USFreak

4 minutes ago, USF Bulls Football said:

Christ, then go. If you've given up on USF, you are on the wrong board. Losing Leavitt killed me, but I'm a Bull, not a Leavitt. 

Opportunities are called opportunities for a reason.  

USF is a stepping stone for every other coach (Taggart, etc).  Leavitt never had any intent on leaving.  Leavitt was a Bulls fan - it was his baby.

5 minutes ago, lotsofbull99 said:

We beat no one of importance this year, we've become the tallest midget 

Skinniest kid at fat camp.

3 minutes ago, GaUSFBull said:

I agree!  We need a repeat of this year ... that's the closest we've come to being great, and CJL didn't have anything to do with it.  

What THE hell are you talking about?  The AAC is basically Conference USA on quaaludes.  Winning a ****** conference isn't the same as beating Auburn ON THE ROAD.  I'd take 1 upset  of Kansas or FSU over 15 wins over ECU.  Hell, everybody would.

2 minutes ago, USF Bulls Football said:

Look, I'm a Leavitt fan through and through. He'll always be my favorite coach. He got a shotty deal.

The Admin doesn't want him and he doesn't want USF. I have a better chance of getting hired then he does. It's over. Every day, there are two or three new threads bringing this up. I swear, some of you guys must have pictures of ex-gf's hanging up in your rooms. Let. It. Go.

Great thread and I have let it go.  Totally let it go.  Don't buy season tickets, never watch the games, have usf emails that go right to junk mail.

But I was a superfan.  Not factor that across the casual fan and you have what, yeah - nada.

1 minute ago, USF Bulls Football said:

He's not coming back. Just stop. The end. 

Wow, I'm convinced.

You are probably right, but that "announced" 10,000 fans will enjoy that NIU game almost as much as you will.

Here's the literal deal.

I, at one point in my life, lived and breathed USF.  Dave (Glaser) and I started usfbulls.com and I totally loved the climb to the Big East and real football.  It was amazing.  Brad certainly loved every minute of that as well.  Stupid to claim that as who give's a rat's ass, but more just to say I've been here from the beginning.

Fast-forward to 2016:

I have not watched a USF game (minus the first 11 minutes of the USF/FSU game this year in 7 years.  The alumni office keeps emailing me asking to validate my address.  F*ck them and who gives a turd.  I simply do not GIVE A ****.  I will probably never go to a game, watch a game, donate another dollar or even bring USF in conversation unless they do something drastic. Leavitt pissed in my cheerios on the regular and was an absolute **** to me many, many, many times - BUT that sonofabitch could coach and get so much out of his players.  He lived and breathed USF and Judy and Woolard sent him packing.   I get the whole slap on the head story, but that was a hit-job if there ever was one. 

At this point we're going to hire some 6-6 coach that is going to send this thing right back to the bottomof the AAC.  No, get back in the mix like you did back when it was announced USF was bringing football in.  That was a bold move and against the grain and it paid dividends right up until about 2010.  Then the wheels came off.

Leavitt is that drastic step.  I keep reading this article and that saying it "is a Tampa problem" or a "winning problem" or etc.  

No, it is a ****ty conference problem and nobody cares problem.  I don't care if you put 150,000 students on campus - NOBODY is going to care about your ****ty AAC team.  

I simply don't.  Like it or not Leavitt is your path back and everyone on this board and enjoy the AAC football to their hearts content, but the rest of us simply couldn't queef out a care in the world.

You get somebody in there that is going dominate week in and week out.  The AAC is essentially Florida 6A.  Kick some arse.

2 minutes ago, JTrue said:

Yes, yes, and yes.

I'll raise you one Skip Holtz

1 minute ago, Rizman said:

No way as long as Judy is at USF will Leavitt be back.   Move on

Your assumption is the president is the most powerful person at the school.  Let's see.

It is pretty obvious that Leavitt is going to get back into head-coaching.  So your answer is "anywhere but here"? 

Again, I'll toss it out - Brad?  Dave?  Even McMurphy?

The Leavitt oust was a hit-job pure and simple. Most that have any tentacles in it know that.  I realize that it would, from Day 1, be a repair job but look at all the second chances out there. Countless examples and a total precedent.

