Colorado DC Jim Leavitt leaving for same post at Oregon

Jim Leavitt is moving to a different Pac-12 school.

According to Fox Sports, the Colorado defensive coordinator will take the same job at Oregon under new coach Willie Taggart.

BREAKING #CU defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt is going to #Oregon as the Ducks new DC gets a 4-year deal, source tells @FoxSports.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 14, 2016

Taggart came to Oregon from South Florida, where Leavitt was also a head coach. Leavitt was at the school from 1996-2009 and was fired early in 2010 after a school investigation into allegations that he hit a player in the locker room at halftime of a game in 2009. Leavitt was fired after the school determined he had interfered with the school’s investigation.

He’s been the defensive coordinator at Colorado for the past two seasons. The Buffaloes were one of the best defensive teams in the country in 2016 during a 10-3 season. Colorado gave up 4.69 yards per play and allowed 31 touchdowns. The Buffs entered the Pac-12 title game +10 in turnover margin before Washington had three interceptions and Colorado didn’t force a single turnover.

Before joining Colorado, Leavitt was the linebackers coach for the San Francisco 49ers under coach Jim Harbaugh. Taggart was an assistant coach for Harbaugh when the Michigan coach was at Stanford.

Oregon’s defense under defensive coordinator Brady Hoke was worse than bad. The Ducks gave up 6.4 yards per play and allowed 68 touchdowns as opponents ran 971 plays in 12 games. The only two defenses worse in the country in terms of total yards were Arizona State and Texas Tech.

Hoke, the former Michigan coach, was hired as the Ducks’ defensive coordinator before the 2016 season. It was his first coordinator job since serving as a DC at the high school level in the early 1980s.

Colorado plays Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.