Nothing new here, just how Leavitt likes it
For all the dynamic change his USF football program has seen in its first decade, Jim Leavitt has been just as remarkably unchanged.
By Greg Auman
Published July 30, 2007
TAMPA - For all the dynamic change his USF football program has seen in its first decade, Jim Leavitt has been just as remarkably unchanged.
Same hair. Same loyalty to the Tampa Bay area. Same perspective, same unflinching focus on little but the next game on his schedule.
"Same old Jimmy," said Ron Helinger, a close friend since their high school days at Dixie Hollins, asked if he has noticed any changes in the Bulls coach.
Professional changes, such as moving to Division I-A then to a BCS conference in the Big East, or upgrading from his original USF paycheck of $75,000 to his current salary of $1-million a year, haven't changed him. Getting married, as he did three weeks ago in California, likely won't either.
So it was a rare glimpse into Leavitt's personal life Sunday morning at the state football preseason media gathering at the Quorum Hotel, when he opened up and said he had bought a WaveRunner this summer and enjoyed the new toy.
"I got up a little over 60 on it one time," he said. "I looked like one of those little cartoon characters with the hair going straight back and the glasses on."
Said Helinger of his friend's newfound hobby: "He's a goofball on it. He loves it. He rides that WaveRunner just like he coaches football: He's very aggressive. He knows to stay away from everyone else when he's out there."
That said, 105 players report for practice Sunday, so don't expect the WaveRunner to get much mileage this fall, when Leavitt's focus shifts even more to his players and the practice fields and his internal calendar doesn't extend beyond the next Saturday.
Leavitt is private enough that a personal watercraft is about as intimate a detail as he'll reveal. He and his new wife, the former Jody Freeman, are enjoying married life after about four years together, but he won't share much about the ceremonies or a short honeymoon in Mexico. Leavitt boasts that he has never taken a full week off in 11 years at USF, and the week off for the honeymoon didn't change that, you see, because July 4 was a holiday anyway.
Leavitt, who turned 50 in December, isn't much for career introspection either. Asked whether he could imagine coaching into his 70s, as Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Florida Atlantic's Howard Schnellenberger have done, he deflected such thoughts, saying he'd "try to see myself making it back home today."
"It's amazing," Leavitt said of his colleagues' longevity. "They love it. They'd probably be playing right now if they could. They'd probably rather play than coach, so coaching is the next-best thing."
There's still a bit of defensive back in Leavitt, who routinely participates in conditioning runs after practice alongside his players. His Bulls, fresh off their first bowl victory in December, were picked to finish fourth in the Big East in the league's preseason media poll, and are showing up in many publications' national top 25 polls, something that could be a consensus if his Bulls were to pull off an upset at Auburn in their second game.
Leavitt won't talk much about Auburn, steadfast in his resolve not to overlook a season opener against Division I-AA Elon. The future is exciting for Leavitt, but never more important than the present.
He has been courted for other college jobs, most notably Alabama and Kansas State, but has remained true to USF for all its football existence, all the more confident he can't find a better match.
"Where is there a better job for Jim Leavitt?" he asked. "I don't know. I can't imagine. Even when other opportunities have come around, I've never felt near as comfortable as I did at the University of South Florida."