Jim Leavitt Will Not Be Fired Without a Fight: “I Want to Coach This Football Team”

Last Friday, Jim Leavitt was fired from his head coaching position at USF. But that’s just the beginning, because what would college football be without lawyering up and prosecuting contract disputes?Leavitt has a lawyer, Thomas Doebig, and that lawyer has a statement in which they allege that USF violated his contract in dismissing him without notice. Here’s the nut:

⇥⇥⇥Based upon the facts (rather than the conclusions) of the University’s investigation, Coach Leavitt’s termination is unwarranted, and he deserves to be immediately reinstated in full to his former position.Leavitt’s lawyer asserted in a morning press conference that USF fired Leavitt on Friday for “emergency circumstances,” which Doebig says were recruiting efforts. Doebig also says that a post-termination meeting was scheduled for today, before Leavitt and Doebig were provided with any notes, minutes, or transcripts from USF’s interviews with involved parties, and before any chance to contact witnesses. “This is inadequate, this is rushed, and it’s not fair,” Doebig said.

Good news for Leavitt and Co. on that front: The St. Petersburg Times’ Greg Auman tweets that USF has moved the post-termination meeting to Wednesday. But is the entire case going to be undone? I doubt it.

Much of Leavitt’s case seems to stem from the indisputable facts that Joel Miller and Leavitt both publicly claim that the incident was more benign than it was portrayed in media reports. Leavitt is quoted in the report (PDF) as telling investigators his conduct towards Miller was done “in a concerned and encouraging fashion,” and Miller denied that Leavitt hit him to ESPN and to investigators.

The problem with this claim is that it implies a much larger group of witness conspired to fabricate the details of the event and are putting words in the mouths of both Leavitt and Miller. Two players reported seeing Leavitt strike Miller, but nearly everyone interviewed in the report had heard of something untoward happening; would news of a non-event have spiraled out of control so grossly or spread so quickly?

The cards are still stacked against Leavitt. His and Miller’s statements, which can be picked apart when the entire body of evidence is considered, will likely not be enough to save his job, and it seems unlikely a bombshell revelation exists to turn the university’s case on its ear. But Leavitt clearly feels compelled to fight, no matter the odds.

Leavitt sounded like a broken man in the press conference, saying “This is not a job for me. This is my life.” You can’t help but feel for a guy who talks about players’ off-field successes as the truly rewarding part of his job. (His quotes about battling adversity -- he said “You’ve got to stand up for what you believe in!” at one point -- might be amusing to the USF players who ostensibly did just that in telling the investigation the truth about the Leavitt-Miller incident.)

Leavitt said he is standing up for what he believes in -- himself -- in fighting allegations that he says have been “misreported” from the jump. “I want to coach this football team,” Leavitt said. “This is the greatest job in the country. I love my players, and I’m going to battle for my players.” And his fire is clearly conveyed: “Why shouldn’t I continue and be the head coach of the University of South Florida? I’m going to fight for it, y’all.”

I wonder, in his fight to save his name and his job (Leavitt is asked if his goal is purely to get his job back and responds, “Yes, no question.”), what Leavitt will lose. He stands, in this challenge to the university, to gain only what he already had, plus a highly contentious relationship with USF; he could further damage his viability for other jobs if he loses, and must take some measure of disenchantment from the process regardless of outcome.

The USF community is in disarray today because something happened on that November day in the locker room at halftime. Jim Leavitt, in denying that it was anything more than innocent encouragement, is trying to put shattered china back together.

Bulls, both proverbially and in this case, don’t really do that.

Below are two YouTube clips of the audio from this morning’s press availability with Leavitt and Roebig. Roebig begins speaking at about the 2:00 mark of the first clip; Leavitt begins speaking late in the first clip and continues in the second.

↵