Will South Florida’s program suffer due to Leavitt’s lawsuit?

It was inevitable that former Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt would sue South Florida in an effort to recover the money he lost when he was fired on January 8. After all, he wasn’t going to leave millions of dollars on the table and just walk away into the dark of the night to never return.
But even if the situation was inevitable, this isn’t a situation that USF desired to be in. The program knows it had recourse to fire Leavitt and avoid paying him for the final five years left on his contract after allegations emerged that he slapped walk-on player Joel Miller. But the school would prefer to move on and start new head coach Skip Holtz’s career without this dark cloud hanging over its head.
Still, it’s a situation USF has to deal with and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of effect it’ll have on the program this year. Miller is still on the team, as are several of the witnesses that attest to Miller’s side of the story. Can the Bulls still be a power in the Big East if Leavitt’s lawsuit makes it to court? What will the media coverage of the story be?
With exciting quarterback B.J. Daniels set to enter his second season, South Florida has plenty to look forward to in 2010. But as his lawsuit can attest to, Leavitt isn’t going away quite yet.
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