After finishing 4-8 last season, Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens did his job. He fired Duck football coach Mark Helfrich and found an up-and-coming coach to replace him with. Mullens didn’t seem to care that Helfrich had led the Ducks to the College Football Playoff in National Championship game two seasons before. Mullens saw that the Ducks had finished last in the Pac-12 North after winning just two conference games and decided a change was necessary. This is how an athletic director is supposed to act.
After conducting his search, Mullens hired Willie Taggart from the University of South Florida.