Take Two: Taggart at Oregon, Fleck's future, Purdue under Brohm

Take Two is back this week tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape.

Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

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Storyline: Oregon fired Mark Helfrich last week after a miserable season where the Ducks finished 4-8 including blowout losses to Washington, Washington State, USC, Stanford and a 10-point loss to Oregon State, which was the final nail in Helfrich’s coffin.

There were a lot of big-ticket coaches available during the search with Temple’s Matt Rhule, Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck and Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin among the names thrown around.

Oregon hired South Florida coach Willie Taggart, who led the Bulls to a 10-win regular season but doesn’t exactly have the best coaching records through his young career.

Three seasons at Western Kentucky: 16-20 overall. Four seasons at USF: 24-25 overall.

Is this a home run hire? Could be. But Taggart definitely comes with some concerns as well as he looks to rebuild Oregon into a Pac-12 power again.

First take: “Taggart was one of the first two coaches interviewed by Athletic Director Rob Mullens during the coaching search this last week. Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy has spoken of the upside to Taggart early and often with the Oregon administration and was full-throated in his endorsement of the former USF coach.

“Coming from completely outside the current Oregon program was one of the tenants of this coaching search that Mullens communicated during his initial press conference. What Taggart will bring to Eugene is energy and accountability that was arguably starting to wane for the Ducks. On the recruiting side is where Taggart may truly separate himself. As Oregon's classes have dipped slightly but noticeable lately, Taggart is well-respected as a recruiter, and the early reactions from Duck targets are decidedly positive.” – A.J. Jacobson, DuckSportsAuthority.com

Second take: “Chip Kelly didn’t have ties to the West Coast when he went out there and he was extremely successful. Taggart was the running backs coach at Stanford for two years but he was born in Florida, played at Western Kentucky, coached at Western Kentucky and then he went to South Florida. Does Oregon need a West Coast guy to be a successful head coach? I think they do. I know he put up big-time numbers at Western Kentucky, but that’s a completely different ballgame. He’s had some success at USF but a year ago at the beginning of the season they were ready to fire him after he was 2-10 and 4-8 and started off 1-3. He’s a reach. It’s an odd hire to me when you have guys out there like Rhule, Fleck or you could try to lure away Mike Gundy or Kiffin. It’s a very risky hire and I don’t see him turning that program around.” - Farrell

Storyline: By the looks of it, P.J. Fleck is returning to Western Michigan for another season of rowing the boat in the MAC.

There were plenty of available jobs this offseason to get Fleck out of Kalamazoo to bigger, greener pastures, but those positions are filling up fast, and there is talk about a contract extension with the Broncos.

Could Fleck be setting himself up like Tom Herman did at Texas, where Herman thrived at Houston so he could be in line for the Longhorns' job – or another major position – once it opened?

Things at Notre Dame are certainly tense. There could be some Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12 positions available after next season if coaches on the hot seat don’t come through.

Maybe one more season is in store for Fleck at Western Michigan and then like Herman, who could’ve had the LSU or Texas job this offseason, Fleck will be first in line for the job he wants this time next year.

First take: “P.J. Fleck knew his worth long before the rest of the college football world, recognized it, and he is going to wait until an opportunity befitting that perception of his own worth comes along before he leaves Kalamazoo. I do not see that opportunity being another mid-major program, or even a lower-tier Power Five program. I see that being one of the 15-20 blue blood-type programs in college football, and what I see is Fleck being patient until one of those opportunities arise.

“A lot of comparisons are made between Fleck and current Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly because they both coached/coach at Michigan directional schools, but the way they have handled their own careers is very different from one another. Kelly was trying to play Iowa State against Michigan State, it backfired, he panicked and took the Cincinnati job. It all worked out in the end as Kelly eventually did land in South Bend, but I do not see Fleck panicking. He's comfortable at Western Michigan and has no reason to make small jumps when that big jump is not more than a year or two away.” – Rivals.com Midwest Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmholdt

Second take: “I don’t think people believe in him as much as Herman, who really got a lot of his notoriety from being at Ohio State. The MAC is not the AAC. Is he being smart waiting out for another job? He could be mentioned for Notre Dame for sure and you’ll have other jobs come open next year, potentially in the SEC and in the Pac-12. I don’t think it’s a Tom Herman situation waiting for Texas because Herman was a graduate assistant at UT - he dreamed of the Texas job forever. Herman took the Houston job to get closer to where he wanted to be. Fleck has no direct ties to Notre Dame at all. It will be interesting to see what job he gets next year, because barring a crazy, awful season he’s going to be one of the hottest coaches around to replace some of these coaches that get fired.” - Farrell

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Storyline: Jeff Brohm did wonders at Western Kentucky. Purdue is a different sort of animal, but it’s now time to see if Brohm can return the Boilermakers to the proud program it once was.

Offense should not be a problem. In leading Western Kentucky to a 30-10 mark in three seasons, including a 22-5 record the last two, Brohm had the Hilltoppers going up and down the field with ease.

But the Big Ten – and Purdue’s capabilities – could be of issue. What works at Western Kentucky doesn’t necessarily work against Wisconsin and Michigan and Ohio State. And even if it did, do the Boilermakers have the playmakers to accomplish Brohm’s ideas on the field?

This is going to be a two-headed monster to tackle for Brohm and the new Purdue staff: First, implement the system. Second, convince enough high-level players to come to West Lafayette, Ind., to get it done.

The Big Ten is getting much, much better. Purdue has not been. Changing that dynamic will be Brohm’s charge.

First take: “Brohm's offensive brand of football is exciting with its willingness to take shots down the field and piling up big-time passing numbers while also relying on the balance of a power run game that produced 1,000-yard rushers during each of his three seasons as a head coach at Western Kentucky. He's hoping a no-huddle, mostly uptempo style can give Purdue an "edge," though he'll likely face much tougher defenses in the Big Ten than his offense was competing against in Conference USA.

“The bigger issue than potential style for Brohm in his first season may be fitting Purdue's personnel to that system — or adjusting said system — because there doesn't appear to be depth of talent on the 2017 roster to plug in pieces to have this offense humming in Year One. He'll have to replace three starters on the offensive line and the team's top four receivers, and both position groups are critical to any offense's success, but especially Brohm's. And there are few proven options on the current roster, so Brohm may be forced into starting several first-year players, which could mean taking lumps initially. But there is some hope: Purdue returns quarterback David Blough, who led the Big Ten in completions, yards and touchdowns, and there is young talent in the backfield and at tight end. That just could mean a shift in focus from Brohm's traditional offensive approach, at least until he can get his own recruits into the program.” – Stacy Clardie, GoldandBlack.com

Second take: “He can try it, but it’s not going to work because he’s not going to have the weapons. The Big Ten is so improved, even in the West. It’s not your slow Big Ten anymore where a high-octane offense would go in there and just outscore everybody. He’s going to try to do it and he’s a very good offensive coach, but I don’t think Purdue is going to have the athletes to be able to do that.” - Farrell