NORMAN — Oklahoma has added a veteran football operations figure to its leadership structure.
Mark Taurisani has joined the Sooners athletics department as deputy athletic director for sport administration, the school announced. He will serve as the primary sport administrator for football while overseeing the department’s sport administration unit and several areas tied to the student-athlete experience, including strength and conditioning, sport science and student-athlete benefits.
Taurisani arrives in Norman after five seasons at Illinois, where he served as assistant athletics director and chief of staff from 2021-23 before being elevated to associate athletics director/chief of staff from 2024-26. In that role, he managed the administrative side of the Illini football program under coach Bret Bielema and was part of a stretch that saw Illinois post 37 wins, including back-to-back nine-win seasons and bowl victories in the 2024 Citrus Bowl and 2025 Music City Bowl.
Illinois recorded 19 wins over the 2024 and 2025 seasons — the most in a two-year span in program history — and finished ranked in both years. During Taurisani’s tenure, Bielema set school records for wins in a season (10 in 2024) and total victories by a coach in his first five seasons.
Taurisani has longstanding ties to Bielema, working alongside him for all 17 of his seasons as a head coach. In a post on X, Taurisani called Bielema “more than a boss,” adding that the coach had ben “a mentor and a friend through adversity, challenges and championships.”
Now, Taurisani joins former Illinois deputy athletic director and current OU athletic director Roger Denny.
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma hires Mark Taurisani as deputy AD for sport administration