SMU football has named former South Florida coach and longtime assistant Jim Leavitt as its next defensive coordinator.
Leavitt has a long history as a successful defensive coordinator. In 2016, he was named a finalist for the Broyles Award and earned FootballScoop Defensive Coordinator of the Year after the Buffaloes finished top 20 in total defense and scoring defense en route to an appearance in the Pac 12 Championship Game.
Most recently, Leavitt led an FAU defense that ranked No. 24 nationally in total defense and No. 10 in scoring defense. However, the bulk of his career was spent as South Florida's first ever head coach from 1996 to 2009. Leavitt posted a 75-44 record as a head coach and reached No. 2 in the AP Top 25 during the 2007 season.
Leavitt replaces Kevin Kane, who left SMU after three years to take the associate head coach and outside linebackers job at Illinois. SMU is fresh off the best two-year stretch since the Pony Express days of the 1980s under Kane's direction.
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