Reality check: Join the Leavitt soap opera, already in progress

Standing before those cameras, his voice cracked and filled the passion that once fueled a football program. It was game day all over again. Alas, former South Florida coach Jim Leavitt did not head butt his lawyers.

Still ...

"I want to coach this football team," Leavitt said Monday.

Meanwhile, here on Earth ...

I think I'll be doing underwear ads before Leavitt gets his job back, but Jungle Jim is adamant, as are his high-powered legal wheels.

"We have advised the university this decision is unwarranted and this decision is unreasonable," attorney Tommy Roebig of Florin Roebig said at a news conference at the law firm's Palm Harbor offices.

Everybody is lawyering up. Joel Miller's family has retained its own torpedo. I'm thinking of suing Joel's dad just for laughs. Last one without a mouthpiece is a rotten egg!

Leavitt remained steadfast when asked if he had attacked Joel Miller.

"Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I've said that from Day One."

It really says something when, on the same day, you get out-admitted by Mark McGwire.

"I don't care how long it takes," Leavitt said. "I'm in this for my life, my name, my reputation and my family."

Don't forget the money, at least more than the roughly $66,000 he'd receive for being terminated for cause.

I see Leavitt getting a load of bread, probably millions, so USF can get him out of its hair and he can save some face, if he has any left, before trotting off to a college assistant's job, like at Kansas State, where mentor Bill Snyder has hired him before.

By the way, the hits just keep on coming. Kansas State men's basketball coach Frank Martin struck a player on the back of the arm during a loss at Missouri on Saturday. Only Martin, a screaming fireball of a coach (sound familiar?) apologized immediately after the game, to the player, to reporters, to anyone who'd listen.

"That's a mistake on my part," Martin said. "I'm an old school guy, but I understand the times are real sensitive right now."

We now rejoin The Jim Leavitt Show, already in progress ...

This man has clearly created his own reality. Once upon a time, imagination (and talent) helped Leavitt see a football program where there was none. Now it has him seeing what he believes, instead of believing what a lot of people saw.

"The allegations are misreported," Leavitt said.

He spoke of love for his players, about family, about prayer.

"I tell our football team, you've got to battle adversity for what you believe in," Leavitt said. "You've got to stand up for what you believe in."

But that's precisely what some of USF players are doing - they believed telling investigators what they saw was the right thing to do, no matter what might happen.

They stood up. Their former head coach should do the same.

There's always a possibility that USF made mistakes in this investigation (hey, it's USF), enough to have to pay out, but not enough for Leavitt to ever get his job back.

Does Leavitt really want everything out there? Does he really want to go through that door? If he cares so much about these kids ...

"I just want to share the truth," Leavitt said.

There should be enough lawyers for five flag-football teams by the time this thing goes away, but go away it eventually will.

And now, for fans of irony and wincing, this from the USF Unemployee of the Month:

"What do I want to do right now?" Jim Leavitt said. "I want to go home with my players. I want to put my arm around all of them right now, so bad."

Isn't that how we got here in the first place?