Last week it came to light that Willie Taggart was no longer speaking with Oregon's lead beat writer.
The Oregonian's Andrew Greif broke the story that led to Oregon strength coach Irele Oderinde's 1-month suspension, and Taggart didn't like the way Greif phrased the story -- throwing in the term "military" to describe the workout -- or the way Greif handled the story once it went national. (Beat writers are supposed to turn down opportunities to appear on ESPN's Outside the Lines to discuss the news they broke, apparently.) Taggart defended his stance with some truly unbelievable quotes:
“When you’re not fair and honest, then to me that’s personal,” Taggart said. “When you do something that’s negative and it’s going to be personal, then I won’t have shit to do with you.”
“‘You’ve got to be shitting me,’ was kind of my reaction,” Taggart said. “I explained exactly what happened and he didn’t report it.”
It appears that's all over now.
Taggart on Monday tweeted a photo of himself with Greif in the coach's office. The photo was not captioned, but the expressions on their faces -- and the fact the photo was taken at all -- says everything words could.
This is the right move for Taggart. Picking a fight with The Media as a faceless monolith can often be an effective strategy for people in power, but picking a fight with a specific member of the media hardly ever comes across as anything other than bullying.