“Defense, defense, special teams, keep offense going in right direction in that order.”
Those are Coach Mike MacIntyre’s priorities going into the spring football. Coming off a season where Colorado finished 111th in the country in total defense, it comes as no surprise that defense is at the top of the list.
It’s also not surprising that MacIntyre hired a defensive coordinator to turn CU’s defense around. Last week Colorado signed Jim Leavitt to a three-year deal, reportedly worth about $500,000 a year. If anyone is going to turn CU’s defense around, Leavitt would be the man to do it. But Leavitt recognizes turning this defense around will be a challenge.
“To be honest I really love challenges,” Leavitt said. “This is a great one, we know that. No one’s kidding themselves.”
Leavitt really does love challenges, but he is also great at stepping up to them. A quick look at his coaching history shows how many programs he brought back from the brink, or created himself. In the early ‘90s Leavitt became the linebacker coach, and later defensive coordinator, of what Sports Illustrated called “America’s most hapless team.” He, along with legendary coach Bill Synder and Bob Stoops, turned that hapless Kansas State team, with a 95th ranked defense, into a perennial championship contender with the nation’s number one defense in just five years.
After helping rebuild the Wildcats, he went on to the University of South Florida as the first head coach of their brand new program. When he arrived, Leavitt had to coach out of a trailer. Within nine years he was coaching in a bowl game. In 2007, just two years after becoming a Division I school, Leavitt led his team to a no. 2 ranking in national polls at one point during the season.
Leavitt’s departure from South Florida was full of controversy after allegations that the head coach struck one of his players. Later there were reports that Leavitt hindered the investigation and was ultimately fired. Leavitt himself says that he only hit the player’s shoulder pads to motivate him and that he always told the truth during the investigation. His unemployment did not last long when he got a call from Jim Harbaugh to be the linebacker’s coach for the San Francisco 49ers. Along with Harbaugh, Leavitt helped revitalize the 49ers as they surged back into prominence with three straight NFC championship appearances as well as a trip to the Super Bowl.
Sensing a theme here. Leavitt does as well.
“I’ve had great challenges in my life and this might be one of the top ones,” Leavitt said. “Kansas State was a great challenge. South Florida was a great challenge. The 9ers, the 9ers hadn’t been winning, that was a challenge… That’s just been my thing in my life.”
Leavitt is right. Fixing Colorado’s defense is going to be, as he said, a great challenge. Colorado gave up 39 points per game last year, good for second to last in the Pac-12. They gave up 460 yards per game, again good for second to last in the Pac-12.
Granted, Colorado was plagued by injuries last year, but that doesn’t hide the deep seeded issues inherent in this team. The Buffs cannot stop the run and they rarely cause turnovers. Leavitt knows it is going to take time to turn the Buffs into a competitive defense.
“It’s a process,” Leavitt said. “People think we’re gonna go out there and be all this. They’re nuts. It’s gonna take some time… I faced a lot of situations like that. The key is you’re gonna have hurdles and when you hit those hurdles you just gotta keep going. You hope you got enough guys, leaders on your defense… If you don’t you have no chance.”
There are few coaches in America with a resume as impressive, and more importantly as well suited to Colorado’s needs, as Leavitt. That being said, a lot of Leavitt’s success will depend on his players. The past few seasons, Leavitt was blessed with debatably the most talented linebackers in the NFL, Navarro Bowman, Aldon Smith and Patrick Willis. Now he will have to find success with a much different group of players. But Leavitt, because of his fiery passion, was always a college guy anyway.
“I’m always going, in practice,” Leavitt said. “You’ve been stuck in the office all day and now you get to go out on the field… I like being out there and hands on with guys… There’s no question I was the loudest on that staff of the 9ers out on that field… I had the college in me.”
Most of all Leavitt feels Colorado is the place he was meant to be. He said he spent many sleepless nights, thinking and praying, and came to the conclusion that he was meant to be a Buffalo. It’s interesting Leavitt ended up here after competing with the Buffs in college as a safety at Missouri and as a coach at Kansas State. He remembers the time when Colorado was a program to fear and hopes to help bring them back.
“I remember the big ole Buffalo running out there,” Leavitt said recalling his past games against Colorado. “…And I remember him snorting and everything and I go, man this is unbelievable. I remember them playing at Kansas State and that was 10-0 or 10-6. That was when they were really good… They had some powerful teams here. It’s been a long time, it’s been a long time. Takes a lot of work. [We’ll] see if we can start moving in that direction.”
Turning the Buffs into a great defense is going to be a challenge, but there is no one better suited for that challenge than Leavitt.
Contact CU Independent Football Beat Writer Sean Kelly at Sean.kelly@colorado.edu.
