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Oregon president's advice for Willie Taggart: Hire a 'great defensive coordinator'

After four seasons at USF, Willie Taggart has landed at Oregon. (Photo by Joseph Garnett Jr. /Getty Images)
After four seasons at USF, Willie Taggart has landed at Oregon. (Photo by Joseph Garnett Jr. /Getty Images)

Oregon’s defense was very bad this season.

Under first-year defensive coordinator Brady Hoke, the Ducks allowed 41.4 points and 518.4 yards per game, both of which ranked 126th of 128 FBS teams across the country. So when school president Michael Schill introduced the Ducks’ new head coach, Willie Taggart, he offered a bit of advice:

“Go find a great defensive coordinator.”

Ouch.

The comment came after Schill said he was not one to get involved in giving out advice for the football program, so he was being a bit self-deprecating. Still, it makes it pretty clear that Taggart, who took the Oregon job after four years at South Florida, won’t be bringing Hoke back for another season.

Hoke was brought in by recently-fired Ducks coach Mark Helfrich to fix a defense that has been porous in recent years. Hoke installed the 4-3 defense he implemented during his time as head coach at Michigan and other schools. There were a ton of growing pains as the Ducks endured a 4-8 season.

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Despite the team winning 10 games, USF’s defense wasn’t a whole lot better. The Bulls allowed 482 yards per game (120th nationally) and 31 points (86th nationally). To address those defensive concerns, Taggart had a simple approach.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!