When Willie Taggart was hired as the next head coach of the Oregon Ducks, he talked about the importance of recruiting, and most specifically, about the importance of recruiting in-state players. He called it paramount to reel in the top talent in the state.

With the buzz, rush, excitement, sometimes confusion, and full-throttle energy of his first two months in the rear view mirror post signing day, comments emerged from Sheldon head coach Lane Johnson in an Arizona newspaper which seemed to stir up some emotions. Call it sour grapes, call it carefully used quotes, but it pointed to an issue that pops up in many places. This is not an Oregon problem.

Recently, David Feaster, a high school coach in Louisiana, asserted he would not allow Alabama coaches into his high school for what he called ‘unethical conduct.’ He was fired less than two weeks later.

This is big business and many lives depend on the success of a college football coach – so high school coaches have some measure of power – but not much. Lane Johnson’s comments were not meant to say anything more than that the new Oregon coaches, in their whirlwind effort to reel in the best possible recruiting class they could, had not done much outreach to high school coaches.

While it appears somewhat self-serving to make such statements publicly to an Arizona newspaper, it did not lack credibility. We have talked to multiple high school coaches across the nation whose players are being recruited by the Ducks, most of them have told us that they have not talked much with the Oregon staff. That does not mean that the Oregon coaches are not making an effort, but this is an entirely new staff of coaches who have some relationships already established, but must make many new contacts. That takes time.

This weekend, the Duck staff began to really make inroads in that regard with their attendance at the Nike High School Coaches clinic in the Portland area. This is a long-running event designed to help high school coaches (and youth coaches) understand how to be better coaches. Nike brings in some of their top coaches to deliver clinics on everything from teaching responsibility to position specific mechanics. At an event in 2004, Jeff Tedford, then Cal head coach, talked some very specific drills on quarterback mechanics using film and specific examples.

It is also an opportunity for high school coaches in Oregon and southwest Washington to network. An opportunity Oregon coaches took to continue their outreach program.

The Oregon staff attended the event with the specific intent of getting to know the Oregon high school coaches on a deeper level. With signing day in the past, and spring football yet to come, this was the perfect opportunity to invest in the future through relationships.

He has built those relationships in the past and understands how to do so – but it takes time. Important and meaningful relationships are not developed overnight – and certainly not when attempting to resuscitate a program which had fallen stale over the course of the last two seasons. Robert Weiner, head coach at Plant High School in Tampa, knows Taggart has that ability, as do most of the coaches we talked to in the south who have worked with him over the past few seasons while he was at South Florida. Weiner, who once worked for Taggart for about twenty-four hours, also knows that Taggart is an exceptional recruiter who understands relationships.

Lane Johnson was right when he said he had not yet heard much from Taggart. His frustration at watching a key player on his team be recruited with little or no contact from the staff is understandable. Nonetheless, it was also a bit early to question the methodology of a coach on a mission. A month later, the Oregon coaches have been on at least two tours of the state to meet and greet with coaches and have now attended a coaching clinic to continue their outreach.

David Kelly, Director of Football Recruiting Operations for the Ducks, has established a plan for reaching out to coaches. In the relationship-centric business of college recruiting Kelly and Willie Taggart are taking the long view – and this weekend was the perfect example. Johnson’s frustration was real, just early. Taggart and his staff are performing tremendous outreach to Oregon high school coaches.

Defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt summed it up best with his quote: “Must recruit Oregon hard!” Attendance at the Nike clinic was the perfect step in that direction.

Plus, it was a great place for him to get a Pepsi.