Quote :

"TAMPA, Fla. -- University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt grabbed a player by the throat then struck him twice in the face during halftime of the Bulls' Nov. 21 game with Louisville, the player's father, his high school coach and five members of USF's football program told FanHouse. The incident involved sophomore walk-on Joel Miller that stemmed from Leavitt being upset over Miller's first-half mistake on special teams, according to witnesses. Leavitt, who was out of town Monday recruiting, would not comment specifically about the incident when reached on his cell phone. "I'll visit with you about recruiting," Leavitt said. "All the stuff we do in there [the locker room] ... I'll visit with you about recruiting. "Things that happen or don't happen usually are kept within the team -- whether they happen or don't happen. If you want to talk about recruiting, I'll talk about recruiting." According to the five witnesses -- USF players and staff members -- Leavitt was pacing in the Raymond James Stadium locker room at halftime when he walked about 10 feet to the locker where Miller was sitting without his helmet. Leavitt then grabbed Miller by the throat and hit him twice in the face with his hand. "You do something like that [on the street], you put them in jail," Paul Miller, Joel's father and a former Tampa police officer, told FanHouse. "Somewhere [Leavitt] crossed the line." A South Florida spokesman said the school would review the allegation. "The University of South Florida is aware of the story and will review the matter promptly," said Michael Hoad, vice president for communication. "We're committed to ensuring due process for everyone involved. To ensure fairness, the university doesn't comment during a review." The witnesses all talked to FanHouse on the condition of anonymity because they said they feared Leavitt would remove them from scholarship or they might lose their job. Joel Miller's teammates and his high school coach said Miller told them he wouldn't go public because he feared retribution and would be dismissed from the team. "He really wants to play football," said David Mitchell, who was Miller's head coach at Tampa's Wharton High School. "He told me he's concerned if he says something [to the administration] 'I won't be able to play football. If I don't [say anything], I will be able to keep playing football.' "The message I left with him when I spoke with him was: 'If you don't say anything, it's going to occur again to other players.' This was way over the line." Miller refused comment when contacted by FanHouse Sunday night. "I'd rather not speak about it right now," Miller said. "There are a lot of things going on. I have no comment about this situation." Miller told teammates he did not notify athletic director Doug Woolard about the incident. It's unknown if Woolard, who immediately did not return a phone call seeking comment, was aware of the incident that the entire team and staff knew had occurred. Two days after the incident, Miller told his father, teammates and staff members he went to Leavitt's office to discuss the incident. Instead, Miller left feeling disrespected, threatened and intimidated, according to his teammates. "Coach I want to talk to you about what happened," Joel told Leavitt on Nov. 23. "Before you say anything," said Leavitt, according to what Miller told others in USF's program and his father, "just know I am the most powerful man in this building." USF's football offices are located in the USF Athletic Facilities building along with USF's entire athletics department administrative staff, including Woolard. Joel MillerLeavitt's only recent public comments about Miller (pictured) came in his weekly news conference Dec. 1. Responding to a special teams question, Leavitt talked about USF's "poor special teams" and mentioned some penalties, including one by Miller. "Miller had one [penalty] two games ago [against Louisville] that was a penalty and should have been called," Leavitt said. On the afternoon of Dec. 3 -- nearly two weeks after the incident -- Leavitt left cell phone messages wanting to meet Miller. They met in his office where Leavitt apologized, according to what Miller told his father, teammates and staff members. Ironically, Leavitt's 12-day old apology came one day after Kansas coach Mark Mangino resigned amid an investigation into his treatment of his players, including verbal abuse or having inappropriate physical contact with his players. Leavitt and Mangino were assistants together at Kansas State from 1991-95. Mitchell, who has been coaching 27 years including the last 13 at Wharton High School, said he would not recommend any more of his players to play for Leavitt at USF. "I would not send a kid where he will be humiliated or mistreated," Mitchell said. "It [playing for Leavitt] is like knowing someone is considering buying a bad car. You tell them 'It doesn't run, it's no good, don't buy it.' If they still decide to, they have to live with that decision. But at least I let them know how bad it was." Leavitt, who is 67-40 overall and 17-18 in the Big East as the only coach in the program's 13-year existence, never mentioned the incident to the team. Leavitt is completing the second year of a seven-year contract worth $12.6 million. He will make $1.6 million this year, plus incentives. "That's another thing I thought about a lot," a witness said. "He knows everyone knows, so for him not to address it to the team is really interesting. He knows his staff and all the players are talking about it. Why wouldn't my head coach talk to me about it?" When the incident occurred in the locker room, one witness said he couldn't believe it. "I was thinking 'am I really seeing this?' " a player said. "I've never felt wronged by [Leavitt], he's done nothing but help me, but when I witnessed that, I was like 'this is bull----.' "If he would have grabbed another player like that, they would have done something, but he knew he could do something like that and Joel wouldn't fight back." Added a staff member: "We've had our ups and downs this year, but in that particular case, that was a different situation." The witnesses all said Leavitt was upset at Miller because he made a mistake on special teams in the first half. The 6-foot, 190-pound Miller, who played at Wharton High School located about 10 miles from USF, decided to walk on to USF instead of accept a scholarship offer to a smaller FBS school. In two seasons at USF, he has played in 21 games, almost exclusively on special teams, and has 11 tackles. Paul Miller, who has spoken to FanHouse on five occasions since Dec. 1, said he initially didn't want to disclose what happened because his son "just wants to play football. But at the same time, as a father, I'm very upset. Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook "If [Joel is] a whistle-blower, people say that they stand behind him and then they push everyone behind him. You still suffer some consequences. He's a helluva football player. He just wants to play." Leavitt's contract indicates he may be terminated with cause for "a finding of a serious, major or intentional violation by Coach of the Athletic Rules" or suspended with pay if a "charge has been initiated against Coach; a formal inquiry or charge is pending ... concerning any alleged major, significant or repeated violation of Athletic Rules by the Coach." The witnesses had mixed opinions on what, if any, punishment Leavitt should receive. "That's a tough question," one witness said. "I don't see that as means or grounds for losing his job, but at the same time, they need to take whatever means necessary to make sure that doesn't happen here again." Another witness felt it was grounds for dismissal. "You can't grab someone like that in any profession," the witness said. "Why should he get different standards?" USF, which finished 7-5, 3-4 in the Big East, will play Northern Illinois in the International Bowl on Jan. 2 in Toronto."

