To his credit, Leavitt seemed like an outstanding motivator for that team; if nothing else, he was the emotional engine. Not sure if the tactics would have gotten stale over time, but a certain spark seems to be missing with this squad. Several games now have been there for the taking.
This - especially the bolded. That man's energy and excitement was (and I assume still is) infectious. Would it age well? I don't know, but coach dad pants seems to still be doing ok (in college), so maybe there's something to it (in college).
So much about successful head coaches is about "fit." It's why the same coach can be very successful at one stop and a failure at another, or vice - versa.
Would Leavitt be a good "fit" as HC at CU?
Part of me thinks he actually would - but not in the way we would expect.
He would be a good fit not because he is such a close match to the university's culture, but because he isn't.
Think back to the first coach Mac. Tell me, do you seriously think he was a cultural match for the University of Colorado at Boulder?
Where we are right here, right now, I think Leavitt would challenge the culture at CU in a positive way. The school's culture really is somewhere in whatever the millennial version of "trust fund hippie" is.
A coach that produces a team that is tough, one that's not "charmin soft," is going to be one that challenges the university's culture. And that's probably a good thing.
CU's great teams have never really "out finessed" anyone, which is probably what would match the university's culture. But we don't have a competitive advantage there - we'll always be behind Oregon, or UCLA, or even USC if we try and compete on that dimension.
The successful Colorado teams punch you in the mouth, and then get up and do it again. That doesn't exactly match Boulder's culture, does it?
But it's where our competitive advantage lies: top notch public school in great location (lots of those in our conference) that plays smashmouth football (not many of those). And, lucky for us, the only other conference schools that come close to those descriptions aren't in our division.
The right "fit" for a coach at CU is going to challenge the university's culture. Whether Leavitt is the right coach for that role or not, I'm not sure. But he definitely ticks a lot of the boxes.