Texas Tech football: Hiring Jim Leavitt would be hypocritical of Hocutt

Oregon defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt is rumored to be a top candidate to be the next Texas Tech football head coach.  But if Kirby Hocutt hires his former position coach at Kansas State, it would be a hypocritical move given the statements Hocutt made in Sunday’s press conference.

The world of college coaching, regardless of sport, has become a mine field in the past decade with a new controversy blowing up a different coach’s career or reputation seemingly every month.  Texas Tech is no stranger to controversies with its head coaches thanks to Bob Knight at the salad bar, Mike Leach and an electrical closet or Billie Gillespie’s alleged mistreatment of players.

But in hindsight, those events seem like child’s play when compared to some of the more recent coaching controversies such as the mess surrounding Urban Meyer at Ohio State or the tragedy that unfolded at the University of Maryland.

Thankfully, Texas Tech has avoided being at the center of such tragic incidences and that is thanks in large part to the leadership of Kirby Hocutt.  So why in the world is the Texas Tech AD now exploring the possibility of hiring a coach who has already blown up what was once a promising career by allegedly punching and grabbing by the throat one of his own players at halftime of a game?

Oregon defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt is considered by many to be one of Hocutt’s top targets to replace Kliff Kingsbury.  The soon-to-be 62-year-old is a defensive wizard who was Hocutt’s linebackers coach at Kansas State in the early 1990’s.

But, the Harlingen, Texas native will forever be branded with the scar of how his tenure as the first ever head coach at the University of South Florida ended.  It was a meteoric rise for South Florida under Leavitt who took the program from literal non-existence to No. 2 in the nation in a span of just over a decade.

However, it all came crashing down at halftime of a game against Louisville in 2009.  Leavitt allegedly grabbed sophomore Joel Miller by the throat and struck him twice in the face.

Leavitt vehemently denied the accusations saying that he only grabbed Miller by the shoulder pads and shook him as an attempt to motivate.  But after a lengthy investigation, Leavitt was fired with cause by the university which said it found corroborating evidence to support the claims.

We will never know what really happened between Leavitt and Miller that day.  Miller passed away in 2017 at the age of 29 and Leavitt has moved on, settling a wrongful termination lawsuit against South Florida in 2011 essentially putting to bed the incident for all parties involved.

But in Sunday’s press conference, Kirby Hocutt told reporters what he wants in his next football coach and the criteria he gave seems to be contradictory of what Leavitt showed at USF.

"“We want a man with the highest amount of character and integrity.  Somebody who’s going to represent Texas Tech University with class.” Hocutt said."

Having no personal knowledge of Jim Leavitt, all we can do is evaluate him on what we have been given.  We know he is a very good coach.  We also know that his actions once permanently impacted the life of one of his student athletes in a negative way.

"“Go back and type my name into Google,” Miller told CBSSpots.com in 2015. “You’ll find 157 articles about me … It follows me everywhere. It’s a ghost behind me.”"

Those are not the words that anyone associated with Texas Tech ever wants a former Red Raider student to say about their time at the university we love.  If Hocutt wants a candidate who will represent the school with “character” and “class” how can he seriously consider hiring a man with such an ugly and public incident on his resume?

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After spending the past several years discussing how much he appreciated the way Kliff Kingsbury conducted himself, even going so far as to call him “a good man” in Sunday’s press conference, it is disappointing to see Hocutt entertain a coach that put his hands on a player.  Regardless of how severe the incident really was and where the truth lies, in the modern age of college athletics Texas Tech should avoid any hint of impropriety when it comes to player and student safety.

Imagine how easy it will be for opposing coaches to negatively recruit against Leavitt.  They will simply have to pull up the comments from Miller’s father to show other parents why they should not send their sons to play for him.

"“I think it’s terrible,” Paul Miller said when Leavitt returned to college coaching in 2015. “He doesn’t belong with any kids.”"

It should not matter that Hocutt knows Leavitt personally.  Kliff Kingsbury knew his first defensive coordinator Matt Wallersteadt personally and we saw how that ended.

This is the modern era of college athletics and when it comes to questions of player safety, schools should take no chances.  Two decades ago, it was more acceptable for a school like Texas Tech to bring on Bob Knight despite video showing him put his hands on a player.  But in 2018, the world is more hyper-vigilant and we have rightly placed a higher priority on the dignified treatment of the students at our university than ever before

Why would Hocutt even entertain the idea of bringing that type of controversy and risk to Texas Tech?  This is the most important hiring in Texas Tech football history and the most crucial of Hocutt’s career.  Thus, it makes little sense to put a man who allegedly struck one of his own players in charge of another group of young men.

It would be hypocritical for Kirby Hocutt to hire Jim Leavitt.  Texas Tech does not need to risk being at the center of another coaching controversy and it would be foolish to trust a coach who already lost one job because he could not control himself.  Our university deserves better and here’s hoping Hocutt delivers someone we can all trust.  After all, he just fired a man who fit that bill perfectly.