Oregon’s president told Willie Taggart to hire a great defensive coordinator. So he did.

When Oregon announced it was hiring USF’s Willie Taggart as its next head coach, Oregon University president Michael Schill had one clear message to the Ducks’ new head man: Go out and find a great defensive coordinator.

“One bit of advice, which probably everybody in the state of Oregon can give him, is, ‘Go find a great defensive coordinator.’ Now I’ve exhausted my knowledge,” Schill said earlier last week during Taggart’s first presser in Eugene.

On Wednesday afternoon, Taggart lived up to that task and then some by hiring Colorado defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt.

Leavitt, who spent the last two seasons on Colorado’s defensive staff, made a name for himself at the University of South Florida, where he was the head coach from 1996-2009, compiling a 75-44 record. He also led the Bulls to five straight bowl appearances in his last five seasons there. He then spent three seasons on Jim Harbaugh’s defensive staff with the San Fransisco 49ers.

Leavitt has done some remarkable things at Colorado, as well. Taking over a unit that finished giving up 38 and 39 points per game in Buffs’ head coach Mike MacIntyre’s first few years, Leavitt’s defense gave up just 28 points per game last year, and finished 18th in the country this season giving up just 20 points per game. Earlier this season in October, former Buffs quarterback and current Fox Sports analyst Joe Klatt touched on how important Leavitt’s defense has been to Colorado’s recent success.

“Jim Leavitt has improved their defense from two or three years ago so drastically that now they don’t have to get into a shootout,” Klatt said. “It’s not a frenetic style of game every time that they’re in a game late. They can win a close game. They can win a dirty game.”

Here’s Ralphie Report on valuable Leavitt was to Colorado, as well:

The highest paid assistant in CU’s history helped revive the defense from being ranked 112th when he started to currently being 24th in the nation. Before the Pac-12 championship, the Buffs held the nation’s longest forced turnover streak at 25 games.

There is some connection between USF and Oregon, too. Leavitt was the head man at USF when Oregon beat his team 56-21 in the 2007 Sun Bowl.

Given the way Oregon’s defense declined under Helfrich, best summed up with this graphic from from early October, shows how desperate the Ducks are for a turnaround on defense.

And this, from ESPN’s Chantel Jennings, is a great representation of Leavitt’s defenses to Oregon’s.

Given how well Leavitt turned things around at Colorado, one can only imagine how good the Ducks will be with Taggart’s offense and a what Leavitt can do on defense.