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Running with the Bulls...

Jim Leavitt and South Florida: From obscurity to prominence in just six years
by: Aaron S. Lee
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EDITOR'S NOTE: On Dec. 12, 2002, Jim Leavitt signed a new five-year contract with a total base salary worth $2.4 million. The salary escalates from $407,173 in 2003 to $596,143 in 2007, the final year of the contract. Leavitt had been under contract through 2005. In addition to base salary, the new contract includes a $25,000 annual annuity and television/radio money that escalates from $40,000 to $50,000 over the course of the five years.

With a base salary of $140,000, South Florida's Jim Leavitt may in fact be the best bargain in college football, but one thing is for certain he is no longer a secret.

The University of South Florida had better ante up soon because Leavitt is on the national radar screen and other schools are eyeing him closely. After leading his Bulls to an unprecedented 8-3 record during their first campaign through the minefield of Division I-A football, several schools including Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas State showed sincere interest in Leavitt

Leavitt further solidified his stock this season as he became the 14th fastest current I-A coach - who began their career in Division I - to win 40 games with a 46-30 win over East Carolina on Oct. 19. In fact, South Florida, which began football competition in 1997, had racked up an amazing 44-22 all-time record under Leavitt midway through the 2002 season with their sights firmly set on a bowl berth in just their second year in the big leagues.

The Bulls are playing their final season as an independent and will join Conference USA as an all-sports playing member in 2003. Many of the C-USA teams are not exactly thrilled of the Bulls inclusion since South Florida has already competed with and whipped several of the conference's perennial powerhouses, such as Southern Miss and East Carolina.

"He is a tremendous football coach, but more importantly to me, he is really a neat individual," said Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder, who Leavitt worked for from 1990-95. "He is a quality young man with a lot of talent and has all the intrinsic values in place. He is a guy who will work as long and as hard as absolutely possible to do. He's got all the things in place to allow him to be successful in any facet of his life."

In just six years, the University of South Florida football program has gone from non-existent to Division I-A bowl contender seemingly overnight. Even with poor facilities and even poorer media attention, Leavitt has proved that there is no place like home.

Returning home ...

For Leavitt, his South Florida homecoming has relatively been a flawless journey. The 46-year-old defensive coaching guru has returned home after a 23-year absence and has embraced the South Florida program - and he should. After all, he"s the one who built it.

"I played in the Blue-Gray all-star game in 1978 and Levell Edwards (retired BYU coach) was my coach in that game," Leavitt said. "And I always thought so much of him and after spending that week with him I was really impressed with the way he handled everything. So, as I became a coach, I kept in touch with him over the years. Anyway, when I was a coach at Kansas State in 1995, we played Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl and Levell Edwards was there visiting.

"I can remember him telling me, "Jim, you know I have had a few opportunities to leave BYU over the years, but Provo is my home and I never wanted to leave my home." He told me that someday I would be in the same situation and I am. Coach Edwards was right, because being back home is very, very special to me. I had 18 family members at the home game against Memphis (Nov. 9) -my brother, his five boys, my sister, my parents and many others."

Leavitt has been around football all of his life. As a star athlete for Dixie Hollins High School in St. Petersburg, Leavitt continued his athletic success in 1974 with a move to the Midwest. Leavitt earned All-Big 8 honors in both football and baseball at Missouri. In fact, Leavitt was such a good baseball player; he even won a Big 8 batting title in 1977 with a .386 average.

However, it was not all fun and games for the Sunshine State native. Leavitt stayed in Missouri as a graduate assistant after graduating (1978) and in 1979, he earned a master's degree. Leavitt, after two seasons as a graduate assistant, was named the defensive coordinator at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. The Dubuque team had suffered through 40 consecutive losing seasons, but Leavitt helped guide the team to an 8-2-1 record and a Division III playoff berth in his first season.

"This was my very first college job," Leavitt said. "Don Birmingham (1977-83) was the head coach and he was from the old school. He taught me what it was to work hard. Before I went to Dubuque, I had no idea what it was like to really work hard and pay the price.

"As a Division I-A position coach, you recruit about 12-15 guys in your territory. But I can remember that I was recruiting 177 players and I was making about 35 calls a day in the spring because in Division III there is no spring ball. I had a little efficiency apartment and I would make calls from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. every night. You had to recruit like that and I worked as hard as I ever have at that job in Dubuque.

"Dubuque was a school that did not have too many winning seasons. Actually they had about 40 straight losing years and they were in the Iowa Conference, but we helped turn things around. I was there only a couple of years but I learned a great deal. I did not have anything to speak of. I had an old Ford and I drove it from Missouri to Dubuque when I first got the job and I pulled a U-Haul with my mattress strapped to the top. Well, it rained and the mattress got destroyed and I ended up giving everything away, so I literally had nothing. My car really didn't work, therefore I usually jogged about a mile to work everyday, but it wasn't too bad. I got paid $12,420 salary, worked on my master's degree in psychology on Monday nights and was the head track coach, strength coach, academic counselor and defensive coordinator. But that's just the way you did it. The foundation was laid at Dubuque, I promise you."

