USF shouldn't let Leavitt...

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USF shouldn't let Leavitt alone

HUBERT MIZELL. St. Petersburg Times. Nov 9, 1995.

Northwestern is college football's hot, romantic, laughingstock-to-powerhouse 1995 adventure, but by plowing even more deeply into America's heartland, we unearth another primped-in-purple team of Wildcats with a heroic escalation that has been even more extensive.

Kansas State's history in the Big Eight Conference had been no less squashed than Northwestern's long-running reputation in the Big Ten. During an especially ghastly 1985-89 stretch, K-State had a 4-50-1 record.

Jokesters called both "Mildcats."

But this year, Northwestern (8-1) is a runaway national darling, sitting No. 5 in the Associated Press poll, having flattened Notre Dame, Michigan and Penn State.

Kansas State (8-1) ranks seventh. But if we further unfold the K-State portfolio, Northwestern has trouble keeping up. Purple 'Cats from a college town called Manhattan went 9-2-1 in 1993, to moderate worldly acclaim, then K-State backed it up with 9-3 last season.

Bill Snyder has been K-State's head coach since 1989. That year, his Mildcats went 1-10. Lying face-down in the Big Eight's musty, cold basement. Before the next season, Snyder fortified his coaching staff, hiring an unacclaimed 33-year-old defensive dynamo, Jim Leavitt, an Air Force brat who'd grown up on the playgrounds of St. Petersburg.

Leavitt was named co-defensive coordinator, sharing that coaching shingle with Bob Stoops. Kansas State began a glorious transition, getting tougher and quicker and better in the early 1990s.

Defense was the catalyst.

Along with their No. 7 poll perch, the passionate purples rank No. 1 nationally in total defense, No. 2 in NCAA major-college scoring defense, No. 3 in pass defense and No. 8 in rushing defense. Leavitt is the architect.

"Kansas State had long been known as a basketball power, so the national football recognition comes slowly," Leavitt said by telephone. "People are always getting us confused with the University of Kansas. We get called Jayhawks. That's as far off base as saying, `Hey, Gator,' to somebody from Florida State."

Talking with Leavitt, his ties to Florida become repeatedly apparent. Jim has recruited the state since the early 1980s, plucking from among Florida's famous depth of football talent. His dad, Pierce, was a 23-year Air Force man who bounced the Leavitt family around the globe before settling in St. Petersburg as Jimmy entered fourth grade. Pierce and Jim's mom, Lois, still live in St. Petersburg.

Jim went to Northwest Elementary, Tyrone Junior High and Dixie Hollins High School. A wiry 165-pounder, he was terrific at football, basketball and baseball. Major scholarship offers as a Dixie quarterback appeared in the offing.

"As a senior, I passed up basketball to concentrate on my two best sports," recalled K-State's defensive coach. "Dixie was sailing along undefeated. I was averaging 200 passing yards a game. But humility was about to make a nasty call.

"We went up against Sarasota Riverview. Dixie got smacked and I was intercepted six times. College football recruiters who'd been knocking on my door suddenly just left notes, saying `Good luck.' My stock had taken a quick nose dive."

Leavitt drove to Tallahassee to see if he could interest FSU, then a football loser that still was a couple of years from hiring Bobby Bowden as head coach. There was no 'Noles interest. Jim's grades were strong. He had been accepted by the Naval Academy. "I frankly didn't want the regimentation," Leavitt said. "I wanted to go someplace where I could play ball at a pretty high level."

Cecil Brock, an old football player from Missouri, suggested that St. Petersburg neighbor Leavitt contact the Big Eight school. Jim wrote letters. "I had no idea where Missouri was," he now admits. "Nor did I have a clue what the Big Eight was all about."

Vince Tobin, defensive coordinator of the NFL Indianapolis Colts, was then on Mizzou's coaching staff. At first he rejected Leavitt, but later was impressed by Jim's versatility. Leavitt was granted Missouri's last available scholarship.

Leavitt became a three-year Missouri starter as a 185-pound defensive back. "We weren't a great team, but I've got some rich memories," he said. "We beat Bear Bryant's Alabama team and Woody Hayes' Ohio State. I played against Lee Roy and all the Selmon brothers from Oklahoma. We upset USC when Ricky Bell was the Trojan tailback."

As a senior in 1977, Leavitt was voted his team's most valuable player. In baseball, he was Big Eight batting champion (.386) in 1976.

NFL didn't draft Jim. Major League Baseball wasn't sufficiently interested. He got a B.S. in behavioral science, then stayed an extra year at Mizzou as a graduate assistant football coach, earning his master's in counseling.

"I was dying to be a real coach," he said. "It's never quit bubbling in my blood. I love the challenge." Leavitt became a 23-year-old defensive coordinator at Dubuque (Iowa) University, a Division III school. "I made $12,400 a year and felt filthy rich," he said. "I was up at 5:30 every morning. In Division III, a coach learns to do everything including washing socks and jocks."

From there, Jim stepped up to Morningside (Iowa) College, a Division II school famous as the first coaching stop of George Allen, who become an NFL winner in Los Angeles and Washington. Morningside hadn't had a winning season in the 28 years since Allen left. It accomplished that in both of Leavitt's seasons.

All the while, Jim was spending summers pursuing a Ph.D. at Iowa. "I was at it for 10 years," he said. "Then, as I neared my Ph.D., there came a call from Bill Snyder at Kansas State that I just couldn't bear to ignore."

