Oregon coach Willie Taggart has been all over the place on the recruiting trail, but took some time to speak to Sports 750 The Game about his new job and hiring a defensive coordinator.

On hiring new defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt...

"He is one heck of a coach if you look at what he has done, you look at his resume and he's been successful everywhere he has been. He is one of the better defensive coordinators that is out there and it is going to be one of the most important hires I make. I wanted to make sure we got someone in here that would get our guys going on the defensive side of the ball, I think we all know defense wins championships and that is our intention."

On his first week of being Oregon's head coach...

"It is [a bit of a whirlwind], but you try to prioritize things and get it done as they come, knowing it is going to be a lot of work. But you go in anticipating that, so for me it has just been fun and exciting and I am running off enthusiasm by itself. Just excited about the whole process, putting it all together and try to make it work again. It is another challenge, but it is something you have been through and just knowing that you have done it in a couple of places. So you can do it, it is just a matter of getting everybody going in the right direction and trying to get the University of Oregon back to where we all know it can be."

On Oregon recruiting compared to previous head coaching jobs...

"Oh absolutely, since the day I got hired my phone has been blowing up. It gets frustrating that I can't get back to them all as quick as I want to, but it is also exciting to see so many kids reach out to you and say they want to be a part of this football program and that really has me excited. Being the coach here I am excited about the recruiting process because there are a lot of young men who want to be a part of this and I am excited to go out on the road and see some of them to see if we can find the right young men to help build this football program like we want to."

On open vs. closed practices...

"Each coach is different and they run their program a certain way, you can't knock a coach for how they do it. I think the coaches here did it their way and they were successful with it. For me, we will have some practices that are open, we'll have some that are not open. I think there is a time you can let people in and be a part of it, I mean they are so passionate about their football team I think it is only right that you share that. But there are also times where you need total focus on the job you are doing without a ton of distractions."

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You can listen to the entire interview here: