
Taggart went 7-5 in his one season leading the program.
“We thank Willie for his efforts at Oregon, and we wish him and his family all the best in the future,” AD Rob Mullens said in a statement.
Cristobal is expected to be a candidate for the full-time position, and an appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl next Saturday against No. 25 Boise State will provide a nice audition, assuming the search lasts that long.
“I am grateful to Mario Cristobal for his willingness to step up and lead our program through our upcoming bowl game,” Mullens said. “The University of Oregon is a high-caliber academic institution with one of the premier college football programs in the country, and we are confident that we will find another outstanding coach to lead our tremendous group of student-athletes into the future.”
Cristobal was FIU’s head coach from 2007-12 and is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the country.
Oregon announced Willie Taggart was no longer their head coach, and minutes later Florida State has officially claimed him.
Taggart will take over for Jimbo Fisher and find the pot of gold after Florida State’s first job opening since 1976.
Taggart gets the job after one 7-5 season at Oregon and an 18-7 run to close his four seasons at South Florida. A Bradenton, Fla., native, Taggart returns home to his home state and the high school ranks in which he himself starred as a quarterback in the 1990’s.
Salary terms were not disclosed in the announcement.
With job openings at Tennessee and Arkansas, Memphis head coach Mike Norvell will take neither of them.
Or, in more likely terms, neither of them took him.
Either way, Norvell announced on Tuesday he has signed an extension to remain at Memphis. The new deal lasts through 2022 and will pay Norvell a sum of $13 million before bonuses, averaging $2.6 million a year, according to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. Norvell earned $1.86 million in 2017 according to the USA Today coaching salary database, the fourth-highest salary on record in the AAC.
Still just 36 years old, Norvell has posted an 18-7 record in two seasons at Memphis. He led the Tigers to a 10-2 mark with an AAC West Division championship this season before falling in double overtime to UCF on Saturday.
The 20th-ranked Tigers will host Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 30 (12:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
Even before Jimbo Fisher left as Florida State’s head coach for the same job at Texas A&M, Willie Taggart was widely thought to be one of the targets as a replacement, if not the top target. As of Tuesday afternoon, it appears FSU is very close to getting its man.
In fact, it could happen as early as today, one day after the Oregon head coach met for the first time with FSU officials.
Taggart has extensive ties to the state of Florida as he was born Bradenton and coached at USF for four seasons before taking the UO job last year.
In his first season with the Ducks, Taggart has them sitting at 7-5 coming off a 4-8 2016 campaign. The improvement shouldn’t come as a surprise as he’s been a turnaround specialist wherever he’s been. Taggart took a Western Kentucky team that had won two games its previous two seasons to one that, after a two-win first year, won seven games in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. South Florida was just 3-9 in 2012; after, again, a two-win first season and then four the second, the Bulls won eight games in 2015 and 11 in 2016.
The coaching record combined with the deep recruiting ties to the Sunshine State, obviously, make Taggart a very attractive target for FSU. Oregon has already made at least one preemptive strike to keep Taggart from bolting Eugene after just one year, although the lure to return home could prove to be too strong.
Could another favorite son be coming home on this latest spinning of the coaching carousel?
It’s long been thought that Tee Martin would be in play for the opening at Tennessee, especially when Phillip Fulmer, his former coach, (reportedly) pulled a Shakespearean power play to grab the athletic director job at UT. However, there’s been very little in the way of speculation connecting the USC offensive coordinator to the opening.
Until now.
Martin was a two-time SEC champion who, as the quarterback, helped lead the Volunteers to the 1998 national championship. After beginning his coaching career in the high school ranks for three years, he parlayed jobs at New Mexico (quarterbacks, 2009) and Kentucky (wide receivers, 2010-11) into a job at USC in 2012 as receivers coach. He was then promoted to passing-game coordinator in 2014 and offensive coordinator in 2016.
Others connected to the Vols job include Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker — he’s reportedly interviewed twice, the second coming today — and, per FootballScoop.com, Auburn defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and SMU head coach Chad Morris.
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