Sources: Oregon to hire USF's Willie Taggart as next coach

— -- University of South Florida's Willie Taggart will be named Oregon's next football coach, sources told ESPN.

Taggart replaces Mark Helfrich, who was fired by Oregon a week ago after going 4-8 overall and 2-7 in the Pac-12 this season.

Taggart and Mississippi State's Dan Mullen were the two finalists for the Oregon job, a source said.

Taggart had been at USF for four seasons, increasing his win total from two in his first season to four and then eight. This year's 10-2 record was the best in school history.

Taggart also was an assistant at Stanford from 2007 to 2009, and head coach at Western Kentucky from 2010 to 2012.?When Taggart was at Stanford, he helped recruit quarterback Andrew Luck.

With Taggart headed to the West Coast, potential candidates for the South Florida job would include Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, former Texas coach Charlie Strong, Florida State co-offensive coordinator Lawrence Dawsey (a former USF assistant) and Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, sources told ESPN.

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy, whose son Eric played at Oregon before transferring to USF to finish his career under Taggart, spoke to Oregon officials on Taggart's behalf.

"He knows the West Coast, having been at Stanford," Dungy told ESPN last week. "He has all the elements Oregon is looking for. He's a bright young coach, and it makes him easy to recommend.

"Oregon is a different situation [than USF]. You're not coming in taking something from the ground floor. You need a coach that can come in and get players going and coach well. It's a big challenge at Oregon, one that he would be successful at. You're not trying to become respectable. You're trying to win national championships -- it's a different kind of challenge."

Information from ESPN's Chris Low was used in this report.