Report: DC Jim Leavitt not with Oregon anymore

[FlDuckFan]

You hire from outside , you can kiss Joe and Heyward goodbye.

I tend to believe the rumour of Heyward pretty much running the defense this season and am okay with it. For all the love of Leavitt I dont remember seeing it they played WSU the past two years and his great X and O ability was getting killed, or the lack of development at linebacker since his arrival. Pellum's defense was bad but at least he could teach a position.

[duckfan22]

All of the great defensive coaches in the country have started somewhere and not at
cordinator. They have studied the position and shown a head coach or more the ability
to run a defense. Oregon has always tried to keep the continuity with the coaches.
If i had to guess the players are more then likely all in for Heyward as he's been more
involved in their recruiting.

[nogerO]

Unless he agreed to a reduced payout, Ducks are on the hook for $5.1M over the next three seasons. Yikes, must have been desperate to move on from him.

Kinda gives us a little insight into the lip service the AD is paying to the womens programs, specifically the Mike White softball fiasco which has crippled that program and alienated a lot of supporters...

[droop10]

Unless he agreed to a reduced payout, Ducks are on the hook for $5.1M over the next three seasons. Yikes, must have been desperate to move on from him.

Kinda gives us a little insight into the lip service the AD is paying to the womens programs, specifically the Mike White softball fiasco which has crippled that program and alienated a lot of supporters...

They were never going to take on all of that. One of the reasons they waited until after Feb. 1st was that the buyout would drop. Also, Feldman has reported that they negotiated a deal with Leavitt, so it's likely much less than that. Also, if he had taken any other job, Oregon would have only had to pay the difference in earnings between the gigs. I guess we'll find out soon what he actually took home.

I also wouldn't call the softball program crippled. Yes, they might have a down year or 2 while they replenish their system, but they didn't have the death penalty levied on them or anything. With the transfer portal as it is, they'll probably be reloaded by next year.

[greenyellow]

So according to the official press release, it looks like Leavitt will be getting $2.5 million as a buyout. it also says a national search for a new defensive coordinator will begin but I think most know it's likely going to be Heyward who gets the job.

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[northbeachsf]

You hire from outside , you can kiss Joe and Heyward goodbye.

I tend to believe the rumour of Heyward pretty much running the defense this season and am okay with it. For all the love of Leavitt I dont remember seeing it they played WSU the past two years and his great X and O ability was getting killed, or the lack of development at linebacker since his arrival. Pellum's defense was bad but at least he could teach a position.

I don't believe that is a given under every circumstance. It sounds like a national search is underway, so it appears that they are going to at least pretend like they are evaluating all their options.

The defense was 100x better under Leavitt than under the past few coordinators no matter which way you try and spin that.

[OregonFan4Life]

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Being someone who likes to read way into things that usually aren't there, the fact that he had to clarify the players are who he'd miss when he said guys indicates he really didn't gel with the coaching staff and Cristobal. Guess those rumors were all true. Let's hope whoever replaces Leavitt is ready for the big stage cause I'd be super disappointed if Oregon lost to Auburn after the previous Auburn loss and the LSU loss right after that. We really could use a win against a solid SEC team on the big stage for our reputation. And don't tell me about the Tennessee wins, they were terrible those years and have been pretty bad for a while now.

[DuckMastaFunk]

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Nice to see JL take the high road and not throw a Molotov cocktail on the way out.

As to the comments about Hayward running the D this year, I thought our D took a step backwards, but still nowhere near Hoke and Pellum levels.

[DuckMastaFunk]

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Being someone who likes to read way into things that usually aren't there, the fact that he had to clarify the players are who he'd miss when he said guys indicates he really didn't gel with the coaching staff and Cristobal. Guess those rumors were all true. Let's hope whoever replaces Leavitt is ready for the big stage cause I'd be super disappointed if Oregon lost to Auburn after the previous Auburn loss and the LSU loss right after that. We really could use a win against a solid SEC team on the big stage for our reputation. And don't tell me about the Tennessee wins, they were terrible those years and have been pretty bad for a while now.

Don’t forget Texas AM and Georgia. We scheduled home and homes and walked away without a single loss.

[Hoagduck]

Pellum was a lot of hat with no cattle, Heyward is a totally different guy.

[northbeachsf]

Pellum was a lot of hat with no cattle, Heyward is a totally different guy.

LOL, That was awesome!

[rockthief]

Leavitt smashed it his first year. Then he backed off in all areas his second season. We may never know why and that might be the bottom line. It is better for him to leave than to be somewhere he does not want to be. Good luck to him.

[maxduck]

Based on historical results Jim Leavitt is a good defensive coordinator, but certainly not elite. Glancing at scoring defense rankings the last several years of Nick Aliotti were generally better than what JL accomplished at either Colorado or Oregon. At K State he was co-DC, sharing the duties with Bob Stoops, so it is hard to tell how much of the improvement was his coaching. Until Slick Willie threw bags of money his way he was mid range in salary, getting a little over $500K at Colorado as DC.

[Duck07]

Leavitt smashed it his first year. Then he backed off in all areas his second season. We may never know why and that might be the bottom line. It is better for him to leave than to be somewhere he does not want to be. Good luck to him.

He didn't get the HC job because he's 62 with young kids who live in another state and he doesn't know how to interact with recruits in 2019. Since he didn't want to be here, its best for him to be gone even if it does mean losing someone who has a firm grasp on the technical aspects of the game.

Our entire recruiting ethos is built to allow for these coach departures and still maintain a high relationship with the current players and prospects because the focus is on Oregon. It's better to have gotten this over with now then to have let it fester. Now the bigger question is how much of a scheme change we see and who the next hire will be to fill the open spot on defense.