I get Leavitt to the same school is a massive stretch, but the bottom line is 100% he'd be the best guy for the job.  You want to win games and fill the stadium and climb the conference ladder.  That's your guy.

Anybody else you are slapping your beans on the wall.  

5 minutes ago, BullsFanInTX said:

No reason to even bring up something that will never happen.

USF/Judy truly believes that Jim struck a player and lied about it.  Until a new regime is brought in at USF, Leavitt will never be hired back.    

 

That's the rub.  Judy is the only cog.  Think about that for a second.

So yes, it is appropriate to bring up because in Florida football is still king.  Judy may have done some good work, but what is the 20-year plan and who holds the cards?

I'll add that if Leavitt is a 100% impossibility - Charlie Strong.  100% Charlie Strong.

Listen, I know everybody is going to say no way in hell...

But honestly, isn't it the best outcome?  I'm not sure that goofball frame-job can be swept under the rug, but when I saw Petrino returned to Louisville I thought anything was possible. Absolutely anything. Roll Tide!   Are we clear that basically he was run out of town by Genshaft/Woolard for saying "he was the most powerful man in the building?"  

Here's the thing - college football is an UGLY business.  Leavitt is probably the only one that gives two violation about his program and would stay (unlike Taggart, etc) at any level of success.  He's probably the guy that lands you in the Big 12.  I know the egos at 4202 E. Fowler won't like it and there would be an ass-ton of backpedaling, but it pretty much needs to happen.

Dave?  Brad?

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Grothe has always been about Grothe. 

A couple things:

1) I agree that you check Grothe out in that CSU game.  Grothe was a competitor and a lot of these kids feel indestructible until they aren't.  That said, Grothe was (and is) the best to ever play the position for USF to this day.  I'm not trying to stir controversy here, but he was an "off the radar" kid playing in a 7 on 7 camp on the practice fields at USF and I remember saying to a few people - "that kid is absolutely going to be the best to play QB at USF."  He wasn't tall enough.  He definitely didn't have a rocket for an arm or blazing speed.  He just had everything else.

2) The offense is potent, but these games should be on Friday.  Flat out ugly football.  High school football.  Mismatches (at least on one side of ball).  It is fun to watch USF run past some of these teams, but this is not the caliber of competition.  It simply isn't.  There have been a few flashes, but it is hot garbage.   You can't look away.

3) Grothe/Auburn.  This is the seminal moment of USF football. Away in a hostile environment.  2nd game of the year (after Elon) against No. 17 Auburn and Grothe pulls off this:

We're comparing a gun-fight at Memphis in front of a bored crowd?  C'mon, don't forget your history.  These are better times right now, but Holtz took this ship to the bottom.  

The only other moment that comes that close (to Auburn) is BJ (and a stout defense) pulling off the near-impossible at FSU after Grothe goes down.  That was bananas.  (I get #5 WVU and Kansas, but I still think the above two outrank - that said, has anything in 2016 approached any of that???)

The offense this current team is putting up is fun, but it is against marginal competition and the defense is flat-out flat. 

I pin none of the shortcomings of USF football on Grothe.  That kid did it every down.  We all know the losses came from coaching and playing fast.   That was the team and when it worked it worked well.  We'd have 15 penalties a game and recover because of that aggressive play.  Then we'd bump up against a team that would capitalize on short-field mismatches and the fact that we were always undersized on the DL.   They'd feed it to a 240 lb back that would eat our lunch and Leavitt rarely had an answer.  A stable of 300+ interior DTs would have done wonders for our program.

Leavitt is looking old these days. We need a youthful coach that will build this program for the next ten years.

Bill Snyder is almost 20 years older. Working out ok for him. These old dogs only know how to coach football.

And I think Leavitt would easily win a conference championship when he comes back. Every team of consequence will be gone. I do love the people who say let's get a young coach and build slowly. I don't see that happening. The Big East continues to crumble. You simply don't pack a 63,000 seat stadium to watch a glorified MAC conference.

The big problem is USF was "good enough" for many years. They beat some big teams, found their way into the rankings, got their name on TV - they weren't perfect, but at least there was some relevance. With these two cellar-dwellar years and no real hope of getting better (not to mention the recruiting blowback) USF is in nobody's mind to move anywhere. We've made the full transition from "up-and-comer" to "done and doner."

