Raven Country

Ravens Name New Assistant Head Coach

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has a new right-hand man.
Jon Alfano|
Florida Atlantic coach Willie Taggart coaches against Memphis in the Montgomery Bowl held at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday December 23, 2020.
Florida Atlantic coach Willie Taggart coaches against Memphis in the Montgomery Bowl held at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., on Wednesday December 23, 2020. | Mickey Welsh / Advertiser via Imagn Content Services, LLC

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Baltimore Ravens

With the Baltimore Ravens parting ways with assistant head coach Chris Hewitt this offseason, finding a new right-hand man for head coach John Harbaugh became a priority. Now, they have their guy.

On Friday, the Ravens officially announced the promotion of running backs coach Willie Taggart to assistant head coach, alongside several other moves. Taggart will continue to work primarily with the running backs, but now he'll advise Harbaugh as well.

Taggart, 48, has a wealth of head-coaching experience at the collegiate level. The Bradenton, Florida native was previously the head coach at Western Kentucky (2010-12), South Florida (2013-16), Oregon (2017), Florida State (2018-19) and Florida Atlantic (2020-22). His results at some of those schools left a bit to be desired, but he's definitely qualified to be an advisor of sorts.

Taggart joined the Ravens in 2023, marking his first NFL job despite coaching since 1999. This season, he helped newcomer Derrick Henry rush for 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns, easily overcoming some initial concerns about his fit in the offense. He also helped Justice Hill have a career season, particularly as a receiver out of the backfield.

Baltimore also announced several new hires. Those hires were reported previously, but the only ones the Ravens officially announced were Chuck Pagano as senior defensive assistant/secondary coach and Tyler Santucci as inside linebackers coach.

The new hires the team didn't previously announce include defensive backs coach Donald D'Alesio, assistant linebackers coach Matt Pees (son of senior advisor Dean Pees), assistant special teams coach Anthony Levine and assistant strength and conditioning coach Kevin Hartman.

Harbaugh's staff has undergone several changes almost every year, yet he continues to find quality coaches to fill voids. Hopefully, he can keep up that good streak this season.

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Jon Alfano
JON ALFANO

Jon is a lead writer for Baltimore Ravens On SI and contributes to other sites around the network as well. The Tampa native previously worked with sites such as ClutchPoints and GiveMeSport and earned his journalism degree at the University of Central Florida.

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