Two girls hangout and cheer on two guys they might have been dating on their own with no backing by the school and Kiffin had nothing to do with it and its a national outrage for days, Leavitt beats a player and threatens him using his position and you dont hear a peep

12/14/2009 9:30:18 PM

I've never thought Leavitt was a great coach...he gets credit ( and deservedly so ) for leading that team from its formation up to the top 25 program they are today, but he's not the kind of guy that can get them to the next level... I think they should use to as an excuse to cut ties with him and go after someone else...Charlie Strong would've been perfect, but now I'm thinking maybe John Chavis, Jim McElwain or Miek Bobo

12/14/2009 9:38:31 PM

Miek Bobo is awesome

12/14/2009 9:43:41 PM

I find it amusing that you managed to make this about Tennessee....

I wonder if this kind of stuff happens a lot more than we realize and players just don't speak out about it b/c they don't think of it as a big deal in the grand scheme of football. And since a lot of the football media/analysts were past players, they don't consider it a big deal either.

On the Tennessee note, I think Kiffin can't really blame anyone but himself for the recruiting scrutiny he gets. After that stuff with Urban Meyer over the summer, ESPN is going to hound him for a long time to come.

[Edited on December 14, 2009 at 9:46 PM. Reason : weird grammar, oh well]

12/14/2009 9:45:43 PM

If i was a kid and someone hit me in the face I would choke them out immediately if I felt I could.

I don't know how these kids give their lives up playing a stupid game like college football but won't beat the fuck out of a man when he pushes them over the line...

12/14/2009 9:51:26 PM

^^ it was entirely relevant... media blows one thing out of proportion, and you dont hear hardly anything (as of yet) out of something MUCH more serious. Kiffin has it coming to him from other coaches, teams etc. But the media shouldnt be hounding him. Maybe its because I am in Atlanta (although ESPN made a big deal out of it too) but every single radio station for like 4-5 days was saying shit like "they are making prostitutes out of the women, forcing them to do this, so evil, this is the decline of college football, he should be fired" blah blah blah...

12/14/2009 9:59:58 PM

Its Tennessee vs South Florida

not to stroke your cock any further here, but its like Tiger Woods cheating on his wife vs Stewart Cink raping an entire swim team

They're not even on the same plane of existence for most people

[Edited on December 14, 2009 at 10:02 PM. Reason : x]

12/14/2009 10:02:05 PM

SEC = Big East

12/14/2009 10:03:54 PM

haha, why a swim team?

