I got this via e-mail, i guess all alumni/boosters did:

************************************************
08 January 2010

An Open Letter to the USF Community and Alumni

From: Judy Genshaft, President

I want to take a moment to thank Jim Leavitt, USF's founding football coach. As a native of St. Petersburg, Jim Leavitt was enthusiastic and successful in launching USF football from start-up to national achievement. He worked hard to run a successful program for 14 years and many USF athletes went on to greater heights.

Sadly, at the end of his tenure at USF, Coach Leavitt committed serious violations of our standards of conduct. A thorough, fair and professional review conducted by internal and external reviewers over the past three weeks led the university to decide that USF should now seek a new head coach.

This university exists to create a safe and exciting learning environment for its students. Intercollegiate athletics must always be seen as part of that learning environment. I've been deeply impressed by the accomplishments of the Athletic Department in ensuring our athletes are treated as students first.

Today we'll open a national search for a new head football coach. The Athletic Department anticipates a swift search, because, as Athletic Director Doug Woolard says, this is a team with a strong future.

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
University of South Florida 4202 E. Fowler Ave. ADM 241 Tampa, FL 33620
(813) 974-2791
**********************************

So he was dismissed for misconduct, not for mediocrity, and we have no one lined up to replace him.

Thing is, many state universities like USF have to post a job before candidates can be interviewed or the job posting can be closed.

For example, Texas Tech has to leave the head coaching job open for 10 days. I wouldn't expect this letter to say that they have anyone lined up.

A dismissal for misconduct allows USF to terminate him WITH cause, eliminating any payments owed to Leavitt. I'm sure that's why they chose this opportunity to make the change...

Whether or not this was a good move remains to be seen. Folks in Tampa wanted a change, and they got it. We'll see if it was a good move soon enough, I figure...

(01-08-2010 01:08 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  A dismissal for misconduct allows USF to terminate him WITH cause, eliminating any payments owed to Leavitt. I'm sure that's why they chose this opportunity to make the change...

Whether or not this was a good move remains to be seen. Folks in Tampa wanted a change, and they got it. We'll see if it was a good move soon enough, I figure...

Yeah.

Stand by for messy lawsuit in 3...2...1...

Here's the 3 page letter that was "hand delivered" to Coach Leavitt this AM from USF AD that points to those violations on why Leavitt was fired with cause.

http://aolradio.podcast.aol.com/fanhouse...letter.pdf

(01-08-2010 05:44 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  Here's the 3 page letter that was "hand delivered" to Coach Leavitt this AM from USF AD that points to those violations on why Leavitt was fired with cause.

http://aolradio.podcast.aol.com/fanhouse...letter.pdf

Hey Knightlight, what took you so long to chime in?

(01-08-2010 05:50 PM)cuseroc Wrote:  

(01-08-2010 05:44 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  Here's the 3 page letter that was "hand delivered" to Coach Leavitt this AM from USF AD that points to those violations on why Leavitt was fired with cause.

http://aolradio.podcast.aol.com/fanhouse...letter.pdf

Hey Knightlight, what took you so long to chime in?

If I were KnightLight and others I would be worried about this, actually. South Florida is in position now to get them a coach that can take them to the next level, similar to Cincinnati. UCF is going to have a hard time getting recruits and attention if South Florida does that. Especially if it's a name coach like Tuberville.

(01-08-2010 01:27 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Stand by for messy lawsuit in 3...2...1...

You might be right, but for the wrong reasons. Whoever is McMurphy's mole managed to release a version of the report to him that allowed for the names of the students to be released in violation of FERPA laws, and McMurphy published the source/names. That will hopefully a) result in the firing of the mole and b) let future sources know how valuable their anonymity is to him. With any luck, it will result in a housecleaning. With what will undoubtedly now be a very fractured locker room, I hope whoever comes in really does clean out the cancers in there.

If you read the letter to Leavitt from Genshaft (also leaked to McMurphy), the university has three separate grounds for dismissing him for cause. Somehow I doubt he'll have much of a legal case to fight USF.

USFFan