One week removed from National Signing Day, Oregon football defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt is no longer with the program.
It won’t be the first time or the last time there is coaching turnover in the days following National Signing Day. No program is immune. Many pundits have tabbed Oregon as the favorite to win the Pac-12 in 2019. If they are to fulfill those expectations they’ll have to do it with a new defensive coordinator.
Jim Leavitt, who joined the Ducks’ coaching staff in 2017 with Willie Taggart, will no longer be the defensive coordinator at Oregon. Co-defensive coordinator Keith Hayward is expected to take over the role full time. That covers the Ducks from a coordinator standpoint, but it doesn’t ease the minds of the young men who just pledged four years of their service to a coach who won’t be there to see them play a single down.
College football has progressively been moving towards an equilibrium in which players have more rights than ever before. One need look no further than the immediate eligibility of Justin Fields. If the former Georgia quarterback had transferred even two years ago there’s almost no chance he would have been able to step foot on the field immediately. Now he can. Is protecting players from coaching changes the next step?
It wouldn’t require much more work to allow each signee to list one position coach on their Letter of Intent. If that coach leaves the school prior to the fall, that signee would be freed of their commitment and able to play elsewhere. A policy like that would provide much-needed clarity in a realm where players still have little say.
Oregon will fill out their coaching staff and be just fine. But sometimes coaching changes bring new schemes and new systems. It’s not uncommon for one type of player to fit better in one particular scheme than another. These players have aspirations and are trying to put themselves in the best position to succeed. It’s time the NCAA let them.