Jim Leavitt - Football Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Delaware

Sep 6 (Sat)

1:30 PM

Jim Leavitt

Title:
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
Email:
james.leavitt@colorado.edu

Jim Leavitt is in his second season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Colorado, joining the CU staff on February 5, 2015. He had previously coached four years with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (the 2011-14 seasons). He signed a three-year contract upon his arrival in Boulder.

Leavitt, 59, had an immediate impact on the CU program, as the Buffalo defense saw dramatic improvement, finishing seventh in the Pac-12 in total defense (up from 11th the previous year), second in pass defense (from fifth) and had the fifth-largest difference in opponent point differential (11½ points) in the nation.

At San Francisco, he tutored a linebacker corps at San Francisco that featured two first-team All-Pro selections in Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (who was also a candidate for the 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year). One of the top defenses against the run in his time with San Francisco, the heart of that effort were Willis and Bowman, who combined for over 1,000 regular season tackles (and Bowman missed the ’14 season with an injury).

The 49ers were 44-19-1 in his four seasons with the club, winning two NFC West titles and one NFC Championship, advancing to Super Bowl XLVII, one of the most exciting in its history, though the 49ers lost to Baltimore, 34-31.

Prior to joining the 49ers, his first and only coaching stint in the professional ranks, Leavitt spent the first three decades in the collegiate ranks, the bulk of which were spent at two schools, both of which presented major coaching challenges he took on and conquered.

After spending several years at small schools in Iowa, Leavitt accepted an academic internship at the University of Iowa, with designs on completing his Ph.D. in psychology. While there, Hayden Fry asked him to join the Hawkeye staff as a graduate assistant for the 1989 campaign. With the coaching bug still in his blood, he jumped at the opportunity, despite needing only to finish his dissertation for his advanced degree. At Iowa, he was introduced to Bill Snyder, who had served seven years as Fry’s offensive coordinator.

He then joined Snyder’s staff at Kansas State ahead of the 1990 season and was on the fast track in the profession, as he coached the linebackers for two years before adding co-defensive coordinator responsibilities to his role (with current Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops). Ranked 93rd in defense in the nation that first year, he helped coach the Wildcats from there to the nation’s No. 1 spot in his last season in Manhattan (1995). Kansas State had four first-team defensive All-Americans in his time there, the school’s first in 16 years and exceeding by one its previous total in all of its history.

He was an integral part of one of the greatest turnarounds in college football history; in the 1980s, Kansas State had the worst record of all Division I-A schools at 21-87-3 with seven last place finishes in the Big Eight, including a 1-31-1 mark in the three seasons before Leavitt joined Snyder’s staff (4-50-1 the last half of the decade). But in his six seasons coaching KSU, the Wildcats were 45-23-1, with three bowl appearances and three third-place finishes in conference play, essentially replacing Oklahoma in the pecking order after Nebraska and Colorado. K-State won as many games in his six years as it had in the 18 before his arrival.

Leavitt then accepted the challenge of a coach’s lifetime: the chance to start a program from scratch. He was named head coach of the University of South Florida in 1996 and had a little of a year-and-a-half to hire a staff, stockpile a roster and do everything else needed to begin play. The school competed for the first time as an independent on the I-AA (now FCS) level for its first four years of existence (1997-2000), compiling a 27-17 record and at one time was ranked 24 consecutive weeks. USF won its first-ever game, a resounding 80-3 verdict over Kentucky Wesleyan, before nearly 50,000 fans at Tampa Stadium.

In 2001, the USF program made the jump to the I-A (FBS) level, competing two seasons as an independent. The Bulls went 8-3 that first season in the “bigs,” dropping its first game 20-17 at Northern Illinois but getting into the win column the very next week with a 35-26 win at Pittsburgh (many referred to that game as the most stunning loss in Pitt history, as the Panthers were 22-point favorites). His second year in I-A, USF posted a 9-2 mark, but one of the losses showing what was developing at the school: the Bulls gave No. 2 Oklahoma all it could handle before succumbing in Norman, 31-14.