In 1982, Leavitt took another defensive coordinator position, this time at Morningside College, where he spent five years. After suffering through two disastrous campaigns (2-9, 1-10) during his first two seasons, Leavitt was named the interim head coach prior to the 1984 season. Morningside transformed under Leavitt and recorded their first back-to-back winning seasons (6-5, 7-3-1) in 28 years.

"Morningside was very similar," Leavitt said. "My salary went up to $15,000 per year. I was head track coach there and we did really well in track in field. We finished 11th nationally the last year I was there. It was either teach an additional three hours or take the track position so they told me I had a $7,000 track budget and I said, 'Wow.'

"We had the first winning seasons at Morningside since legendary coach George Allen was there."

Leavitt's success had not gone unnoticed. Iowa's Hayden Fry offered him a graduate position, giving Leavitt his first opportunity to coach in Division I-A.

Leavitt only spent one season in Iowa before becoming the new linebackers coach at Kansas State in 1990. Sports Illustrated had declared Snyder's program the "worst in America." Again, Leavitt wasted little time as he was named the co-defensive coordinator in just his second season with the Wildcats. In just three years, Kansas State completed a major turnaround as even SI took notice that they were the "most improved team in the nation."

"Bill Snyder went to Kansas State and offered me a job at the all-time losingest program in the history of the NCAA," Leavitt said. "I had been with Division III turnarounds and Division II turnarounds and I thought this would be a great opportunity. So I went to Kansas State and the first year there I was the linebackers coach.

"Bob Cope who was the defensive coordinator at Kansas State, went to Southern Cal, so Coach Snyder brought me and Bob Stoops into his office and told us that he wanted us to be co-defensive coordinators and for us to go out that night and talk about it - so we did. We went out that night and came back to Coach Snyder and asked him to make a decision on one of us because we were too good of friends and we didn't want this to be an issue. Coach Snyder said, "I already made the decision that you guys are going to be co-defensive coordinators and that is the way it is and I will see you both tomorrow." So we both said, "Yes, sir, thank you."

"I don't know that it went exactly that way, but I am sure that it was pretty close," Snyder added. "Both of them were very skillful coaches and I wanted to reward them. I really liked the way they worked together. Bob had a tremendous background in secondary play and Jim was a front seven guy, so it made sense for me in order to accomplish everything that I wanted to and not to impact the continuity of our defense that this was a good way to reward both of them and it worked out perfectly."

For the next six years Stoops and Leavitt were co-defensive coordinators as they transformed the worst defenses in the country into the No. 1 ranked defense by 1995.

"Jim and I had a great working relationship together at Kansas State," said Stoops, currently head coach at Oklahoma. "We, along with my brother Mike, had some pretty good defenses. Jim is a hard worker and being at Kansas State he learned how to deal with some tough situations in building a successful program."

From there Leavitt headed to South Florida in 1996 to begin laying the groundwork for a competitive football team, while Stoops took a detour to Florida before taking the head job at Oklahoma. Both Leavitt and Stoops had a reunion -so to speak -on Sept. 28 as the Sooners hosted a scrappy South Florida squad.

"It was fun," said Leavitt. "We competed with Oklahoma and we held Quenton Griffen, who is a pretty good running back, to 10 yards rushing. We also had about 100 yards more total offense than the Sooners. But all that does not matter much with the final score 31-14."

Starting from scratch ...

After spending their first four years at the I-AA level -including 24 straight weeks in the national AP Poll -Leavitt's Bulls moved to I-A in 2001. South Florida finished with a respectable, including a 35-26 win over Big East member, Pittsburgh. The Bulls have only suffered through one losing season, a 5-6 campaign during its first year.

"A lot of good people working really hard are the keys to South Florida's early success," Leavitt said. "We also have awfully good athletes in the State of Florida. We have also been very fortunate that we have always had a pretty decent quarterback and a solid defense. We have not cut any corners, we have players that work together to make things happen."

Leavitt has been able to utilize his experiences at Iowa and Kansas State to help him in building a competitive Division I football program from the ground up. However, it has not been without rolling up the sleeves and doing without some of the luxuries other schools flaunt.

The South Florida program does not operate out of multi-million dollar athletic complexes. Instead, the Bulls coaching staff and athletic department have been building a championship contending program out of a handful of trailers and portable buildings.

"What are you going to do," Leavitt said. "You are not going to complain about what you don't have. You just embrace what you do have. We have good people, we have good practice fields and we have a good stadium. It can be tough recruiting kids with facilities that are below that of your competitor, but we can't control that right now."

