CBS Sportsline's Dodd likes Leavitt

[hightechbull]

Ranks him as #9 best coach this year.

9. Jim Leavitt, South Florida: The Bulls have stumbled lately but still look like the next Florida power.

Leavitt doesn't have one top 100 recruit but he takes someone else's castoffs and makes them into players better than any coach in the country.

[smazza]

Ranks him as #9 best coach this year.

9. Jim Leavitt, South Florida: The Bulls have stumbled lately but still look like the next Florida power.

Leavitt doesn't have one top 100 recruit but he takes someone else's castoffs and makes them into players better than any coach in the country.

there are more than 9 coaches i would rather have than leavitt

[JoeB]

Hard to argue with his logic.  We don't have any Top 100 player right now.  Mike Ford is probably the closest in terms of recruiting hype prior to arriving at USF.

[PingBull]

Ranks him as #9 best coach this year.

9. Jim Leavitt, South Florida: The Bulls have stumbled lately but still look like the next Florida power.

Leavitt doesn't have one top 100 recruit but he takes someone else's castoffs and makes them into players better than any coach in the country.

there are more than 9 coaches i would rather have than leavitt

there is an infinite number of posters i'd rather see than you

count it

[Cubanbull]

Ranks him as #9 best coach this year.

9. Jim Leavitt, South Florida: The Bulls have stumbled lately but still look like the next Florida power.

Leavitt doesn't have one top 100 recruit but he takes someone else's castoffs and makes them into players better than any coach in the country.

there are more than 9 coaches i would rather have than leavitt

Really? name them and lets find out how much they make and wether they would come here?

[USF-PMR]

Leavitt is every bit of 9th in country!

Leavitt has GUTS.

PMR

[Z Bull]

Ranks him as #9 best coach this year.

9. Jim Leavitt, South Florida: The Bulls have stumbled lately but still look like the next Florida power.

Leavitt doesn't have one top 100 recruit but he takes someone else's castoffs and makes them into players better than any coach in the country.

there are more than 9 coaches i would rather have than leavitt

To refresh your memory, if you can't say anything nice, DON'T SAY ANYTHING.  Constructive criticism is one thing, but you are just down right negative about anything and everything.

I will take Leavitt's passion, pride, and love for both the game of football and his players anyday.  I would not trade him for any other coach out there.

You obviously are not a Bulls fan because I haven't seen you say anything positive about them in any posts I've read.  So if you don't like the way things are with the Bulls, why don't you do all of us a favor and go find another team to "support".

[T-Man]

Spurned Croom has Bulldogs barking, Tide feeling humble

 

Dennis Dodd Nov. 14, 2007

By Dennis Dodd

CBSSports.com Senior Writer

Tell Dennis your opinion!

 

Sylvester Croom could have looked up to the press box Saturday and lobbed whatever obscene gesture you can think of. He would have been perfectly justified.

The man who passed on him, AD Mal Moore, was up in that press box watching one of the Alabama's most honored alums lay one on the Tide. Not that Croom wasn't reveling in it.

Freshman QB Wesley Carroll is blossoming under Croom's leadership. (US Presswire)

Freshman QB Wesley Carroll is blossoming under Croom's leadership. (US Presswire)

"We've got bragging rights now," Mississippi State's fourth-year coach said. "I don't have to say anything but if I want, I can."

The 17-12 victory was the second consecutive over the Tide for Croom, whose Bulldogs won at Tuscaloosa 24-16 last season. The Mississippi State website quickly began offering T-shirts that read, "Back To Back, Smack to Smack."

No doubt, there will be more of that going around. The man has literally been responsible for getting two coaches fired.

In his first season in 2004, a win over Florida led directly to Ron Zook's firing, and Mike Shula couldn't handle the blowback from last season's loss. Remember, it was Shula -- the man who got hired instead of Croom -- who took Croom's name off the Commitment to Excellence spring practice award. Croom's name was later reattached after it was established that Shula's move might have been less than classy and racially insensitive.

All that feeds into Alabama being the Bulldogs' "second-most important rival," according to Croom (Mississippi would be the first). 'Bama being a college football icon helps, too.

But Croom is an icon himself, the first black head football coach in the SEC. It would have been a tragedy if he had failed.

For a program trying to climb out of the basement, Saturday was a turning point. The victory made Mississippi State (6-4, same as Alabama) bowl eligible for the first time since 2000. It's also the first time since that year that the Bulldogs have had the same or better record as 'Bama this far into the season.

