USF coach speaks in Englewood

[Brad]

USF coach speaks in Englewood

ENGLEWOOD -- Optimism was the rule when University of South Florida head football coach Jim Leavitt spoke at a meeting of the Lemon Bay Sunrise Rotary on Thursday morning at the Suncoast Auditorium.

"This program is going to be powerful because the foundation is there," Leavitt told a crowd of last least 100 people, including some members of the Lemon Bay High School football team and some players from the Englewood Pop Warner Association.

Leavitt, the only head coach the Bulls have had in their 10-year football history, shared some funny anecdotes from his football career.

But he also had some serious reflections and talked about how his team has progressed since the program was started and the first game was played in 1997. The Bulls and Leavitt are 61-39 in nine seasons.

"We started as an independent in Division 1-AA," Leavitt said. "We were that for three seasons, then we went to independent status in Division 1-A (the highest division), then Conference USA and now the Big East Conference, which is a powerful conference.

"Being in the Big East is important because it's part of the BCS. If you're part of the BCS, you can go to a bowl game and get $16 million for the school instead of around $1 1/2 million. This is a great challenge and I love it."

Last season, the Bulls made a bowl game for the first time, losing to North Carolina State 14-0 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. USF finished the season with a 6-6 overall record and a 4-3 record in the Big East.

Leavitt also stressed the importance of academics for his players.

"The main thing has to be academics and graduating," he said. "That always should be the main goal."

And one of the best things about the Bulls' program is that most of the players are homegrown.

"Out of 105 players on our football team, we have about 100 who are from Florida," the coach said.

Several players from Charlotte County and the surrounding area have played for USF, including former Lemon Bay punter-kicker Erik Schaum, who played for the Manta Rays in the late 1990s.

Leavitt also answered several questions from the audience, including one about possible Division I-A playoffs instead of the present bowl game setup.

"I like the present system better," he said. "In a playoff situation, you might have eight teams compete, although I'm not sure how you would determine which teams would qualify.

'In the end, there would only be one team called the winner. In a bowl situation with maybe 16 bowls, you would have 16 winners and 16 losers."

You can e-mail Gary Brown at brown@sun-herald.com.

By GARY BROWN

Sports Writer

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[Brad]

Should have warned the usual suspects that "Optimisim" was the rule of the day as stated in the article.

[lotsofbull99]

Optimism is not in the vocabulary of the darkside

[Jebbull]

I live in Charlotte County and was not aware CJL was speaking.  Obviously would have wanted to attend the event.  With over 100 people attending either I missed the article or the newspaper should have advertised better.  Oh well.

[turkeysoup]

Leavitt also stressed the importance of academics for his players.

"The main thing has to be academics and graduating," he said. "That always should be the main goal."

Anyone know what percentage of Leavitt's players have earned degreees at USF?

[Triple B]

Anyone know what percentage of Leavitt's players have earned degreees at USF?

93%

[Guest]

I live in Charlotte County and was not aware CJL was speaking.  Obviously would have wanted to attend the event.  With over 100 people attending either I missed the article or the newspaper should have advertised better.  Oh well.

This may not have been advertised... it was a regular meeting of the "Lemon Bay Sunrise Rotary" - not something organized by USF.

[The Sheriff]

I have mine... and so do many of my boys... I'd say a better figure is roughly 65% at the top end... although if it was higher, I would be presently surprised.

[ChiTownBull]

what happens to the others (non transfers). do they make it 4 yrs and just come up a certain amount of credits shy? I guess there are also the Brian Fisher stories...but did he technically transfer out of usf?

[Greg Auman]

Fisher was at Hillsborough Community College for at least a year after he left USF -- guess that was fall 2004 and spring 2005 ...