Levija will take over as Springstead's AD

Bob Levija, one of the county's winningest wrestling coaches, is being counted on to bring success to the rest of the athletic program.

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 16, 2000

Springstead will have its third athletic director in as many years this fall, but from the sound of things, a lot of things might be changing for the Eagles.

After a decade of coaching football at all three county schools and two years as athletic director at Springstead, Pat McCoy is leaving Spring Hill to become assistant principal for athletics at East Lake High in Tarpon Springs.

For his successor, principal Dot Dodge has chosen Eagles wrestling coach Bob Levija, who has built the county's most consistent and successful program, with 16 district titles and seven individual state champions in his 18 years.

"I'm very excited," said Levija, who will continue as wrestling coach and juggle both duties during the winter season. "This is something I have always thought about, how I would do things, what it would be like. I've always thought I could do it, and the biggest thing is that I just love Springstead."

Dodge, who said she had several "very qualified" candidates on her staff, said she expects the 49-year-old Levija to bring the same work ethic and success that his wrestlers are known for to the rest of the athletic program.

"I know Bob will do a great job, just like he has with wrestling," Dodge said. "We couldn't have gone wrong by selecting him."

On a coaching staff with only a few coaches with more than a year or two at their current positions, Levija has been a constant, with a career record of 260-25 entering this past season. Levija was honored by the Times as the Citrus-Hernando Coach of the Year in wrestling after the Eagles won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference in their first year in the league.

Looking ahead to his first year as athletic director, Levija said he wants to give the Eagles a greater presence in Spring Hill, extending beyond the family of students and parents.

"I want to sell Springstead to the entire community," Levija said. "People around here are going to know about Springstead, for sure."

Levija said one priority will be improving the quality of the girls' teams at Springstead. While Springstead finished second out of seven teams in the GCAC boys' all-sports standings last season, the Eagles girls finished last. The girls soccer team was the only one to finish higher than third individually.

"We've got great girls at this school, but we need to get them motivated," Levija said. "If we have coaches and athletes who will put in the extra time, we can do great things."

The new administrative duties will be a challenge for Levija, but he said he will talk with McCoy about the job to get a better idea of the job's demands and ease the transition, for him and for the athletic department.

"Pat did an excellent job, really organized the programs here," Levija said. "I'd like to keep that going, and I've never been an AD before, but I'm sure I can handle it. It's a new realm for me, treading in new waters, but this feels really good."

McCoy, who was out of town visiting relatives and could not be reached for comment, was named athletic director in July 1998, replacing Tony Zefiretto, who had been accused of stealing more than $2,800 from Springstead's athletic department.

McCoy had been Central's first head football coach in 1989 and served as an assistant at Hernando and Springstead before he was hired as Springstead's head coach in 1996. The 47-year-old coach compiled a 16-6 record before resigning after the first game of the 1998 season, saying he had lost the respect of his players.

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