USF coach Leavitt giving up Twitter

Two days after University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt learned at least three of his players were tweeting messages during team meetings and in the locker room about 15 minutes before kickoff Saturday, Leavitt said he is giving up Twitter.

"I'm not going to use Twitter any more," Leavitt said Tuesday. "I figured ... if I'm going to ask my players not to probably do it during that time, then I'm just going to stop.

"My twittering days are over."

On Saturday before the Bulls played Wofford, starting wide receiver Carlton Mitchell, backup quarterback B.J. Daniels and reserve punter Justin Brockhaus-Kann sent tweets from their cell phones during team meetings, the pregame meal and the bus ride to Raymond James Stadium. Mitchell also sent two tweets from the locker room 15 and 55 minutes before kickoff.

"I've never been in that situation and when I read in the [Tampa Tribune] and heard about some guys doing that, how do I respond to that?" Leaviit said. "It's probably something I really don't want, seems something you should do."

USF senior quarterback Matt Grothe understands why Leavitt was upset.

"The biggest thing was Coach Leavitt wanted us to be focused and prepared," Grothe said. "When that stuff goes on it makes you wonder, but at the same time, he [Mitchell] had a good game."

Mitchell had a team-high six receptions in the Bulls' 40-7 victory.

Leavitt had nearly 1,400 followers on his Twitter account and said he only tweeted at "appropriate times," then joking said, "like 5 in the morning on Sunday than the other times" during team functions.

"Just to be a role model, I'm not going to do it [tweet]."

Leavitt added he doesn't have a policy against players having cell phones in team meetings.

"If their cell phone goes off in a team meeting, I get disappointed," he said. "I don't have [a team rule], maybe I'm from [the] old school or a different era. I don't know why you would have cell phones around in a locker room or on the bus.

"I never had a policy, maybe I should. Maybe that's my fault I didn't tell them what they could and couldn't do. I just assumed people wouldn't do something like that. You can't assume anything anymore."

So for trivia buffs, here was Leavitt's final tweet posted at 5:11 a.m. Sunday. "It is amazing how peaceful it is now. Full moon and all. Congrats to MD for making it with the Bucs. I believe AH as well is in. Focus."

Leavitt also said Tuesday he would no longer make public his Top 25 ballot. He made his preseason ballot and Tuesday's ballot public, but he said that was it. The rest would remain private except for the final one that is released by the American Football Coaches Association.

"I thought it was important to make this one [Tuesday] public, but I don't want it all about the Top 25," Leavitt said. "I want it [publicity] about who were going to play and our practice and those things. Those are my reasonings."