I agree with that to a point, like if it was reputed recruiting violation vs. reputed recruiting violation I could see a bigger deal being made out of Tennessee, but beating a kid vs. reputed recruiting violation? and the threatening part was even worse

12/14/2009 10:04:24 PM

The media in Tampa is more concerned with the Gators, the Seminoles, the Hurricanes, The Magic, the Buccaneers, the Dolphins, The Jaguars, The Lightning, the Devil Rays, the Heat and The Marlins than the USF Bulls. This incident happened over 3 weeks ago and its just now coming to light. If the local media doesn't hone it on it, then the National Media isn't going to pick it up right away either.

In Knoxville, the Vols are first, second and third as far as news is concerned...if Kiffin takes a shit at Ruby Tuesday's, people wanna know what stall. Plus he has somewhat of a track record, and Leavitt so far has pretty muchflown under the radar besides their annual Friday night showcase on ESPN2.

12/14/2009 10:12:10 PM

12/14/2009 10:26:08 PM

haha, thats exactly what happened... locker room footage

12/14/2009 10:39:04 PM

Leavitt looks like a roid rager to me. What a piece of crap.

12/14/2009 10:49:51 PM

POOR TENNESSEE.

And don't worry, Leavitt is not a great coach and never will be.

[Edited on December 14, 2009 at 10:56 PM. Reason : .]

12/14/2009 10:56:06 PM

I am betting that Leavitt will get fired. This story will start to have some legs soon...

12/15/2009 9:19:32 AM

to a walk on, no less.

12/15/2009 9:22:31 AM

This seems like a bullshit trend to get a coach fired. If USF wants him gone then just outright fire him. It's not like he doesn't have any midseason collapses that carry over until the end of the year.

At USF if you start 5-0, you probably end with 7 or 8 wins. If they fire Leavitt, they probably win 5-6 games for the next few years. It's like TCU - great place to recruit with the right guy, but the wrong guy can return them to irrelevancy very quickly.

I don't think these coaches (Leavitt, Mangino) should poke or tap their players, but it's not like they had a fist fight with them and just straight up whooped their ass.

12/15/2009 2:54:34 PM

Quote :

"fist fight with them and just straight up whooped their ass."

Did you read the actual article?

Quote :

"Jim Leavitt grabbed a player by the throat then struck him twice in the face during halftime of the Bulls' Nov. 21 game with Louisville"

Wouldn't call it a fight because the player did not return the punches, but basically hitting a dude in the face twice is whopping him. Especially when he is not fighting back.






[Edited on December 15, 2009 at 3:28 PM. Reason : dfg]

12/15/2009 3:27:37 PM

Quote :

"This seems like a bullshit trend to get a coach fired"

lol, yeah assault is just a new form of chair throwing, that's all

12/15/2009 3:38:03 PM

^ don't feel like commenting on Roy, huh?

12/15/2009 3:50:19 PM

hey look jaybee made a thread complaining about a conspiracy against tennessee

12/15/2009 3:58:15 PM

not exactly... a conspiracy means an organized effort, I dont think that everyone got together around a table with a huge map of the world on the wall and planned it out or anything like that... I just think that they (media outlets, writers, etc.) as individuals concentrate on him so much over the tiniest stuff because of his attitude of not caring about what people outside of his program think (the opposite of Fulmer who was completely an aw-shucks guy) and they ignore more serious stories like a coach coldcocking his player and threatening him after the player asked to discuss it and LSU potentially flat out paying a player.

12/15/2009 4:53:01 PM

^^^ would it really matter if i did?

12/15/2009 4:56:22 PM

No matter what you think about Kiffin and no matter what kind of success he has with the program, someday this is going to end badly. Very, very badly, and it’s going to be very, very ugly, and Tennessee is going to end up owing Kiffin a lot of money to pay off the contract.

12/15/2009 5:04:02 PM

Quote :

"Did you read the actual article?"

Yeah, i read the article. So he 'struck' a player twice in the head? Did he pop him with the flat of his hand on the side of his head? I really doubt he just started wailing on this guy and then stopped after two punches.

But if this becomes standard grounds for termination, then up next is sexual assault for patting a player on the butt after he makes a good play. Communicating threats is on deck after that.

EXHIBIT A:



So now, in our increasingly pussified society, Will Muschamp is obviously a faggot and has sexually assaulted this young man. He's also communicated a threat, which is a big-time no-no. Break out the restraining orders and clear the phones at the crisis hotline for rape victims. Here we go!

[Edited on December 15, 2009 at 10:12 PM. Reason : I bet Urban Meyer and Nick Saban politely ask their players to please hustle!]

12/15/2009 10:11:02 PM

your sarcasm is sufficiently thick, but nevertheless retarded

12/15/2009 10:13:30 PM