Should Oregon be worried by beginning of Taggart era?

The Willie Taggart as head coach at Oregon train needs to have the brakes pumped, after the recent events that have occurred over the past few weeks.

First, it was strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde being suspended without pay, after three players were sent to the hospital over military-like strength and conditioning workouts.

"As the head football coach, I hold myself responsible for all of our football-related activities and the safety of our students must come first," Taggart said at the time.

But just weeks later, Oregon is back in the news once again, this time after firing co-offensive coordinator David Reaves Sunday following his arrest for DUI.

To add to the madness, Reaves was hired just last week after working with Taggart at South Florida, raising questions over the type of people Taggart is bringing into the Oregon football program.

This is not the first strength and conditioning coach to have players sent to the hospital, nor the first coach to receive a DUI. However, to have both happen within a matter of weeks raises a red flag.

For all the glitz and glamour Oregon promotes, its athletic department lives and dies by football ticket sales at the modest 54,000 seat Autzen Stadium.

Oregon fired former head coach Mark Helfrich because support was starting to fall after a 13-12 record the past two years, including a 4-8 mark in 2016 - the worst season since 1991.

Taggart was considered an up-and-coming coach, with a high octane offense and deep west-coast ties from his time at Stanford, making it look like a perfect match.

But with National Signing Day just nine days away, to have a staff member suspended without pay and a coach fired for DUI, it's hard to imagine recruits and their parents lining up to commit to the Ducks with such turmoil going on.

A disturbing trend has started to surface in Eugene, and if Taggart wants to have a successful tenure as the Ducks head man, he will have to hope these blips are just coincidences and not the start of a series of unfortunate events.