Jim Leavitt Shown The Door At The University of South Florida

Sports News - January 8th, 2010 - Written By Bryan

University of South Florida head football coach Jim Leavitt has been fired according to multiple outlets.

The story stems from an incident in which Levitt allegedly grabbed and punched South Florida player Joel Miller, a special teams member, during halftime of a home game against Louisville back in November.

In an interview with ESPN in December, Miller denied the claims that he was physically harmed by Leavitt and that any information out there to the contrary was not true.

"I don't think anything should happen to him," he told ESPN in an interview."Me and Coach Leavitt are fine. People can say different things but he only grabbed my shoulder pads to motivate me, because he's a passionate guy. He never apologized because he had nothing to apologize for."

According to AOL Fanhouse, the University will disclose the findings of the investigation of Leavitt this week.

Leavitt is one of three coaches who have recently been linked to the mistreatment of a player. Last week, Texas Tech fired their head coach Mike Leach, following an incident in which he sent a player to a shed after he showed concussion like symptoms. Allegedly, Leach told the player he would kicked off the team should he not do so. Kansas head coach Mark Mangino resigned his post last month after multiple players brought forth claims of harsh verbal abused by the Jay Hawk coach.

Miller told ESPN in the interview in December that he wants to remain a South Florida Bull.

"It's been real hard especially on my family," Miller said in the interview. "But my plan is to stay and play here."

The Bulls finished a disappointing 8-5 this season, despite a paramount victory over Florida State in September. The team lost the last two games of the regular season before turning it around in their bowl game.

With a 27-3 thrashing of Northern Illinois the Bulls easily covered the spread according to the College Football Betting Lines. However, the win could not save Leavitt's job.

As of now, it is undetermined the cause of Leavitt's firing, whether or not it is directly correlated with the investigations over the physical abuse.