49ers.com Leavitt Bio
Prior to joining San Francisco, Leavitt was the head coach at the University of South Florida, a position he held since the program’s inception in 1995. In 13 seasons, he led the Bulls to a 95-57 record.
The program began play in 1997 at the division I-AA level and immediate success propelled the Bulls to a national ranking for 24 consecutive weeks. In 2001, South Florida became a Division I-A independent before moving to Conference USA, in 2003. Leavitt’s continued success helped South Florida move into the Big East prior to the 2005 season. That year, Leavitt led the Bulls to their first ever Bowl appearance.
Since becoming a member of the Big East Conference in 2005, Leavitt led the Bulls to a 40-24 record, including five consecutive Bowl appearances, posting a 3-2 record in those games. South Florida’s ascension into the top 25 from entry into I-A/FCS was the fastest in NCAA history, surpassing Boise State’s rise by a mere seven weeks. The Bulls achieved another record on September 30, 2007, when they became the fastest program of the modern era to reach the top 10, landing at No. 6 in the AP Poll and No. 9 in the Coaches’ Poll. On October 14, 2007, South Florida received its first ever BCS ranking as the No. 2 team in the nation behind only the Ohio State Buckeyes. That week, the team was also ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll and No. 3 in both the Coaches’ and the Harris Interactive Poll. ~ http://www.49ers.com/team/coaches/jim-leavitt/5a3d7795-473a-4919-b2bf-174884765f4d
Jim Leavitt took a few minutes, hours before his 1st NFL Draft, to speak with Big County Preps
Big County Preps (BCP):
Simple and obvious question coach, how are you enjoying the West Coast?
Jim Leavitt (JL): I absolutely love it. The City is beautiful and the people are great. It has been really, really, Good!
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BCP: What are you feeling going into your first NFL Draft?
JL: EXCITEMENT, plenty of anticipation, curious, excited to see how things will plays out.
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BCP: What is the biggest difference in recruiting high school prospects to become a part of your college program and recruiting college prospects to become a member of your NFL Franchise?
JL: In College, you can recruit who you want. If we liked a kid as a staff, we offered him. In the NFL, the pool of players to recruit is very small. The Top 25 players in this year’s draft, I would have recruited them all if I were still coaching in college.
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BCP: What do you look for in recruiting a high school player?
JL: CHARACTER! How much does he [the prospect] love the game? Then the measurable, height, weight and speed for the position. How versatile is the player? I really enjoyed the 1 on 1 conversations with potential recruits.
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BCP: Is there a set number of scholarships that a given program starts the offseason with before coaches start to offers prospects?
JL: When I was the head coach at South Florida, we had no set number of scholarship we were going to offer. If we like a kid, we recruited him and we offered him. We always told the kids, once those scholarship commitments are all filled, that’s it!
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BCP: When the 49er staff evaluates players to be drafted, what are some of those variables that go into a player making your draft list?
JL: All kinds of things. Too many variable to discuss in such a short period of time. But the process is fun.