Earlier this week USF head coach Willie Taggart's name popped up as a potential coaching candidate for Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens.

It now appears that Taggart is emerging as a top candidate.

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Wednesday FoxSports.com's Bruce Feldman reported Taggart was a "strong" candidate for the job, and then one day later USA Today's Dan Wolken reported that Tony Dungy, a former NFL head coach, and father of an ex-Duck, was pushing for Oregon to hire Taggart away from Florida.

Saturday morning the Oregonian's John Canzano reported that Taggart and Oregon AD Rob Mullens have had an interview.

ltr">USF's Willie Taggart met w Rob Mullens in Texas on Thursday night, per source. Today feels like a big day for this search. Candidates ahead. — John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) December 3, 2016

DuckTerritory reported on Friday that Taggart's name continues to gain momentum within the Oregon coaching search team. He's a young and upcoming coach, who has turned around two group of five college programs into bowl games, most recently this season at USF.

The Bulls are 10-2 ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll heading into the final week of the regular season.

Taggart has a career coaching record of 40-45 and six seasons and a 0-1 bowl record.

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