While the NFL is heading into the final stretch run before the playoffs, college football has completed their regular season (minus the Army-Navy game) and is preparing for bowl season. Given all that, college football teams have begun coaching searches for dismissed coaches. Among others, Arizona State is on the hunt for a new coach after dismissing our dear, old friend Dennis Erickson.
Earlier this morning, @ASUDevilscom tweeted that a source had told them 49ers LB coach Jim Leavitt has "begun making calls to potential assistants in event he's offered ASU job." They followed that up with a tweet that it did not mean he had necessarily been contacted by ASU. He could simply be preparing in case the call does come. They do not know one or the other at this point.
Of all the 49ers assistant coaches, Jim Leavitt would seem like the one most likely to depart for a head coaching job sooner rather than later. When Coach Harbaugh added Leavitt to his coaching staff, Leavitt was coming off 14 years as head coach at the University of South Florida. He got USF's football program going before being dismissed after an incident in which he was alleged to have struck a player. Leavitt sued the school and there was a settlement and this job with the 49ers would seem to be a potential launching point back up the coaching ranks.
One of the "drawbacks" to having a big turnaround is that the coaching staff could potentially become hot hires around the league. That will not necessarily happen right away, but if the 49ers find some measure of sustained success, it would not be surprising to see other teams, be they pro or college, sniffing around the team trying to get a piece of that success. The NFL in particular is a copy-cat league and they will pounce on coaches from a successful team. Do you see any potential departures after this season?