Why Leavitt Should Never be Rehired by USF

[George_Bullnard_Shaw]

22 minutes ago, GaUSFBull said:

First, as it pertains to CousinRicky, whom I like and appreciate as a donor to USF athletics, everything he's heard about Skip getting a raw deal has come from him talking to Skip.  And we're talking about a guy who received a new, more valuable contract coming off a year where we were beginning to trend downward.  So the talk about Skip getting a raw deal sort of rings hollow in my ears.  

 

99.999999% of people living in the world today would take the "raw deal" that Skip got.

[RG]

Everything you ever wanted to know about the APR. - http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/academic-progress-rate-explained

Penalties are handed down for 4-year averages that are below 930.

Attrition was the main reason behind the low APR scores.

In a 5-year span USF went from a 1-AA (FCS) program to a 1-A (FBS) playing in the Big East. With each setup in competition, better players committed to the program and a higher number of players left the program.  The scores were starting to trend upward after USF's third year in the Big East.

2000 Division 1-AA (FCS)

2001 Division 1-A (FBS) Independent

2003 Division 1-A (FBS) C-USA

2005 Division 1-A (FBS) Big East

 

 

[JTrue]

4 minutes ago, RG said:

Everything you ever wanted to know about the APR. - http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/academic-progress-rate-explained

Penalties are handed down for 4-year averages that are below 930.

Attrition was the main reason behind the low APR scores.

In a 5-year span USF went from a 1-AA (FCS) program to a 1-A (FBS) playing in the Big East. With each setup in competition, better players committed to the program and a higher number of players left the program.  The scores were starting to trend upward after USF's third year in the Big East.

2000 Division 1-AA (FCS)

2001 Division 1-A (FBS) Independent

2003 Division 1-A (FBS) C-USA

2005 Division 1-A (FBS) Big East

 

 

That could also be worded as, "The scores were starting to trend upward after USF hired a new coach."

[RG]

14 minutes ago, JTrue said:

1) That's for @CousinRicky to defend/debate. But I've heard it from more than just him.

2) Definitely agree he did nothing to deserve an extension.

3) 930 is the APR cutoff, when you fall below that during a 4 year period, you're open to sanctions. Even with the 952 in xCJL's last half academic year our average was a 927 (917, 909, 930, 952). If you add in Holtz's first full year 963, we jump all the way up to a 939. A 929 would have gotten us to a 930 (with the 917 falling off the four year average). xCJL's scores in prior years were 921, 910, 917, 909, 930, 952 (shared with Skip). The average xCJL team was in bad shape, APR-wise.

4) No idea if it was in his contract or not and no one else on here does either.

According to the chart, those numbers are the Multi-Year Rates. So, those numbers (917, 909, 930, 952) might already be the 4-year average.

[JTrue]

4 minutes ago, RG said:

According to the chart, those numbers are the Multi-Year Rates. So, those numbers (917, 909, 930, 952) might already be the 4-year average.

You're right. I didn't notice that. So if the APR rules had been in place, we'd have been sanctioned every year up until 2008-2009.

[RG]

3 minutes ago, JTrue said:

That could also be worded as, "The scores were starting to trend upward after USF hired a new coach."

How so? Does the coach teach the classes, provide any tutoring or do any grading in the classes?

A coach hired in Jan of 2010 has little to no effect on the APR scores for the academic year 2009-2010. 

[RG]

1 minute ago, JTrue said:

You're right. I didn't notice that. So if the APR rules had been in place, we'd have been sanctioned every year up until 2008-2009.

Not positive, but I believe USF had been warned for a couple of years, but were given extra time to get the scores up due to the unique circumstances of going from 1-AA to Big East Conference in 5 years.

[NewEnglandBull]

16 minutes ago, RG said:

How so? Does the coach teach the classes, provide any tutoring or do any grading in the classes?

A coach hired in Jan of 2010 has little to no effect on the APR scores for the academic year 2009-2010. 

Excellent point! But as the captain of the ship the coach always takes the hit. But you are right that is a department in athletics who is responsible. Perhaps the issue was boarderline students but I suspect this happens all the time. Today you have to be pretty bad intellectually not to do well as a student athlete due to all of the support they get. 

Edited November 13, 2018 by NewEnglandBull

[The Sheriff]

14 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Excellent point! But as the captain of the ship the coach always takes the hit. But you are right that is a department in athletics who is responsible. Perhaps the issue was boarderline students but I suspect this happens all the time. Today you have to be pretty bad intellectually not to do well as a student athlete due to all of the support they get. 

The support system was in play years ago when I was playing (anyone remember the Village on campus?)... the problem is the fact the USF academic tutors couldn't actually take the live class exams for our players. I still wonder how some of the players that played beside me even got into college (without football, what was the alternative for them)? When I asked the academic advisers why players were being pushed to certain degree programs (let's just say those degree programs weren't going to champion any type of technical careers), I was told to stay in my lane.

Today, more classes are online than ever before, giving today's players more of a chance to circumvent the system (hence higher APR's in general). Social media has shed a new light on how far the drop off is between the typical student and the "student-athlete" that plays football (across the nation). Call it what it is... but when you hear a live interview or read these "well thought out" Instagram posts/"tweets" with a picture from a player's iPhone Notes app so a player in general can give their deep thoughts on life while also praising Jesus, you really have to question the educational system in totality. That's an entirely different ball game altogether.

On a different note, I still thank fellow Bullspenner @Slateman on here for carrying me through one of my accounting classes back in the day. I was somewhat apathetic at the time and didn't spend enough time on my own consuming the material in class while juggling the responsibility that comes with playing football (thereby falling behind quickly) - he pushed me in the right direction. I personally don't believe most players would have taken the time to seek outside assistance to the extent I did with that class (there was a lot of extra hours/sleepless nights put in the week of exams).