South Florida then joined Conference USA in 2003, and then two years after that the Big East, when the Bulls would earn their first-ever postseason bowl appearance in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against North Carolina State.

The Bulls kept improving to the point where midway during the 2007 season, USF reached the No. 2 spot in the polls with a 6-0 record with wins over No. 17 Auburn (on the road) and No. 5 West Virginia. In fact, South Florida became the fastest program in the modern era to ascend into the top 10 from the point where the program first began I-A competition, a period of six years. When the first BCS Standings came out for the 2007 season (October 14), the Bulls were second behind Ohio State. USF eventually would finish 9-4 that year, just missing a Top 25 ranking. His 2008 squad opened 5-0 and ascended to No. 10 in the polls before going 8-5 for the year, the same record the Bulls would post in his final year as head coach in 2009.

In 13 seasons, Leavitt’s USF teams enjoyed 11 winning seasons as he coached the Bulls to a 95-57 record, which included a 68-40 mark in Division I-A (FBS) play, an 8-8 mark in Conference USA games and a 40-24 mark in Big East games over five seasons. His teams were invited to bowl games all five years (winning three), including a 27-3 win over Northern Illinois in the International Bowl in Toronto, his final game at the reins of the Bulls.

He made his “bones” so-to-speak in CU’s old conference, the Big Eight, starting his career as a graduate assistant after his playing days at the University of Missouri in 1978; he had lettered four years as a safety under coach Al Onofrio for the Tigers from 1974-77. He was 3-1 against Colorado in his playing career, with three interceptions against the Buffs, including two his junior year in a 16-7 win in Columbia. He also lettered four years in baseball, playing as an outfielder; he led the Tigers his junior season with a .386 batting average, as well as in doubles (14) and runs batted in (67).

Leavitt graduated from Missouri in 1978 with a degree in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education and joined Warren Powers’ new staff as a graduate assistant for the ’78 and ’79 seasons; the Tigers were 15-9 combined those two seasons with two bowl victories (Liberty and Hall of Fame). Concurrently, he earned his Master’s degree in Counseling while working with the football program.

His first full-time position came at the University of Dubuque (Iowa), where he served as defensive coordinator and the linebacker coach for two seasons (1980-81), in addition as the head track coach and head strength coach. He then moved on to Morningside College (Sioux City, Iowa) for five years; he was special teams coordinator in 1982 and then spent four seasons as defensive coordinator.

He was born December 5, 1956 in Harlingen, Texas, and graduated from Dixie Hollins High School (St. Petersburg, Fla.), where he lettered in football (quarterback, defensive back) and baseball (catcher). His hobbies include running and weightlifting. He is married to the former Jody Freeman, and the couple has two daughters, Sofia and Isabella; he also has another daughter, Deandra.

RECORD—He has coached in 190 Division I-A (FBS) games as a full-time coach with a record of 144-89-1 (45-23-1 at Kansas State; 68-40 at South Florida; 4-9 at Colorado), with another 44 on the I-AA level (27-17 at USF). He has coached in nine bowl games (1993 Copper, 1994 Aloha, 1995 Holiday, 2005 Meineke Car Care, 2006 Papa John’s, 2007 Sun, 2008 St. Petersburg, 2009 International).

COACHING EXPERIENCE
1978-79	Missouri	Graduate Assistant (Defense)
1980-81	Dubuque (Iowa)	Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
1982	Morningside	Special Teams
1983-87	Morningside	Defensive Coordinator
1988-89	Iowa	Intern/Graduate Assistant
1990-91	Kansas State	Linebackers
1992-95	Kansas State	Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
1996-2009	South Florida	Head Coach
2011-14	San Francisco (NFL)	Linebackers
2015-	Colorado	Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers