Completed Event: Baseball versus (3) Georgia on June 15, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 3
Final
Baseball
4
vs (3) Georgia
3
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Staff Directory
Mark Taurisani
- Title:
- Deputy AD / Sport Administration
Mark Taurisani joined the University of Oklahoma staff in May 2026 as Deputy Athletics Director/Sport Administration. Taurisani provides executive leadership and oversight of sport administration and student-athlete support units.
Serving as the primary sport administrator for football and supervising all sport administrators across the department to ensure alignment in service standards, Taurisani also oversees key units dedicated to enhancing student-athlete experience, including strength and conditioning, sport science and student-athlete benefits.
Taurisani came to OU after spending the previous five years on the Illinois football staff as Assistant Athletics Director/Chief of Staff from 2021-23 and Associate Athletics Director/Chief of Staff from 2024-26. He oversaw administrative aspects of the Illini football program, including those involving head coach Bret Bielema.
Taurisani helped elevate Illinois Football in his five seasons in Champaign. During that time, the Illini amassed 37 overall wins, 23 Big Ten victories and bowl triumphs in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. Illinois was particularly effective the last of those two seasons, totaling 19 wins (the most over a two-year stretch in program history) and posting back-to-back campaigns of at least nine victories for the first time ever.
With Taurisani on Illinois' staff, Bielema set school records for wins in a season (10 in 2024), bowl games (three), bowl victories (two) and total wins in a head coach's first five seasons (37). Bielema became the first head coach in Illinois history to win bowl games in back-to-back seasons, as the Illini beat No. 14 South Carolina in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and No. 23 Tennessee in the 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. The contests marked the first two victories over SEC opponents in Illinois history. The lllini finished the 2024 season ranked No. 16 in the nation (AP/Coaches polls) and the 2025 season at No. 25 (Coaches poll).
Taurisani, who worked with Bielema in all 17 of his years as a head coach (13 bowl games), came to Illinois after three seasons (2018-20) at Michigan as Director of Football Operations. Prior to his stint with the Wolverines, Taurisani spent five seasons (with Bielema at Arkansas (2013-17) in the same role, including the last four as Assistant Athletics Director. Taurisani spent seven seasons (2006-12) at Wisconsin under Bielema, including the final four also as Director of Football Operations. He served as Football Operations Coordinator in 2008-09, following two seasons as Operations Assistant in 2006-07.
In total, Taurisani has coordinated 15 bowl and two Big Ten Championship Game trips and has served as a member of the Rose Bowl Advisory Committee since 2010. At Wisconsin, he was part of three Big Ten title teams and seven bowl trips, including the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Rose Bowls.
Before his time at UW, Taurisani spent the summer of 2005 as a training camp assistant with the Seattle Seahawks, which went on to appear in Super Bowl XL.
A native of Utica, N.Y., Taurisani graduated from State University of New York at Fredonia in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in sports and exercise, earning first-team all-conference honors as captain of the baseball team. He earned a master’s degree in sport administration from Louisville in 2005.
Taurisani and his wife, Tara, have three daughters: Rose, Avery and Matea.
Serving as the primary sport administrator for football and supervising all sport administrators across the department to ensure alignment in service standards, Taurisani also oversees key units dedicated to enhancing student-athlete experience, including strength and conditioning, sport science and student-athlete benefits.
Taurisani came to OU after spending the previous five years on the Illinois football staff as Assistant Athletics Director/Chief of Staff from 2021-23 and Associate Athletics Director/Chief of Staff from 2024-26. He oversaw administrative aspects of the Illini football program, including those involving head coach Bret Bielema.
Taurisani helped elevate Illinois Football in his five seasons in Champaign. During that time, the Illini amassed 37 overall wins, 23 Big Ten victories and bowl triumphs in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. Illinois was particularly effective the last of those two seasons, totaling 19 wins (the most over a two-year stretch in program history) and posting back-to-back campaigns of at least nine victories for the first time ever.
With Taurisani on Illinois' staff, Bielema set school records for wins in a season (10 in 2024), bowl games (three), bowl victories (two) and total wins in a head coach's first five seasons (37). Bielema became the first head coach in Illinois history to win bowl games in back-to-back seasons, as the Illini beat No. 14 South Carolina in the 2024 Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and No. 23 Tennessee in the 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. The contests marked the first two victories over SEC opponents in Illinois history. The lllini finished the 2024 season ranked No. 16 in the nation (AP/Coaches polls) and the 2025 season at No. 25 (Coaches poll).
Taurisani, who worked with Bielema in all 17 of his years as a head coach (13 bowl games), came to Illinois after three seasons (2018-20) at Michigan as Director of Football Operations. Prior to his stint with the Wolverines, Taurisani spent five seasons (with Bielema at Arkansas (2013-17) in the same role, including the last four as Assistant Athletics Director. Taurisani spent seven seasons (2006-12) at Wisconsin under Bielema, including the final four also as Director of Football Operations. He served as Football Operations Coordinator in 2008-09, following two seasons as Operations Assistant in 2006-07.
In total, Taurisani has coordinated 15 bowl and two Big Ten Championship Game trips and has served as a member of the Rose Bowl Advisory Committee since 2010. At Wisconsin, he was part of three Big Ten title teams and seven bowl trips, including the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Rose Bowls.
Before his time at UW, Taurisani spent the summer of 2005 as a training camp assistant with the Seattle Seahawks, which went on to appear in Super Bowl XL.
A native of Utica, N.Y., Taurisani graduated from State University of New York at Fredonia in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in sports and exercise, earning first-team all-conference honors as captain of the baseball team. He earned a master’s degree in sport administration from Louisville in 2005.
Taurisani and his wife, Tara, have three daughters: Rose, Avery and Matea.
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