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June 30, 2009
Today’s Program USF
Bulls Football Head Coach Jim Leavitt
Jim Leavitt is
working on a new theory. It states, “You can never leave home again.”
With apologies to Thomas Wolfe, Leavitt has already proven that you can
indeed go home again, having returned to his Tampa Bay roots to oversee
the most successful start-up of a college football program in decades.
In just 11 years, Leavitt turned a non-existent program into a Bowl team
when the Bulls played in the 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl.
At this point,
Leavitt is the alpha and omega of USF football. He is the only coach the
school has ever had as he was presented the job on December 12, 1995. He
then went about starting football from scratch and leading the program
from an inaugural season in 1997 to I-A status in 2001, Conference USA
in 2003 and now the BIG EAST and BCS football in 2005.
Yet with all the
accomplishments, nothing arguably topped the crescendo of the 2007
season. The Bulls began the season receiving votes in both polls and by
the seventh week of the season, USF was No. 2 in the country. The
program had gone from upstart to top-5 ranking in the fastest pace in
the modern era of college football at the NCAA FBS level.
Leavitt, with
previous assistant coaching jobs at Iowa and Kansas State, doesn’t hide
the fact that he has taken a carbon copy of the building strategies at
those schools to build the start-from-scratch program at USF.
“I would say I use
a lot of things that we did at Kansas State and Iowa as far as the
structure of our program,” says Leavitt. “But we really didn’t use
anybody as a model because there really was no model. We were starting a
program and the one thing we knew was that our track was going to be
fast.”
As successful as
Kansas State and Iowa were in implementing their strategies, Leavitt
can’t help but smile a little bit wider now that he’s implementing it
himself in his own backyard.
Leavitt and his
family first made their backyard in St. Petersburg, Fla. – just 40
minutes from the USF campus - when he was nine years old. Born in
Harlingen, Tex., December 5, 1956 (the exact year USF was founded),
Leavitt’s father was an air force pilot, and the family’s move to St.
Petersburg was the fifth and final stop. In fact, his parents still live
in the family home.
A two-sport star
in baseball and football (he played quarterback and safety) at Dixie
Hollins High School, he graduated in 1974 and went on to Missouri, where
he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1978 and a master’s degree in 1979.
Leavitt has a
12-year old daughter, Deandra. He married the former Jody Freeman on
July 4, 2007.
What’s Happening
Not for Breakfast
Anymore
Bill Krautler and
yours truly planted Sea Oats on Pass-A-Grille at the first annual St.
Pete Beach Sea Oat Planting Project. With over 150 volunteers, thousands
of plantings were completed in under two hours.
Tennessee Waltz
Bob Piplitz,
Charles Stuart, Markus Mittermayr, and Biff Baker attended the Kiwanis
International Convention in Nashville last week-end. Look for details,
that is details that can be printed, in next week’s bulletin from this
motley crew.
Do You Want A Shirt?
Kiwanis shirts are
now only $25.00. See Charles Stuart for the latest in cool, Kiwanis
apparel.
Happy Anniversary
Last week’s
bulletin marked the culmination of one year’s service to the club as
your editor. It has turned into a “labor of love” for me, but the
bulletin could not happen without you as the reader, our advertisers,
and the printing expertise of Al Karnavicius at Bay Print and the
production skills of Frank Ranieri at Communicasting to make the
bulletin reader-friendly. Finally my assistant, Gayla Davis, deserves
kudos to decipher my chicken scratching.
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the
Day, Paul Misiewicz, introduced Bob Lasher, manager of community
relations for the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA). Bob, not
one to mince words, told us that the bus service is not good, but is
improving, and ridership is on the increase with a ten percent rise in
2007.
Currently, nearly
thirteen million passengers use the bus system annually, traveling on
the fleet of two hundred and five buses.
Besides serving
the public who do not or cannot drive, Bob’s research indicates over
700,000 gallons of fuel is saved by those not driving. Additionally, a
reduction of 3,000 cars per day during rush hour are off the county
roads. An added benefit of a strong bus system is urban development is
enhanced as the riders are able to get to more destinations.
Bob, having
pointed out the positives, says we have a long way to go as the Tampa
Bay area is last among the top twenty-five metropolitan areas in bus
service. And Detroit, of all places, spends four times more on their
transit service than Pinellas County.
Not to be
discouraged, Bob and the PSTA have lofty ambitions as their goals are to
double ridership in ten years. How, you ask? Most notably with more
frequent service, modern buses, an extended route system, and to broaden
the demographic of the riders.
Today, most of the
routes serve the stops every 30-60 minutes. In the works is a plan for
stops to be served every 15-20 minutes. According to Bob, studies show
ridership increases with bus stops served more frequently.
In Bob’s Power
Point presentation, we looked at the new Bio-diesel electric hybrids; a
quieter, cleaner version of bus saving twenty percent on fuel costs.
With seven new buses debuting last week, Bob feels this type of bus
attracts riders.
Another way to
increase ridership is to introduce younger people to the system through
discounts and promotions. Once a rider is had, Bob feels they will use
the service regularly.
And finally, Bob
points out a need for interaction with Tampa and to have more east-west
service in Pinellas County. Asked about high speed rail, Bob lit up,
telling us rail systems are the lynchpin for increased bus service.
So, for four
dollars a day, a rider can travel without effort on the roads of
Pinellas including the entire beaches. What a deal! Thanks, Bob, for
enlightening us on a service most of us do not use, but at least you
made us think about it.
Guests and Visitors
We
had 48 members and 3 guests attending, Kathleen Young (new member),
guest of Worth Blackwell; Melissa Hongo, guest of Doug Lampe; Jake
Holehouse, guest and son of Ron Holehouse.
Today’s Quiz
1.
How many ingredients in a Twinkie?
2.
Which state has the second most Mormons?
3.
What is the heaviest of all elements?
4.
Who first conceived the idea for the original
Ford Mustang?
5.
Route 66 starts and ends at these cities. Name
them.
Last Week’s Quiz
1.
The country of Zimbabwe is
officially named the
Republic of Zimbabwe and formerly was
Southern Rhodesia,
the
Republic of Rhodesia
and
Zimbabwe Rhodesia
2.
In perfect vacuum,
light travels very rapidly by everyday standards - approximately
300,000 km each second. This is roughly a million times faster than
sound,
and fast enough to circle the Earth more than 7 times in one second.
3.
What are the colors of the
spectrum? Newton
divided the spectrum into seven named colors:
red,
orange,
yellow,
green,
blue,
indigo,
and
violet.
He chose seven colors out of a belief, derived from the
ancient Greek
sophists,
that there was a connection between the colors, the musical notes, the
known objects in the
solar system,
and the days of the week.
4.
Meyer started his head
coaching career at
Bowling Green State
University
(Ohio), where he
led the
Falcons
to 17 wins in two years. His next stop was at the University of Utah as
he led the Utes to an undefeated season and a BCS berth. The University
of Florida hired Meyer in 2005, and he has led the Gators to two
national championships.
5.
Grover Cleveland
was elected President of the United States to two terms but not
consecutively.
God of Pilgrimage
God of Pilgrimage
be with me on my journey
through this life;
guard and defend me,
shelter and feed me,
challenge and inspire me,
teach me and lead me,
and when my days are ended
welcome me home at last
to rest in your love forever.
Source Unknown
Found in Ely Cathedral
England |