You may be correct that Leavitt has moved on and has no interest. After seeing Holtz implode his own career a lot of other coaches may see this as a very unwelcoming and risky career stop as well.

As I have mentioned before...out here in the desert is Arizona State University. They had a coach named Frank Kush that was fired for worse. They now have a field named after him and celebrate him all the time - including their 2012 football banquet I attended on behalf of my firm. They realized he was great for the program and the fans adore him. There were many parallels with our Leavitt debacle. Kush is a big part of the program to this day.

I don't think USF has ever displayed the courage for such a move. Unfortunately.

Again, the only logical play here. Leavitt is the only one with the work ethic and actually cares enough to turn this ship around. It wasn't USF's program. It was HIS program. Some might say that is dangerous (see Joe Paterno), but he's served his time.

Picking some other ABC or XYZ coach makes zero sense at this point, but honestly it may be too late. If USF doesn't fix this by the end of this season we might as well be UT-Chattanooga or UL-Monroe, etc. 11,000 attendance and nobody will care one iota.

I will never understand why they were so hasty in firing Leavitt. It clearly wasn't because of his performance, I think it was personal. I'm certain if he hadn't been fired USF wouldn't have missed a bowl game these last two years. Our defense would have us winning all these close games.

Gismo...think about the players Leavitt had. He had NFL caliber kids from Day 1. Day F-in one. Add that to the fact he got more out of lower caliber players then could have ever been expected.

Odd it hasn't been mentioned. Sure, he's snakebit, but redemption is always a decent storyline.

Honestly he's the only guy out there that's going to care enough to resurrect this program. It is in shambles...pure shambles....and not only that it is in shambles at the absolute worst time with all this conference repositioning. Think about it....if we were at No. 12 - 20 these past two years where we'd be trying to punch our dance card.

Instead, we are on the precipice of irrelevance. Shame.

^^^^

The godfather of USF message boards.

Glad to see you here. Sorry it had to be under such dire circumstances.

A crying shame. It really is...

I guess I have the Broncos, but jesus I've never quite seen anything like this USF stuff. Holtz is utterly clueless.

Penance is the key word here. I've seen people mentioning Petrino. That guy is shady on all levels, but yet people would take him. Leavitt had one wrong and I'm not sure it was anywhere near the level of what some of these other jokers did (O'Leary, Petrino, etc). Leavitt built a juggernaut from nothing and truly had a genuine love for this school and this program (and certainly his players).

Genshaft is going nowhere so she'd basically have to axe Woolard, eat some minor crow, but essentially the hero would return. Leavitt could walk back on campus, admit that he's a bit of a changed man and all would be right in the world again.

That's the ONLY guaranteed play here if USF wants to salvage itself. And by salvage itself I mean find themselves in a superconference in the next 5 years.....otherwise, football irrelevance.

Odd it hasn't been mentioned. Sure, he's snakebit, but redemption is always a decent storyline.

Honestly he's the only guy out there that's going to care enough to resurrect this program. It is in shambles...pure shambles....and not only that it is in shambles at the absolute worst time with all this conference repositioning. Think about it....if we were at No. 12 - 20 these past two years where we'd be trying to punch our dance card.

Instead, we are on the precipice of irrelevance. Shame.

Every armchair QB had this in the bag. Skip's in-game decisions are just so wildly incorrect. Skip is a professional and done it for years and seems hasn't learned a thing. He thinks conservative is going to work every time. Not so with this crew. I will say the Florida player is probably than most of what he's coached over his tenure, but adapt baby...adapt...or step down.

I'll add he should just resign. Flat out resign. Guy is a coordinator or position coach on his best day.

Forget the timeout, but the after the goal line stop watch Skip. He's not talking to his players or anything. He's standing there dumbfounded.

Christ, this guy just doesn't have the juice.

to build on what 'Freak wrote, we have a lot of young talent on this team that should get an opportunity to play if they are they are better players. Loyalty is important but so is the idea of ongoing competition. I think DV is a great safety in supporting the run b/c he can deliver a blow just like his brother, but tends to get lost sometimes in coverage. Not a rip but an observation. Same as mike jenkins....I love the kid but he is not perfect.

Just read this now and see what MikeG was replying to.  I'm not sure I agree either.  I think the coaches are at the point now where they'll put the best guy on the field.  I think maybe a year or two ago they were trying to teach lessons and reward the hardest work.  Now I think it is about that plus talent and results.

