Taggart Tidbits: What do YOU Think?

Charles Fischer, Mr. FishDuck Editorials

My friends, we will have fewer official written articles per week beginning this week, but we are also beginning a new type of article that is simply meant to initiate discussion and get your opinions. The readers engage now on this site like never before, and it is fun to learn from others and see how fellow Duck fan weigh in on major topics.

Thus we will begin an occasional article that is short–sometimes only a paragraph or two–as I don’t have enough time to write out a full article, but the subject is current … and interesting. Since this site has almost become a message board in the comments, why not expand upon it and as a group ponder the current topics at Oregon athletics?

I have not come up with a name for this type of article yet and welcome your input into that as well; the objective is to simply get it started and get your feedback on the topic. Remember that we have Rules of Commenting and that means that you will be protected from the trolls as I will delete all posts that have belittling, insulting, name-calling or profanity within them immediately. Disagreement is fine, but I will insist that everyone do it in a civil way as before.

Let’s have fun with this!              Charles Fischer  

Does he stay or does he go? 

I have relationships with the two major Oregon websites where I can use old information after it is out for a while and considered “dated” to their subscribers, but it still fresh for many of us on the free sites. Justin Hopkins at ScoopDuck.com (who does a superb job with recruiting) has stated about a day ago that Coach Willie Taggart and Phil Knight were going to have a meeting to hash out the new contract, and this would imply that Taggart is staying put.

Phil Knight and Rob Mullens in a better time.

But other Florida State sources say that the delay is really working out the contract details between Taggart and the Seminoles, and is taking more time than thought. Which is it?

The rumor is that Willie wants some funding in the Duck budget for additional programs to benefit student athletes that existed at South Florida, but not Oregon. (Not related to his salary or contract) We can all agree that the longer this drags out–the worse it is for Oregon, and this is not a good look for Taggart, as everyone will be a bit more wary around him–even if he stays at Oregon.

Tweets from Florida State seem to imply that Taggart is their major target, and it simply a function of ironing it all out.

Another aspect of all of this is Taggart’s agent, Jimmy Sexton, who is skilled at keeping his clients’ names in the news as candidates at coaching openings. (as he did for Jimbo Fisher) Florida State is weary of dealing with him, and may not relish ongoing haggling with him and thus continuing with Coach Taggart negotiations. This “hassle factor” for both Florida State and Athletic Director Rob Mullens at Oregon might be another factor in how far both sides are willing to proceed with Taggart.

I have come down with stating that I believe he stays at Oregon ultimately, but heck–it is a 50/50 guess!

Does he stay or does he go? Tell me your thoughts and why you feel that way.

Charles Fischer   (FishDuck)
Eugene, Oregon

Top Photo: From Video

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

Our 33 rules at the free OBD Forum can be summarized to this: 1) be polite and respectful, 2) do not tell anyone what to think, feel or write, and 3) no reference of any kind to politics. Easy-peasy!

OBD Forum members….we got your back.  No Trolls Allowed!