The UO Board of Trustees’ Executive and Audit committee unaimously approved a five-year, $16 million contract on Friday morning for newly hired Oregon head coach Willie Taggart.
The contract — which runs through January 2022 — will average $3.2 million annually for the 40-year-old coach.
“We couldn’t have selected such a great coach without your support,” Oregon athletic director told the comittee. “We were impressed with Coach Taggart from the first time we met him. His background at Stanford as an assistant coach and the opportunity to turn around two programs that were in poor shape.”
Mullens also cited Taggart’s “clear vision to compete for championships.” Mullens said Taggart took a red-eye flight to Hawaii last night to begin in-person recruiting.
Taggart’s salary at Oregon is a sizable increase from his earnings at South Florida. He signed a contract extension in 2015 for a $1.7 million per-year salary.

Taggart is eligible to receive a variety of bonuses, including $500,000 for winning and $250,000 for reaching the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Should the Ducks win a Pac-12 game title under Taggart’s leadership, he will receive $150,000.
The new coach will receive a $100,000 bonus if the Ducks earn a single-year academic progress rate of 985 or greater in June 2018 based on 2016-17 data.
Per the contract, Oregon will pay a buyout not to exceed $1.7 million to South Florida.
Taggart will also receive two courtesy cars, a family membership to the Eugene Country Club, a family membership to the Downtown Athletic Club, 12 tickets to each Oregon football game, four tickets to other UO sporting events and a Nike Elite allowance “at the discretion of the Athletic Director.”
“I think he has the right values,” Oregon president Michael Schill said. “He has always stressed the importance of student athletes both on the field and off the field. I think that’s important.”
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