In the first two games of the 2019 season, Florida State’s defense has allowed a combined 54 second-half points in a 1-1 start. In a very related move, Willie Taggart has turned to a familiar face to help turn those staggering numbers around.
According to The Athletic‘s Bruce Feldman, Taggart is adding Jim Leavitt to his extended FSU football staff. Specifically, Leavitt will take on a defensive analyst role with the Seminoles.
SOURCE: #FSU is hiring Jim Leavitt as an analyst. He is expected to help DC Harlon Barnett by bringing another experienced voice in the def. staff room to aid w/ game-planning. Leavitt was Willie Taggart’s DC when he took an Oregon D that ranked No. 115 and improved it to No. 32.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 11, 2019
Leavitt served as Taggart’s defensive coordinator during the latter’s lone season as the head football coach at Oregon in 2017. He remained for one season after Mario Cristobal took over for Taggart before being ousted in February of this year.
The head coach at South Florida from 1997-2009, Leavitt’s unceremonious exit from the Bulls was the start of a five-year sabbatical from coaching. In February of 2015, Leavitt was named the defensive coordinator at Colorado and spent two seasons with the Buffaloes before leaving for the Ducks.