Oregon football is coming off its first losing season in more than a decade. Here are five reasons why the Ducks will continue to struggle in 2017.
Last season Oregon fell from its perch among the tier of nouveau riche contenders in college football. The Ducks went 4-8, missing out on a bowl game for the first time in more than 10 years. As a result, head coach Mark Helfrich was fired. An era ended with the termination, as a coaching lineage that began with Rich Brooks’ hire in the late 1970s was severed completely.
In his place arrived Willie Taggart, the former Western Kentucky and South Florida head coach. With the move to Eugene, Taggart finally gets his first chance to lead a Power Five program. He will have greater resources at Oregon than he has enjoyed at previous stops in Group of Five leagues. But will Taggart drown out the successes of the past in his quest to change the culture?
The Ducks were already trending downward after reaching the national championship game twice in the past decade. Helfrich’s firing was not completely unforeseen. But a school that billed itself as a cutting-edge brand name is now facing a total reboot.
That effort could certainly backfire. Programs with far more history than Oregon have collapsed when outsiders have arrived with plans of shaking up traditions.