Willie Taggart
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Oregon |
| Conference | Pac-12 |
| Record | 0–0 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
August 27, 1976 Bradenton, Florida |
| Alma mater | Western Kentucky |
| Playing career | |
| 1994–1998 | Western Kentucky |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1999 | Western Kentucky (WR) |
| 2000 | Western Kentucky (QB) |
| 2001–2002 | Western Kentucky (co-OC/QB) |
| 2003–2006 | Western Kentucky (AHC/QB) |
| 2007–2009 | Stanford (RB) |
| 2010–2012 | Western Kentucky |
| 2013–2016 | South Florida |
| 2017–present | Oregon |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 40–45 |
| Bowls | 0–1 |
Willie Taggart (born August 27, 1976) is the head college football coach at the University of Oregon and a former college football player. Taggart previously served as head coach at Western Kentucky University (WKU) from 2009 to 2012 and the University of South Florida from 2013 to 2016. He is the first African American head football coach at each of the three institutions.
Taggart was a prep standout at Bradenton Manatee High School in Florida, where he was a first team all-state and all-conference selection as a senior after guiding the Hurricanes to the state 5A Championship game. He led MHS to the state title his junior season and helped the school post a 26–4 record during that two-year span, while recording more than 3,000 yards passing and 975 yards on the ground.
After high school, Taggart became a star quarterback for the WKU Hilltoppers from 1995 through 1998, being one of only three WKU players in the previous 50 years to be a four-year starter at the position and one of only four Hilltoppers players to have his jersey retired. In each of his last two collegiate seasons, he was a finalist for the prestigious Walter Payton Award, which is an honor given annually to the top offensive player in I-AA football. Taggart finished fourth in the balloting in 1997 and seventh as a senior the following year. An All-American as a senior, he was also the 1998 I-AA Independents’ Offensive Player of the Year. Taggart was recruited to WKU by Jim Harbaugh to play for his father, Jack Harbaugh.
After graduating from WKU in 1998, he stayed on at the school as an assistant through 2006, serving as co-offensive coordinator under Jack Harbaugh on the Hilltoppers' 2002 Division I-AA national champions. Taggart also worked alongside Harbaugh's son Jim, who had been an unpaid certified assistant coach under his father in the final years of his NFL career.
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