Sorry if this has aleady been posted...

Fentress says that the Ducks had McElain on board but he pulled out at the 11th hour .

Corey

According to the USF football website, 6 of 10 of Taggert's assistant coaches were from Western Kentucky.

That he took them to USF with him shows his loyalty.

That he may bring those guys from Western Kentucky out to the PAC-12 (if he's hired), scares the hell out of me.

I'm sure they are great guys and decent coaches but this is BIG BOY FOOTBALL.

No OJT here please.

Corey

- Obviously not too much news today.
- Don't read too much into the search moving to a new basein NYC. As mentioned elsewhere, teh National Football Foundation has their annual awards ceremony tomorrow and there are a lot of people in NYC for the event
- One interesting report came from Aaron Fentress. While most speculated that the 'deal that fell apart' last night was Chip Kelly, Fentress says it was McElwain.
- This would match much better than the Chip Kelly narrative
- Chip's dad passed Friday, so any proposed 'announcement' for Sunday would have been called off much earlier than Sunday afternoon
- While I never thought McElwain was a great fit at Oregon, he would provide the solid culture missing
- Most importantly, the reason that this search is dragging on is simple: The Ducks need to make a splash; but it is more important to get the right guy rather than the splashy guy
- A week ago, it was really Fleck's to lose. The problem is that is when just the non-football, non-legal guys are talking. Phil and Pat like Fleck, but there are others who are not quite so high on him
- I was asked about Mike Bellotti's possible involvement and I think you can see his fingerprints all over the statement being attributed to 'Oregon insiders' when the term not enough substance is used in regard to Fleck.
- Phil and Pat have tremendous respect for Bellotti and will use his more level-headed advice to temper their own enthusiasm; hence the reason for the changing nature of this search
- Dan Mullen. His name keeps coming up, but he might be more difficult to pull. There are things that stand in his favor, like his ties to Chip and Urban Meyer, but his price tag is sure to be steep. He makes north of 4.2 million and would carry about a big buyout; not including assistants.
- Mullen has had fantastic success with both Dak Prescott (presumptive NFL ROY) and Nick Fitzgerald this season, but has not impressed everyone. Mississippi State has made over $100 million in facilities upgrades at his request and he has still not broken through like the brass at MSU had hoped.
- For those that think there was 'no plan' and that Mullens is just flailing about; nothing could be firther from the truth.
- The thing that really blew up this search was Kansas. Yes. Kansas. When they beat Texas, Tom Herman was taken off the table, so to speak. Had the Longhorns won that game, and found a way to become bowl eligible, it is highly probable Charlie Strong saves his job, and with that, Tom Herman is much more available.
- Yes, Oregon would have still had to deal with LSU, and they may have won that battle still, but the Ducks had a much better chance of snagging Herman without Texas
- I will have an article up tomorrow detailing some "Wildcards" and "Sitting Head Coaches" in the AM that could be targeted while Mullens is in New York

Folks...the Pac 12 landscaping is changing. UCLA, USC, and STANFORD have all grown tiered of Oregon's domination. I have read statements from all three programs claiming that they were making a push to improve their programs. To some extent the same can be said of Washington, ASU, UA, and Colorado will continue to be a great distance program. Also Cal (a perennial doormat) signed the top ranked women's cross country runner in the 2017 class. Things are going to get interesting.

Some of us fans from the "Golden Era" remember when the Pac 8 dominated track and field. The Pac 8 Championships were proclaimed "the most talented track meet in the world" The SEC is still #1, but it looks like the Pac 12 might be gaining ground.
Link below:
http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2016/12/2/track-field-ucla-track-hauls-in-top-recruiting-class.aspx

Note...My mistake when I originally posted that this was the early NLI ranking....it is actually 2016/17 final list. Due to the fact that there are often times surprises, a final list is published bu T&F News in Jan. However, it leaks in Dec. and that is the list that UCLA men rank #1.

This list doesn't coincide with the recent early signing NLIs for 2017 that happened the other day.

Track & Field News Class of 2016 Recruiting Rankings

Men
1. UCLA
2. Oregon
3. Tennessee
4. LSU
5. Iowa State
6. Southern California
7. Florida
8. Texas
9. Stanford
10. Texas A&M

Women
1. Stanford
2. Oregon
3. LSU
4. Wisconsin
5. Southern California
6. Texas
7. Florida
8. Georgia
9. Baylor
10. Colorado

yes, you are going to get daily updates (at least) until the search is over!

- Today I took a look at a 'Sitting head coach" who has not been looked at before, and a couple of wildcards

- Why Franklin? his is a name that came up early in teh search process by a well respected industry type. I doubt he is looking to leave, but with what he has done at Penn State this year, and with their offense under Moorhead, I think he has to at least get a looksie

- Speaking of Penn State guys, last week we mentioned that Matt Rhule might get some more talk. Tht happened yesterday when Bellotti was on the Finebaum show

- Yes, Rhule will have a big buyout, but with the success Franklin had this year, the Penn state job might be locked up for quite some time.

- Phil Knight loved Jo Paterno and did his best to stand by Paterno. It is no secret that he tried to keep the Paterno Child Care center name attached, so denigrating candidates due to their association with Paterno probably will give zero clues

- The "Executive search phase" is exactly that. Athletics directors have a short list, once that short list is through, then the search form kicks in and provides some names not considered. There are a lot of talented coaches around the nation and no way can Rob Mullens or his personal aides know all of who might be interested.

