Colorado University Athletics
MacIntyre Fills Two Staff Positions
BOULDER GÇö University of Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre filled two vacancies on his defensive staff Thursday, as he announced the hiring of Jim Leavitt as defensive coordinator and Joe Tumpkin as a defensive backs coach.
The pair has over 50 years of defensive coaching experience combined. Leavitt comes to Colorado from the National Football LeagueGÇÖs San Francisco 49ers where he coached the linebackers the last four seasons, while Tumpkin served as Central MichiganGÇÖs defensive coordinator the last five years.
Leavitt, who will sign a three-year contract, will oversee the defense and also coach the linebackers, with Tumpkin to coach the safeties.
GÇ£I am very excited that Jim and Joe will join our football family,GÇ¥ MacIntyre said. GÇ£With their vast knowledge of defenses and their experiences working with all kind of schemes, they will become a great asset for us immediately.
GÇ£Jim brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge and has worked with and for some great coaching minds,GÇ¥ MacIntyre continued. GÇ£He is a very passionate and enthusiastic coach whom I had the pleasure to first get to know when we were both coaching in the (San Francisco) Bay Area. IGÇÖve always been impressed with the defenses the 49ers ran and their linebacker play.
GÇ£In talking with Patrick Willis (who MacIntyre recruited to the University of Mississippi early last decade and is a star linebacker for the 49ers), he truly enjoyed playing for Jim,GÇ¥ he said. GÇ£He spoke so highly of JimGÇÖs knowledge, passion, expertise, motivational skills and the care he has for his players. And in college, Jim was the defensive coordinator when he was part of an incredible rebuilding project (Kansas State) and major start-up one (South Florida, where he built the program practically from scratch).GÇ¥
GÇ£Joe comes highly recommended and has extensive experience coaching every position on the defensive side of the ball,GÇ¥ MacIntyre said. GÇ£He is an excellent recruiter, and brings with him a lot of knowledge and great passion for the game. He had a good amount of success as the defensive coordinator at Central Michigan.GÇ¥
Leavitt tutored a linebacking corps at San Francisco that featured two first-team All-Pro selections in Willis and NaVorro Bowman. But that was only the latest in a career that has seen success ring synonymous with his name span from coast-to-coast.
He made his GÇ£bonesGÇ¥ so-to-speak in CUGÇÖs 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 for the Tigers from 1974-77. He then spent several years at small schools in Iowa before taking a grad assistant position at the University of Iowa, where he had started work on a Ph.D. in psychology.
He then joined Bill SnyderGÇÖs 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 defensive coordinator responsibilities to his role. Ranked 93rd in defense in the nation that first year, he took the Wildcats from there to the nationGÇÖs No. 1 spot in his last season in Manhattan (1995).
He then accepted the challenge of a coachGÇÖs lifetime: the chance to start a program from scratch. He was named head coach of the University of South Florida and 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).
In 2001, the USF program made the jump into I-A (FBS) competition and two years later joined Conference USA and then two years after that the Big East. The team kept improving to the point where midway during the 2007 season, the Bulls 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.
In 13 seasons, Leavitt coached USF to a 95-57 record, which included a 40-24 mark in five seasons of Big East play, with his teams invited to bowl games all five years.
Former San Francisco defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, once said of Leavitt: GÇ£Yeah, he's got a little cheerleader in him. He's got some pompoms hanging in his locker for a spare time. That's just who he is. He's a bubbly guy."
Tumpkin oversaw a defense in 2014 that finished 29th in the nation, as the Chippewas posted a 7-6 record in allowing 355 yards per game.
His CMU teams over five years had a reputation for creating turnovers, effective pass rushes (eight different players had interceptions in 2012) and successful halftime adjustments. In the wildest bowl game of the GÇÖ14 season GÇô the Bahamas Bowl where Western Kentucky nipped CMU, 49-48, his halftime changes against one of the nationGÇÖs most potent offenses limited WKU to just seven points and 151 yards after intermission. Ten players during his time there earned All-Mid-American Conference honors.
He started his coaching career as a grad assistant at Lakeland College in 1994, and stops during his career before CMU have included Southern Illinois (1998-99, his first full-time position as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator), Sam Houston State, SMU and the University of Pittsburgh. He also served one of the coveted minority NFL internships, spending time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2006.
Tumpkin is a 1994 graduate of Michigan Tech, earning a Bachelor's degree in Scientific and Technical Communications. He was a four-year letterman and captain of the Huskies' football team.
MacIntyre said the defensive staff assignments in addition to the above are that Charles Clark will move from coaching the safeties to the cornerbacks, while Jim Jeffcoat will once again coach the entire defensive line.
Spring football starts on Monday, February 16 and will conclude on Sunday, March 15 with the annual spring game.