7 games into the season with a actual shot at the Big East title they'll put the guys in that will give them the best chance of winning.  I have no doubt about that.  

I just disagree with these statements. CJL makes a minor comment about some changes in who will start-- not play a whole game-- but start-- and even in the face of KNOWN projected starters coming back, we make some waves about a particular player not being good enough. Based on what? Danny played as well as any other starter out there.

Let's not jump to conclusions and throw guys under the bus who are busting their ass for this team. I'm fairly confident this isn't about loyalty and basically about who can help us win games. That loyalty comment was smazza's idea when it came to PJ -- well-- CJL did mention that to some extent-- but his plan was to start PJ in the first half and then put in MG in the second-- OK-- he leaned toward a player on that basis. That's a senior, not a RS Freshman-- his clout can't be that good. Maybe it is but to suggest as much seems inappropriate. I hope that's not what you guys are doing.

I'm not sure you can call it a "we".  I think it was just me and Cyber.  You could probably call it a "them."  

Listen, it is just my opinion.  If I look across the USF defense I see very few weak points.  The one  area for improvement I see (other than possibly just a little more out of the entire DL) is Strong Safety.  That's not to say throw Danny out with the bathwater...I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a change there.

MikeG, you said it right here:

"I'm fairly confident this isn't about loyalty and basically about who can help us win games. "

Exactly.  If there is somebody that plays his way into the position (or out of it) you put him in.  

Benzer is sitting on the sideline for a reason.  If Danny or any player out there gets replaced at starter at this juncture you can be confident it is for a reason.  Either somebody showed more in practice/game or somebody didn't show enough in the practice/game.

Again, my opinion.  If you don't like it -- that's cool.  It doesn't have to be your opinion.   Also, nobody is getting thrown under any bus.  It is a couple of fans analyzing the starting lineup.  That's it.

Danny made All - Freshman Honors though. Sporting News 3rd Team

Carlton Williams was All Freshman Honrable Mention in 2005 from TSN

Mike Jenkins was 2nd Team All Big East in 2005

And Trae has 5 INT's already

We have a good secondary now.  Two years ago holy smokes.  Remember the Pitt game?  I still have nightmares.

Again, let's see what the changes are on Saturday.   I see SS as an area for improvement, but I could be wrong.   The changes could just be as simple as RB/DT.  Plugging in two 'former' starters.

Easy on the Verpaele(s). I know both well on and off the field. Kevin was a true leader and did what ever you asked of him. He could read an offense inside and out and even would play QB for the scout team when we played teams like Bowling Green when Harris was there and Kevin was a starter for our team. He may have not been the most gifted athlete in the speed part, but he made up for it in so many way. Danny is almost a CC of his brother as well. He is younger, but he still has that element of reading offenses. We are an aggresive defense and that can be in your favor, but it can cause you to get beat on trip plays as well as the long ball.

Also, who would we put there instead.

Merely my opinion.  If we see a change out there this Sunday I suppose we'll know.

I have nothing against either of these guys -- as I mentioned both were right on board with Leavitt from Day 1 of their recruitment.  Loyalty is very important and both have committed to this program before, during and after they left.  Kevin came back as a GA and they are great ambassadors to this program.  110% effort as well.  That can't be underestimated.  

It isn't a rip on them, but I imagine it is more important at game time to put your best player out there.  Julmiste is a great guy too and very loyal, but do we want him out there over Grothe?  I'm just saying you go with your best option and, at this point, we may have better options at SS.  

to build on what 'Freak wrote, we have a lot of young talent on this team that should get an opportunity to play if they are they are better players. Loyalty is important but so is the idea of ongoing competition. I think DV is a great safety in supporting the run b/c he can deliver a blow just like his brother, but tends to get lost sometimes in coverage. Not a rip but an observation. Same as mike jenkins....I love the kid but he is not perfect.

Yeah, I hope people are jumping on this thread as a 'negative' thread.  Danny is a RS sophomore as people pointed out.  I think we can all agree that most programs build in depth behind the starters as the players come in.  Danny was thrown out there as a true freshman two years...yikes, remember how dreadful the FS/SS backfield was that year?  There are probably a few positions at this point we still have to grow into.