No doubt the Big East is the promised-land of college football, an oasis where previously unknown football teams can climb to ranks to find a home in the Top 25 - like the University Of South Florida’s Bulls, a football program that did not even exist a decade ago. USF’s Cinderella-story rise to college football contenders has been helped along by many factors, but few can argue much of the credit goes to the drive, talent and unwavering faith of Bull’s head coach Jim Leavitt.
To fully appreciate the Bulls/Jim Leavitt success story, you have to understand their humble beginnings. USF’s ascension from 1-A startup to the Top 25 (and subsequently top 5) is the fastest in NCAA history, surpassing Boise State's by 7 weeks. Since the inaugural season in 1997, Bull’s head coach Jim Leavitt has guided the team through the I-AA ranks into Division I-A, into Conference USA and finally into the Big East Conference. Only 8 years after the program’s inception, the team played its 100th game and first bowl game in North Carolina at the Meineke Car Care Bowl. One year later, Leavitt led the team to its first ever bowl win in the Papa Johns Bowl against East Carolina University on December 23, 2006.
Coaching for South Florida is literally coming home for Leavitt, a St. Petersburg native. Leavitt was a star quarterback for Dixie Hollins High School and later graduated from the University Of Missouri in 1978. His first coaching job was at the Univeristy of Dubuque, where he spent two years serving as defensive coordinator. Following Dubuque, Leavitt spent one year as special teams coordinator at Morningside College, where he was eventually promoted to defensive coordinator. After a brief stint at the University Of Iowa (where he pursued a doctorate in psychology), Leavitt landed at Kansas State in 1990 where he spent two years as linebackers coach, followed by four more as defensive coordinator, leading Kansas State from relative obscurity to having a highly respected defense. In 1996, Leavitt became the first and to date the only head coach for the University of South Florida’s Bull football team.
Leavitt’s intense demeanor, which contrasts with his youthful looks and spiky hair, is legendary. Leavitt is so fiery that USF linebacker Ben Moffitt recalled Leavitt once busting open his nose and bleeding profusely after head-butting a player’s helmet in attempt to fire up the team during practice. Asked at his first press conference where he would live, the Type A Leavitt calmly replied, "In my office." Leavitt is also known to run each set of wind sprints with the players during practice and to work in his office well past midnight nightly, slugging Pepsi by the 2 liter and sometimes sleeping on an old vinyl couch.
Leavitt's insuperable work ethic and keen football knowledge has undoubtedly fast-tracked USF‘s success. His on-field success, drive and dedication to the university have produced significant improvements in athletic facilities, such as a new athletic training center that includes an Academic Enrichment Center for student athletes, new administration facilities, and new practice fields for the football team.
Despite being courted by many teams looking for a dynamic head coach, Leavitt has never wavered in his commitment to USF and it‘s football success.