As for Moore, he gave Croom a cursory interview before hiring Shula. Shula's gone and Croom is still one of Alabama's all-time greats. He played at Tuscaloosa High School, for Bear Bryant and coached as an assistant at 'Bama for 11 years.

After being ignored by his alma mater, Croom took over a program that was infused with questionable character left over from the Jackie Sherrill regime. And it was in NCAA hot water.

Mississippi State is not the richest program so winning six or seven is like winning 10 at another school. The program not only has to compete with Ole Miss for recruits in a sparsely populated state, it must work against the entire SEC.

Considering all that, Croom has done one of the 10 best coaching jobs this season (see below for the full list). Credit goes to AD Larry Templeton for hiring and sticking with Croom. And to the freshmen who came in 2004 and now are seniors.

So maybe those upsets won't lead to firings in the future. Mississippi State victories will be expected -- at least more regularly.

"For some of these guys they didn't have to come here but they did to build a championship program in the state," Croom said after the Alabama game. "In three hours we changed the way people look at this program."

The 10 best coaching jobs this season:

1. Mark Mangino, Kansas: Why doesn't this guy get mentioned for any of these job openings? You get the feeling that if Man-genius weighed 200 pounds his name would be all over the message boards.

Coming off a 6-6 season, the sixth-year coach lost the Big 12's leading rusher (Jon Cornish) and was throwing open the quarterback competition.

Didn't matter. The Jayhawks grew up all at once, the schedule was favorable and Mangino's steady hand made this one of the most balanced teams in the country. If you close your eyes and ignore the cartoonish mascot, yes, these guys can go all the way.

2. Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State: Road wins at Auburn and Kentucky made a bowl possible. Why stop there? Now the Bulldogs can win eight by beating Arkansas and Mississippi in the final two.

Wesley Carroll came out of nowhere to challenge the NCAA mark for most passes by a freshman without a pick.

3. Dennis Erickson, Arizona State: Injected toughness into a program that wasn't known for having much. The Comeback Kids have fallen behind by a cumulative 56-0 to UCLA, Cal, Colorado and Oregon State before coming back to win.

4. Al Groh, Virginia: All those close wins are key, sure, but so is coaching up quarterback Jameel Sewell on the fly. The Cavaliers went from gaining 110 yards in the opener against Wyoming to scoring 48 against Miami in the 'Canes' last game at the Orange Bowl. That's progress.

Pinkel can't be grumpy about his Tigers' performance this season. (Getty Images)

Pinkel can't be grumpy about his Tigers' performance this season. (Getty Images)

5. Gary Pinkel, Missouri: The usually grumpy Pinkel loosened up and his players followed. The offense is one of the five best in the country. Quarterback Chase Daniel just got notification from the Heisman Trust that he might be invited to New York. The defense is serviceable but in this day and age that's enough.

Of all the one-loss teams, Missouri has the most to complain about. Its one and only blemish was by 10 on the road to Oklahoma.

6. Ron Zook, Illinois: The Ohio State victory proved the Zooker can recruit, coach, sell popcorn and date cheerleaders all at the same time if he wants to. The Illini currently are 6 1/2 games better than last season (2-10 to 8-3).

7. Randy Edsall, Connecticut: On the hot seat at the beginning of the season, Edsall beat Louisville, South Florida and Rutgers -- all in a row. The Huskies still reside at the top of the Big East. Aside from Kansas, UConn would be the most unlikely conference champion in the country.

8. Brian Kelly, Cincinnati: First-year coaches don't usually enjoy this type of success. Kelly is on his third job in five years. He came to Cincinnati talking big ("I didn't come here to go .500"), won a bowl game, then led the Bearcats to eight wins, matching last season's total.

9. Jim Leavitt, South Florida: The Bulls have stumbled lately but still look like the next Florida power.

Leavitt doesn't have one top 100 recruit but he takes someone else's castoffs and makes them into players better than any coach in the country.

10. Lloyd Carr, Michigan: The Wolverines rebounded from those two horrible losses to win eight straight. Despite losing to Wisconsin, Carr has Michigan playing for a Rose Bowl berth in what might be his last game.

[USF_Grouper]

Is that true about not having a Top 100 recruit?  I thought we had a couple.  What was Mike Ford?

[bulls96go]

just win  jim