The Willie Taggart era has gotten off to a pretty shaky start as strength and conditioning coach Irele Oderinde was suspended within a week of being hired because of three players were hospitalized after going through workouts. Those workouts were described as "grueling" and "akin to military basic training" and those characterizations were not appreciated by the head coach.
RELATED: Six days after taking job, a Power 5 coach has been suspended and three players in the hospital
Andrew Greif is the reporter from The Oregonian who broke the story that has caused Taggart so much grief. And it looks like the story has caused so much trouble that Taggart refuses to speak to the reporter. The coach said that the descriptions of the workouts were inaccurate, unfair and directly contradicted what Taggart told the reporter before the story was written.
"When you're not fair and honest, then to me that's personal," Taggart said. "When you do something that's negative and it's going to be personal, then I won't have shit to do with you."
Greif defended his piece and noted that multiple sources characterized the workouts as grueling and militaristic. He said UO spokespeople did not question those characterizations when he asked them to confirm the nature of the workouts. Meanwhile, a faculty athletics representative who investigated said the story was fair and that coaches made mistakes in the first workout, but that the characterization of the workouts was misinterpreted by the public.
Regardless of what it looks like, there were clearly some mistakes made and Taggart will have a few things to learn as a first time Power 5 coach.
[h/t Daily Emerald]