Leavitt never did get his Ph.D. His brain has been devoted to turning erstwhile doormat K-State into a football power. "There is very much a Florida flavor on this Wildcats squad," he said. "Twenty-two from my home state on our football roster. A half-dozen kids from the Tampa Bay area."

Which brings me to a concluding point. Jim Leavitt, at 38, would seem a near-perfect prospect to become head coach of a soon-to-bloom football program at South Florida. He's young, aggressive, accomplished, academically imposing and has long recruited the state.

Leavitt would almost certainly take the USF job. Even with his K-State success and looming offers from elsewhere. Tampa Bay is home to Jim. Somebody tell me a better choice for USF.

Can the Bulls wear purple?

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USF has its man: Leavitt as coach

JOHN C. COTEY, St. Petersburg Times

Dec 13, 1995.

His resume was nice. His presentation was even better.

Moments after wrapping up a session with various members of the Athletic Association, Alumni Association and USF Foundation during his visit on Nov. 30, Jim Leavitt stood, smiled and thanked everyone.

Then the strangest thing happened. One by one, each member began to do something they hadn't done for the previous candidates - they applauded.

"It was immediate love," said Tom Gerberding, president of the Athletic Association. "I don't know who started it, but all of a sudden everyone was clapping. Everyone just said, `Oh my God.'

"Afterward, we had to fill out a critique. I just wrote `He's our man. When can he start?' "

The answer was Tuesday, as Leavitt officially was named South Florida's first football coach at a noon news conference. About 100 students and supporters showed up to greet the new hire.

Leavitt is expected to sign a five-year, $75,000-a-year contract within the next two weeks.

"It's great to be here. It's great to be here. You just don't know how really great it is to be here," said Leavitt, the Kansas State co-defensive coordinator from St. Petersburg.

"I'm so anxious. It's going to be hard to go back and get ready for this bowl game (the Wildcats play Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 29). I'm going to want to come back here figuring how we're going to get helmets and pads and to find players."

The general consensus is that won't be a problem. While the program still may be in its infant stages, it learned to walk Tuesday and there was something about Leavitt that made people feel it soon will be running.

"That was vintage Leavitt today," Gerberding said. "That smile, you know. He just makes everyone feel positive."

"I think of all the candidates presented, he was the choice, no question," said Loren Taylor, executive director of the Alumni Association.

USF will begin play at the Division I-AA level in 1997. Between now and then it will be Leavitt's job to create the kind of excitement that can sell tickets and the program.

He will have to recruit USF's first class. Recruiting is perhaps his strongest suit and one that may have lent most to him getting the job. He has been one of the country's best recruiters of Florida, and currently has 18 state players on the roster (nine defensive) at Kansas State. One year, while defensive coordinator at Morningside Iowa College, he had 28 bay area players on his roster.

"When he met with our staff, he had them all on the edge of their seats listening and spellbound," USF athletic director Paul Griffin said. "It was electric. That convinced everyone he had that capacity to share and express his enthusiasm for what he does effectively. Now, that meant a lot to the staff. But if he can be that convincing and compelling with our staff, who are hard-nosed, crusty old veterans, imagine what he's like with an 18-year-old."

Hernando High coach Mike Imhoff knows. He is a friend of Leavitt's, much because Leavitt has been a friend to his players. One, Andrew Timmons, plays for him at Kansas State.

"He's as good a recruiter as comes through here," said Imhoff, a former college coach and recruiter. "He is persistent. He is diligent. He'll stay after you. He outworks a lot of people. And the kids like that."

Leavitt, who attended Dixie Hollins High School and was an All-Big Eight selection at Missouri in baseball and football, expects early success. Although he will coach through the Holiday Bowl, he will cease recruiting for Kansas State and start immediately on USF's first class.

"There's some people (I've recruited) that are going to be interested in Kansas State that I'll help go to Kansas State if they want to, no question," Leavitt said. "But I'm not going to go after any lesser of a player."

It was suggested that Leavitt, who said he will pass the ball and stretch the field on offense and base out of a 4-3 on defense (as at Kansas State), will be hard-pressed to find players willing to sacrifice the 1996 season, in which all the prospective Bulls will be redshirted. But he disagreed.

"There will be some who won't want to get involved with the building process," he said. "But there's a lot that will be redshirted anyway at a lot of Division I-A schools. Here, their redshirt year will be just getting stronger, bigger and better to start. It will be for a starting job. And that's quite a difference."

Associate athletic director Lee Roy Selmon will assist Leavitt in recruiting. He will be added to Leavitt's staff as an assistant because NCAA rules say he can't recruit otherwise.

Leavitt said he plans to add two coaches to his staff "real quick, within a week or two weeks." Four full-time coaches will be hired, along with six part-time coaches who would become full time in 1997. Meet Jim Leavitt Age: 39 Wife: the former Denise Jaeger. High school: Dixie Hollins, 1974. College: Missouri (B.S. in education, 1978; M.S. in counseling, 1979). Coaching experience: 1978-79: graduate assistant, Missouri; 1980-81: defensive coordinator, Dubuque University; 1982: special-teams coordinator, Morningside College, Iowa; 1983-87: defensive coordinator, Morningside; 1989: graduate assistant, Iowa; 1990-95: linebackers coach, Kansas State; 1991-1995: co-defensive coordinator, Kansas State.