When the Bulls Face SMU, They Will Also Face The Program's First Coach on the Opposite Sideline
USF (1-3; 0-0 American) at SMU (4-0; 0-0 American)
Saturday, Oct. 2 • 4:00 P.M. • Dallas, Texas • Gerald J. Ford Stadium (32,000)
SURFACE: FieldTurf
TV: ESPNU: Mike Couzens (p-by-p) &Â Dustin Fox (analyst)Â
RADIO: 1250 AM WHNZ
AUDIO STREAM: iHeartRadio - Bulls Unlimited1
SERIES: USF leads, 3-2
IN TAMPA: SMU leads, 2-1
IN DALLAS: USF leads, 2-0
LAST: SMU won, 48-21, in Tampa in 2019
AAC ROAD: 15-17, lost last 5
AAC OPENERS: 5-3, lost last 2
Get the 25th Anniversary book with 104 pages of stories, pictures and the history of USF Football.
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By Joey Johnston
He's the coach who made something out of nothing. He worked out of trailers and had no real facilities, but by the sheer force of his will, he helped transform USF football from a start-up operation to a program that was invited into a major conference and reached the nation's No. 2 ranking.
He's also the guy with legendary focus and intensity. Most famously, he once stayed up most of the night to watch cement dry. When the fence posts were installed at USF's spartan practice field, Leavitt fretted that they wouldn't be straight. So, he sat in his car with the high-beams on, watching and waiting, because no detail was too small.
Leavitt (95-57 and five bowl games in 13 years) hasn't coached at USF since the 2009 season. But after six stops — including a Super Bowl with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and five college programs — he will come face-to-face with his former program for the first time. Saturday, the USF Bulls (1-3) meet the SMU Mustangs (4-0), where Leavitt is defensive coordinator.
Most of the current Bulls were in elementary school during Leavitt's USF tenure. But they have been educated. As part of the program's 25th anniversary season, USF coach Jeff Scott showed films about the program's humble beginnings. Scott also believes in the USF football DNA — toughness, hard work, grit and no excuses — that was established by Leavitt, the former co-defensive coordinator of Kansas State's No. 1-ranked unit.
Although Scott and Leavitt are distant coaching colleagues, with no prior history of working together, there's a special connection.
"I remember watching him years ago building this program,'' Scott said. "I was a graduate assistant in 2008 (at Clemson) and my dad had taught me you write notes to the head coaches at places you'd like to go. I actually wrote Coach Leavitt a note in early 2008 when I was a GA. He wrote me back. He was one of the few head coaches who wrote me back and that meant a lot to me.
"I talked to our players a lot about Coach Leavitt during fall camp because we took a lot of time to talk about the history of the program. He was obviously a big part of what was built here.''
Even though a dozen seasons have passed, it's clear that Leavitt's influence remains profound. Former players still hear Leavitt's voice ringing in their heads. Current staff members still subscribe to his methods.
"Personally, I owe him gratitude because he took me on (as equipment director) as a 22-year-old and not many coaches would've done that,'' said Jeremy Lees, USF's assistant athletic director for equipment operations. "He believed in my work ethic and trusted me. The foundation and expectation he set, I think it's still here.''
As a young athletic trainer, USF assistant athletic director for sports medicine Steve Walz said he felt Leavitt's withering intensity every day. In 2005, Walz remembers consoling an assistant who was chewed out by the head coach. Then Leavitt showed up in the athletic training room to apologize.
"Jim told me how much he appreciated what we did and he felt like I was a security blanket to him, knowing I truly cared about the players and their best interests,'' Walz said. "That changed our relationship. While the first seven years with Jim were tough, I wouldn't change any of it because it made me better. He taught me things like urgency and attention to detail. The last five years with him were very good with a great deal of appreciation.''
Former Bulls linebacker Sam Barrington, now a color analyst on the USF Football Radio Network, said he probably learned more from Leavitt than any coach he had in the NFL.
"He had a presence like no other,'' Barrington said. "I have never been around a more passionate coach than Jim Leavitt. He made me want to be a better player than I was. I never considered coaching. But if the stars aligned, I would drop everything to coach for Jim Leavitt.''
It's the kind of loyalty that is commonplace among Leavitt's former players at USF.
Former Bulls center Nick Capogna, now a U.S. Army first lieutenant who has been deployed to the Middle East, said his military training can't compare to Leavitt's USF football camps.
"I encountered a lot of Army Drill Sergeants and OCS (Officer Candidate School) Cadre, but they never came close to the intensity Coach Leavitt had,'' Capogna said. "During Basic Training and OCS, soldiers would ask how the training compared to my football days. It simply did not.
"Don't get me wrong. The Army programs are phenomenal. They have really made the process a science. But Coach Leavitt was an artist. I could only dream about having half the passion about something in life as he had about football.''
Leavitt's former players still tell stories about the coach's ritual of head-butting helmeted team members in the locker room, sometimes opening a cut on his face, to motivate them before kickoff. Leavitt often did sprints during pregame and usually joined in with players who ran laps due to punishment.
"Some fans thought he was crazy doing that stuff,'' Capogna said. "But we loved him for it. He wasn't afraid to get down and dirty with us. He had us on his side, but the whole thing was a huge physical and mental challenge.''
The biggest challenge was the annual shuttle run. "Three-hundred yards of hell … a little rest … then do it again,'' Capogna said. Each position group had to reach a time in order to begin practicing. It was 60 yards long, up-and-back, up-and-back, then up. You could rest for 90 seconds before the second run.
"We heard Coach Leavitt brought it from Kansas State and that thing was evil,'' former USF running back Otis Dixon said. "There are four turns. By the fourth turn, you have nothing going for you. It's everything football embodies — strategy, toughness, want-to. I saw one guy do it in 30 seconds. The second one, he couldn't do. He had to crawl. Coach Leavitt had a way of weeding people out and knowing who he could go to battle with.''
"Ninety-nine percent of the players would run through a wall of fire for him,'' former USF defensive back Jay Mize said. "He was so genuinely passionate. Sometimes, I didn't like him very much. But when I graduated, I knew the method to his madness. He rallied us around the underdog role, put a chip on our shoulder and laid the foundation. I hope USF's program never loses that toughness and mean streak.''
Work ethic was another Leavitt trademark.
"When we drove by the football office, the light was always on,'' former USF wide receiver Clif Dell said. "He was always there. It was his life.''
"I know he drove some people nuts, but I love the guy,'' said former USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales, who had two tours of duty on Leavitt's staff. "His mindset was unmatched. Even when we hadn't yet played a game, he instilled in us that our program wasn't going to take a back seat. We went after the same players that Florida, Florida State and Miami did — and got some of them. We worked like crazy. It was insane. But nobody had the experiences and memories we did.''
Leavitt's USF tenure produced a consensus All-American (defensive end George Selvie), a 9-2 team (that didn't make a bowl game because it didn't yet have a conference affiliation), a spot in Conference USA and the Big East, along with notable victories against Pittsburgh, Louisville, West Virginia, Auburn, Kansas and Florida State.
"He was the perfect guy to start USF's program and he had the drive to build it to levels most people never expected,'' former USF assistant coach Calvin Magee said. "Everybody on the staff was young and hungry. We were aggressive. We got that from Jim.''
Leavitt once said his goal was to remain in Tampa and retire, then watch USF football from the stands. It didn't work out that way. But Leavitt's program-starting legacy, especially during a 25th anniversary season that has rekindled memories, remains relevant as ever.
"Win or lose, it will be fun to see him and compete against him,'' Lees said. "Afterward, I just want to shake his hand and say thanks.''
