Silence isn't best strategy for USF during investigation

The University of South Florida spent much of Tuesday closing ranks, which it does well whenever something unpleasant comes up. This is about as unpleasant as it gets - an investigation into allegations that football coach Jim Leavitt grabbed one of his players by the throat and struck him twice.

It's a huge story demanding a bold response, but few places do "no comment" as well as USF.

While the machinery of investigation is being assembled, though, USF might do well to realize that stonewalls and official "statements" that say nothing is bad strategy. How is silence working for Tiger Woods? In the absence of concrete information, people go with what they have - even if it's speculation, hearsay or opinion.

And right now, USF is getting killed locally and nationally.

ESPN ran Leavitt's photo as a nice backdrop while the reporter repeated details of the story that broke Monday on AOL FanHouse.

If you missed that one, no problem. Just turn on any local sports talk show, surf the Web, watch the TV news or simply follow that time-honored practice of reading the newspaper and watch or listen to USF take a beating.

Leavitt has denied the story, vehemently, but you would expect him to. Paul Miller, father of the football player in question, said he stands behind Leavitt. Before that, though, he was a main source for the story on FanHouse, so was he pressured into changing his tune? Did the reporter get it wrong in the first place?

Athletic Director Doug Woolard probably could help clear this up, but he hasn't been heard from. University President Judy Genshaft might want to show some leadership here, but she hasn't yet.

What we did hear is that the university (not the athletic department) will run the investigation, and it apparently began Tuesday. Problem is, there might have been 100 or more people in the locker room at halftime of the Nov. 21 game against Louisville when Leavitt supposedly attacked walk-on Joel Miller, and interviewing them all will take time.

Still, the first rule of public relations is to get control of the message. Just a thought here, but going silent while conducting an investigation in secret probably isn't the best way to do that. If this drags into next month, you can imagine the tone of the telecast for USF's appearance Jan. 2 in the International Bowl.

Get ready for lots of sideline shots of Leavitt, lots of chatter about his "intensity" and all that, lots of speculation about the impact of this on recruiting, and so on.

This is probably the biggest sports crisis at USF since the allegations of racial prejudice almost destroyed the women's basketball program in 2000. That led to the dismissal of Coach Jerry Ann Winters and the forced resignation of Athletic Director Paul Griffin by Genshaft, so if this stuff about Leavitt is true then at least the president has a track record.

There's that word again ... "if" it's true.

We've all seen Leavitt act like a lunatic on the sidelines. We've seen him bloodied from head butts and other foolishness. There have been a couple of times he has seemed on the edge of losing control. It's still a big leap from all that to the assumption that he actually grabbed a player by the throat.

Some people will wait to take that leap, but I'm guessing a lot more have made up their minds already. They come down on both sides of the wall - those who think Leavitt is nuts enough to do something like this, or those who blindly believe that even if he did, it is just what dedicated coaches do to motivate the troops.

This story isn't going away.

The longer everyone waits for a resolution, the more likely that positions will be hardened. The damage to the football program and university, while already substantial, will get worse. Then when USF finally does have something to say, you wonder if anyone will be listening anymore.