The Oklahoma Sooners have made a savvy front-office addition to support their football program, announcing Monday that Mark Taurisani has joined the athletics department as Deputy Athletics Director for Sport Administration. Taurisani, who arrives in Norman in May 2026, will serve as the primary sport administrator for football while supervising all sport administrators department-wide. He will also oversee critical student-athlete support units, including strength and conditioning, sport science, and student-athlete benefits.
The move brings one of college football’s most experienced and trusted football operations minds into a high-level administrative role at a program with national championship aspirations. Taurisani’s hire comes at a pivotal time as Oklahoma continues to navigate the evolving landscape of NIL, roster management, and athlete support in the SEC era.
What makes the hire particularly noteworthy is Taurisani’s extraordinarily close, two-decade professional relationship with Illinois head coach Bret Bielema. Taurisani has worked alongside Bielema for all 17 years of the veteran coach’s head-coaching career, dating back to his time as a young operations assistant at Wisconsin in 2006. He served as Director of Football Operations for Bielema at Wisconsin (2010-12), Arkansas (2013-17, with the final four seasons as Assistant Athletics Director), and most recently as Chief of Staff at Illinois (Assistant AD from 2021-23, promoted to Associate AD in 2024).
That continuity is rare in college football. “He’s been with me every step of the way,” Bielema has said of Taurisani in past interviews, describing him as the ultimate right-hand man who handles the day-to-day logistics so coaches can focus on Xs and Os. During his five seasons in Champaign, Taurisani helped transform Illinois football. The Illini posted 37 overall wins and 23 Big Ten victories, captured back-to-back bowl wins (2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl over No. 14 South Carolina and 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl over No. 23 Tennessee), and achieved the program’s first pair of nine-win seasons in back-to-back years. Bielema set multiple school records under Taurisani’s watch, including wins in a season (10 in 2024) and total victories in a coach’s first five seasons (37).
Before Illinois, Taurisani spent three seasons (2018-20) as Director of Football Operations at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, adding Big Ten and College Football Playoff experience to his résumé. He also spent the summer of 2005 as a training camp assistant with the Seattle Seahawks.
A native of Utica, N.Y., Taurisani played college baseball at SUNY Fredonia, earning first-team all-conference honors as team captain. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in sports and exercise (2003) and a master’s in sport administration from Louisville (2005).Taurisani and his wife, Tara, are parents to three daughters: Rose, Avery, and Matea.
For Oklahoma, the hire represents a clear win in the administrative arms race. In an era where football programs succeed or fail based on seamless operations, Taurisani’s proven track record coordinating 15 bowl trips and two Big Ten Championship Games — plus his deep familiarity with high-level Power conference logistics — should provide immediate stability and expertise to the Sooners’ football support staff. Expect him to be a quiet but critical behind-the-scenes force in Norman.