South Florida has unveiled plans for a new 100,000-square foot athletic facility that will run $18 million and be completed in the spring of 2004. The Bulls had actually prepared to have a $7 million facility completed by the fall of 2001. When that did not come to fruition, the school found itself in a precarious situation as construction costs nearly doubled, thus leaving South Florida in desperate need of $10 million in private donations.

The university has voted to back a $13.2 million bond package to build the new facility for the football team and 12 other athletic programs, including baseball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and men's and women's cross country. The new complex will include offices, locker rooms and a media room.

"This is very exciting for us," Leavitt said. "This will help us in many ways, especially recruiting, efficiency and pride."

Bargain basement...

Want further proof that Leavitt is a steal?

According to a survey of athletic directors last season, Leavitt's total compensation of $180,000 (including coach's television, radio, football camp and apparel incentives) in 2001 was among the lowest in the nation, while the average compensation for C-USA coaches was $410,000. In fact, just 18 of the 117 I-A conference-affiliated coaches had a lower base salary than Leavitt. Of those 18 coaches, nine were from the Mid-American Conference, four were from the Sun Belt, three from the WAC and two from the Mountain West. The Tampa Tribune's Brett McMurphy also noted that even Houston's Dana Dimel, who was a former assistant with Leavitt at Kansas State, could approach $1 million dollars per year with incentives, and Leavitt's Bulls hosted and defeated the Cougars 45-6.

"I don't worry about my salary," Leavitt said. "When you start looking at your salary, you are looking at yourself and that is pretty selfish. Worrying about my salary is not going to help this football team."

The future ...

With a new contract looming, a new athletic complex funded and a football program headed for perennial C-USA title contention - Jim Leavitt's future at South Florida couldn't be brighter and running with the Bulls couldn't be more frightening.

"C-USA is an outstanding conference," Leavitt said. "There is not a bad team in the league.

"We hope to strengthen the conference, but we are not in there yet so we will have to wait and see. To win a few games this year is one thing, to go in and win week in and week out and try to keep our head above water is another. We know how good this conference is.

"It is very important to join the conference and get the bowl tie-ins. You can't survive as an independent in my mind. You have to have a vehicle for bowl games and a vehicle for conference championships. What do players play for if you remain an independent?

Leavitt is far from resting on his laurels. The defensive guru hopes the future of the program is better tomorrow than it is today – and today it is pretty good. With a fan base of 30,000 and growing, Jim Leavitt and South Florida are on their way.

"Obviously what Jim has done has been a tremendous piece of work," said Snyder. "It was an opportunity to put all the pieces in place and I feel that he has not made any mistakes. Having a program of your own is a lot more than X's and O's. Jim is very good at X's and O's, but Jim has also proven to be an excellent administrator and someone that deals with all facets of the program. He has gotten himself involved with everything and has literally built a program from the ground up."

5 OTHER SCHOOLS MAKING THE JUMP ...

1) Florida Atlantic University: Former Miami Hurricanes coach Howard Schnellenberger looks to rekindle a little South Florida magic - this time at Florida Atlantic. FAU, located 40 miles north of Coral Gables, is in its second year of football. The Owls have had more success in fundraising than on the field, but if anyone can build a program from scratch -it's Schnellenberger.

2) Florida International University: Unlike it's brother to the north (FAU), FIU, located in Miami, has immediately scored on field success during its first year of football with a 5-5 record with a final matchup remaining against new rival FAU. FIU is currently in Division I-AA and is led by former Miami Dolphins quarterback, Don Strock.

3) University of Alabama-Birmingham: OK, so the Blazers have been around since 1991, but what they have accomplished under Watson Brown in such a short period is still pretty amazing. UAB, located deep in the heart of Alabama football between SEC mega-programs, Alabama and Auburn, is enjoying the fruits of their labors with membership in Conference USA and a budding fan base. UAB has also sent 10 players to the NFL.

4) Southeastern Louisiana University: After closing the doors of its football program in 1985, the Lions, located in Hammond, La., have recruited two former SEC heavyweights to lead the charge in the always-tough Southland Conference in Division I-AA in 2005. SLU named former Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme its new head coach and former Vanderbilt head coach Woody Widenhofer its assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. If pedigree wins games, the Lions should be contenders right away and Strawberry Stadium should be packed.

5) East Texas Baptist University: This Division III school awakened its football program in 2000 after a 50-year hiatus. The Tigers, located in Marshall, Texas, are led by veteran coach Ralph Harris and have already made an immediate impact with a 6-4 season in just its third year. ETBU competes in the tough American Southwest Conference along with perennial Division III powers Mary Hardin-Baylor, Mississippi College and Hardin Simmons. Another ASC school, Louisiana College (Pineville, La.), has also thrown its hat into the ring with a new football program in 2001.






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