- You HAVE to speak to more than 2 or 3 people

- Speaking of Wildcards, Matt Canada. Do I think that the AD goes coordinator with no head coaching experience again? Probably not, but Canada has done a tremendous job at Pitt and everywhere he has been before. He will get a shot soon

- Which brings me to his head coach, Pat Narduzzi. It is no secret that he did a fabulous job at Michigan State and was looking for a HC job; it probably took to long to get one, but would he be ready to jump to Oregon? Maybe.

- Willie Taggart is a name that won't go away. I have disparaged his defense from this season, but much of that can lay at the reality that Taggart's prior DC is now the head coach at Indiana. Toim Allen had the USF defense improving.

- Don't expect Charlie Strong to be a contender at Oregon for any position. If Taggart leaves USF, I expect Strong to get a very serious look there; if he has not been hired already (Cincinnati?)

- Look to see what Houston does in teh coming days, some boosters are really anxious and want Orlando promoted because that would mean keeping Major Applewhite as OC, and that is something in which the powers at Houston are interested. If they hire Miles or Kiffin, watch to see if he is quickly picked up by Herman or becomes a free agent DC

All for now, will have more thoughts later!

Reported by Bruce Feldman

Hmm, maybe a Fuskie...or just maybe Oregon really needs him and he wants to play near home .Would be a great get. OR, maybe it's a pipe dream.

http://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2016/12/daniel_green_wests_top_mlb_and.html

Remaining uncom'd in state psa's. 1 or 2 of these guys could come in handy as the recruitign period shrinks and class size needs expand..

http://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2016/12/oregon_hs_football_top_5_uncom.html#0

Per twitter

Drop by one of Oregon's targets.

Risers and sliders in the R100

They just hired Brohm (sp ?) from Western Kentucky.

From Western Kentucky to Purdue...per ESPN

-16.5, Bama?

McElwain:
- Yes, there are legs to the McElwain interest. I cover some of those in a new article up in the AM.
- He and a couple members of his staff have deep ties to the NW.
- McElwain was hired by Jeremy Foley at Florida, but Foley just retired and word is that McElwain and his new AD Scott Stricklin do not see eye-to-eye
- There are also some industry folks who say that McElwain does not really like some of the infrastructure at Florida
- Stricklin's previous gig was as AD at Mississippi State; guess who he'd love to bring along?

Chip Kelly:
- Chip Kelly rumors. They are heating up. One source who I have never quoted before (and still won't name) has said as much as "it is a done deal. Still some details contractually to be figured out." Not sure if I entirely believe this, but he is a close confidant of the inner circle for Knight, so he absolutely could know

Greg Schiano:
- Greg Schiano is a possibility. He has the ability to rebuild a program with toughness and structure. Phil really likes him and he has done a tremendous job as the DC at Ohio State, not to mention building Rutgers from a laughing stock into a very good program

Harsin:
- Pretty sure Oregon has reached out to him, but he is not in the top 3 of their list and probably will not get that low.

Frost:
- Do not discount this possibility. Phil Knight loves Frost and Frost knows the culture well. He is an exceptional recruiter who could easily get most of the recruits back on board. Clearly his staff has strong Oregon ties as well

Just for fun.

Fleck.

Why.

The fact that that have not announced anything and perhaps they let Fleck get through his weekend with his team banquets etc.

Just a feeling, because I have absolutely no inside info!

Corey

Fun with slams.

Login to view embedded media

So who is the new wildcard candidate ? Canzano is reporting that the coaching search is moved to New York and that there is a wildcard candidate. Who is the best guess?

My guess.......
Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump will be our new head coach!

My gut says Fleck, heart says Chip.

But my nervous pessimistic fingers say Harsin or Taggart,

Was just interviewed on ESPN at his teams banquet for the announcement that WMU is going to the Cotton Bowl to face Wisconsin.

He will be coaching in that game, and just last night was involved in recruiting for WMU and missed the Wisconsin vs Penn State game because of it.

Sad. He could have been a big time coach at Oregon, in my opinion. Oregon needed him, sadly Mullens was in fact never interested in him. Canzano was right (ugh).

Whose next? I guess its Harsin/Taggert or bust.

Forgive me if this has already been posted, but I just read Ken Woody's RG article on our Ducks needing to get tough. He says a lot more than this, in an evisceration of Oregon coaching on both sides of the ball that is surprising in it's candor.

http://registerguard.com/rg/sports/...k-football-players-need-to-get-tough.html.csp

Helfrich has been beaten up enough, but he deserves to be chop blocked when he called Chip to intervene to save staff jobs, for all the reasons Woody cites. In many ways, Woody confirms what Scott and others here have said with regard to how extensively our football culture has deteriorated.

All of this comes with a plea to whomever replaces Helfrich to start with a clean slate and a bull whip.

Here are some of my musings about the coaching search and its affect on recruiting.

Need for speed

I'm not claiming to know who is the front runner or the best possible candidate. However, let's just take a quick look here.

#1 Recommended highly by Tony Dungy
#2 7 years head coaching experience. He is seasoned.
#3 First season at WKU... 2-10....next two seasons 7-5..... looks like he improved the program
#4 Continued to develop his talent as a head coach as demonstrated by his upward trajectory at SFU

SFU record
1st season.... 2-10
2nd................4-8
3rd.................8-5
currently.......10-2
That's impressive and steady improvement.
If Tony Dungy recommends him, it might be a positive regarding the character of Taggart.

..by a poster (no idea how reliable) on TOS with a buddy who I guess had direct knowledge/reviewing of the contract. Announcement from the AD coming tomorrow evening.

I will edit this if it turns out he is a complete moron lol

1. Bama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Washington

Roll tide and go tigers!