EUGENE -- Each week, Willie Taggart makes a few important phone calls.
One goes to Jack Harbaugh, and that's no surprise. It's been 23 years since he recruited Taggart to play quarterback at Western Kentucky, yet their connection remains as tight, and well-known, as ever.
But before and after each game, the Oregon Ducks football coach dials another coach. One who's known Taggart for little more than three years, yet has become as trusted as anyone in Taggart's inner circle: Dick Tomey.
Tomey, whose five-decade career included head-coaching gigs at Hawaii, Arizona and San Jose State, hasn't been on a college sideline since 2011.