Jim Leavitt was a second-year assistant at one of college football's most desperate outposts when a walk-on linebacker caught his eye.
Brent Venables, a linebacker at Kansas State in 1991-1992, was so good in his first year with the Wildcats that Leavitt, then its linebackers coach, waited only a semester to put him on scholarship.
"He was a starter for us," Leavitt said Monday. "How do you not put him on scholarship?"
For two seasons as a player, then three seasons as a graduate assistant, Venables rarely left Leavitt's side while finishing his career as a team captain and then during the beginning stages of his budding career. The two have remained close, even after Leavitt left for South Florida in 1996.
On Monday, their paths crossed again in, of all places, the lobby of the Little Rock Marriott Hotel. Leavitt, 60, in his second season as Colorado's defensive coordinator, and Venables, 45, in his fourth season as defensive coordinator for Clemson, are finalists for the Broyles Award given to college football's top assistant coach.
Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama's defensive coordinator, Don Brown, Michigan's defensive coordinator, and Matt Canada, Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator, are also finalists for the award that will be presented at 11:15 a.m. today at the Marriott.
There are more than 1,100 assistant coaches at college football's highest level, and the high improbability that Venables and the man with whom he spent much of his early coaching moments are in a group of five finalists, wasn't lost on Venables.
Venables counts Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops and Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder as important mentors, too, but he watched Leavitt's dogs, went and fetched Leavitt extra Pepsi and it's with Leavitt he ate pizza late at night while grading practice film.
"There's so much irony in it," said Venables, who has used Leavitt's daughter as a babysitter. "It's pretty unbelievable to be honest wit you."
"What he's done is remarkable," Leavitt said. "I'm proud of him."
The successes and reputations of the two are similar, but their paths have not been.
Venables spent 13 seasons with Stoops at Oklahoma, before leaving for Clemson in 2012 and helping lead it to the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row.
Leavitt, meanwhile, spent 13 years at South Florida. He started the Bulls' program in 1997, led it to five bowl games, a No. 2 national ranking in 2007 and a 95-57 record. In 2010, he was fired with cause after being accused of striking a player during halftime of a game and then interfering with the school's investigation.
Leavitt, who always denied those allegations, spent a year out of the game while suing the university for wrongful termination. He and the university settled for a reported $2.75 million in 2011, the same year he joined the San Francisco 49ers. He said Monday that leaving college football was his choice, and he never felt as if the way he left South Florida kept him from college coaching.
"When you know that you didn't do anything wrong, you don't worry about it," he said. "I at least wanted to show one thing, that there might have been another side to this story. They ain't going to give you $3 million -- or close to it -- if those things were portrayed were true. They just wouldn't do it."
Leavitt said he liked aspects of coaching for the 49ers, even turning down some college head-coaching jobs to stay there and coach "the best in the world."
"I wanted to win a Super Bowl," he said.
He came close, making it to Super Bowl XLVII, but the 49ers lost to the Baltimore Ravens, 34-31. When Coach Jim Harbaugh was fired after the 2014 season, Leavitt needed to move again. He thought about staying in the NFL, but his wife was eager to move to Boulder, Colo., where he was offered the job as the Buffaloes' defensive coordinator.
"I told her 'They've got the worst defense in the country,' " Leavitt said. "She said 'That's your problem.' "
Leavitt has fixed it quickly. The Buffaloes, who fell to No. 4 Washington 41-10 in last Friday's Pac-12 Championship game, gave up 39.0 points per game, 11th in the Pac-12 the year before Leavitt arrived. This year, they held teams to 20.5 points, third-best in the conference.
Leavitt said he'd like to be a head coach again, but recognizes a trend of schools hiring young offensive coordinators to lead programs.
"It may never happen," he said. "You can't worry about it. You try to do the best you can where you're at and if it works out it works out."
If not, he said he's content with his job now, and his place as a finalist for an award that recognizes the top assistant coach in college football.
He's got one finalist pulling for him, too.
"He's a short line of guys who has my vote," Venables said. "I'm just real honored to be here with him."
Sports on 12/06/2016