FAYETTEVILLE — Former Arkansas football operations director Mark Taurisani has accepted the same position at Michigan.
Taurisani worked five seasons for the Razorbacks under former head coach Bret Bielema. He also worked under Bielema for seven seasons at Wisconsin from 2006-12, including three seasons in the role of the Badgers' football operations director.
Operations directors handle several logistical duties related to matters such as travel, recruiting and academics, and typically command six-figure salaries. Taurisani was paid more than $168,000 annually at Arkansas, according to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette database of state employee salaries.
Randy Ross was hired last month as the Razorbacks' new football operations director at an annual salary of $180,000, according to a copy of his employment agreement. Ross held the same position the previous three seasons at SMU.
Taurisani is at least the sixth member of Bielema's extended staff to be hired at Michigan this off-season. Ben Herbert, Tenarius Wright, Kiero Small and Justin Tress were hired to the Wolverines' strength and conditioning staff after they were let go at Arkansas in December. Small and Wright are former players for the Razorbacks.
Former Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos was hired by Michigan as an assistant coach last month, but has since left to become quarterbacks coach at Alabama.