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Rob Mullens played short-term Taggart hiring into a fat long raise for himself

Last updated on 12/06/2017

Update: In the Oregonian, here:

… The narrative will be that Taggart went 7-5 in his first season and he and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, baited Oregon into a bidding war with Florida State that resulted in a six-year, $30 million windfall. But the reality is, the Ducks didn’t do enough in structuring the original contract to protect themselves. That inept contract, and not a wonderful game of poker by Camp Taggart, is what allowed the Ducks to get leveraged. …

Of course the other interpretation of events is that Rob Mullens’s incentives are imperfectly correlated with Duck football success, and that his main concern was to impress his bosses with a plausible quick hire and then lock in his own lucrative contract before the next scandal became public. Which he did very skillfully.

12/5/2017: Another Rob Mullens hiring call goes south

No, I’m not talking about the decision to hire Dana Altman, or give Altman a raise and contract extension, or his various scandals. And I’m not talking about hiring Mike(?) Helfrich, or his raise and contract extension, or the decision to then turn around and fire Helfrich under the new contract terms costing UO $13.7M or so for buyouts which we’re still paying out.

I’m talking about the decision to hire Willie Taggart, who is now on his way to Florida State, and taking his recruits with him. No word yet on whether or not Taggart will leave his strength and conditioning coach for UO to deal with:

8 Comments

  1. Dog 12/05/2017

    You know, I bet if the UO senate appointed Taggart to be the next director of the OBF, then more comments would be generated …

    • uomatters Post author | 12/05/2017

      It does seem like there would be economies of scale and scope from combining the Ducks and the Bach Festival into one scandal-ridden, secretive, money-losing, poorly managed operation with lax JH oversight.

  2. Anonymous 12/05/2017

    Fire Mullens please

    • pants afire 12/06/2017

      Yeah, he didn’t seem to mind having a coach that would outright lie to the media about being contacted by FSU. I guess its the same qualities you want in a coach that would lie about other things for you?

  3. Isaiah 12/05/2017

    No worries, UO! Despite (admittedly) awkward appearances to the contrary, Coach Willie and the Ducks part mutually and on the best of terms. While we have concluded that this relationship isn’t “right” for either of us at this juncture, both parties also agree that we will honor and cherish the memories of our one truly excellent year together, for the rest of our lives apart.

    We hope that all of you, our family, friends and colleagues, will honor and respect this understanding as we, Coach Willie and the Ducks, have also pledged to do.

    No, neither of us will be returning your wedding gifts. YOLO

  4. it was hubris 12/06/2017

    It never occured to JH denizens that someone would walk away from that sweet “coach and their guests only” hot tub room and other amenities. The good news is that now there are a few million extra dollars freed up to reduce tuition, hire professors, or blow on more football crap.

  5. "Robert Maynard. Hutchins" 12/06/2017

    You see, I told you I did the right thing when I cut football at the University of Chicago in 1939 and withdrew from the BigTen. Oh, yes, there were protests from the followers of the Maroons and the ghost of Amos A. Stagg made surreptitious appearances for years thereafter. But the money was invested instead in academics and look what happened to the institution? If my grandson, Michael Schill is willing, I am ready to return to academia and to serve as Director of Athletics. And, yes, Canzano has asked me several times for an interview…

    • old guy 12/06/2017

      Why not hold a referedum on this with the students? Resolved: UO phases out interrcolegiate athletics.

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