Much is being made — and rightly so — of the accusation that USF football coach Jim Leavitt hit one of his players. That was the story that ran on AOL Fanhouse.com. The incident is alleged to have happened during halftime of the Louisville game last month. The matter is under review by the university.
However this shakes out – and for what it’s worth, I think Leavitt’s actions as characterized by Fanhouse will be seen as exaggerated, context-challenged and maybe agenda-driven – Leavitt loses.
He loses because it’s yet another reminder that those qualities – he’s passionate, hyper-emotional, intemperately enthusiastic and overbearing – that helped fast forward USF from inception to the Big East – are now liabilities. Arguably, USF has regressed the last three years and is now a perennial also-ran in its conference. Leavitt’s histrionic antics on the sideline – as well as at halftimes – are familiar, and often embarrassing, lore.
Here’s the bigger picture. By now USF shouldn’t be so dependent on transfers. Nor should it be satisfied with a reputation for not handling pressure well. Too often the team has seemed to channel its rabid coach by playing without discipline and composure. Too often it has been outcoached by those who don’t have better talent.
Jim Leavitt was the perfect person to catapult USF from nowhere to a national name. But he is not the right guy to get them to the next level: bona fide Big East contender and participant in a bowl game that doesn’t require passports.
No, I don’t think he slugged his player. This won’t be a Woody Hayes moment. More likely this was perversely vintage, hands-on Leavitt, who’s been known to head-butt players wearing helmets, trying to fire up an underperforming, special-teams player. He didn’t, unfortunately, get the Gipper-speech gene.
Make no mistake, the Bulls certainly still need fire, but without the self-defeating combustion.