After former Oregon coach Willie Taggart took over at Florida State many people expected defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt to join him. However, it seems that he will be staying put with new head coach Mario Cristobal at the helm.
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And he is going to be one of the highest-paid coordinators in college football now as some details have reportedly emerged on his contract:
Leavitt is known for the he did as USF's head coach from 1999 to 2007 as he got the school its highest ranking ever at No. 2 at one point and led them from Division I-AA to Division I-A (now known as the FBS) as well as helped them navigate through being an independent school to joining Conference USA and then the Big East.
He then spent time as a linebackers coach with the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL before becoming the defensive coordinator for two years at Colorado. He then joined the Ducks last year and it looks like he will be there for the foreseeable future.
Leavitt was already the highest-paid assistant coach in the Pac-12 and it looks like this new contract will keep it that way and put him in the top-3 for assistant coaches salaries. He'll be on par with Clemson's Brent Venables and LSU's Dave Aranda who make $1.7 and $1.8 million, respectively. In his original contract with Oregon, Leavitt also had a provision that said he would have to pay the school a six-figure amount unless he left to take the head coaching job at Kansas State. He spent some time in Manhattan from 1990 to 1995 as a linebackers coach and eventually the defensive coordinator.
