USF is about to make a Hall of Fame-caliber PR mistake

If you’ve read SIDEbar for more than a minute, you know this: most crises are avoidable, unnecessary or handled badly.

Enter my college alma mater, the University of South Florida (USF).

USF is set to induct its first head football coach, Jim Leavitt, into its Athletic Hall of Fame. This is the same Jim Leavitt who was fired for cause after choking and slapping a player and lying about it. The same man who was arrested in August for domestic violence (charges later dropped, but it suggests a behavior pattern). Hall of Fame-worthy? That’s a hard Hell No.

I’ve posted about this on socials, originally sharing Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi’s first fiery early September column, with “WTH is USF doing?” (Here’s a more recent one he wrote.)

Conflicted and concerned

It’s not the first time I’ve called out an organization I care about. So, why do it?

Because I know USF, like the others, can do better. I know a business or institution of higher learning like USF can act and respond in ways that garner respect, not contempt. Shoot, I learned those basics on the Tampa campus. The professionals I learned from weren’t perfect, but they knew better than to reward someone who hurt others and leave us as collateral damage.

Pit stop: I received at least two fundraising emails after USF’s current football team beat the University of Florida, a huge win for the program. I replied that I’d pitch in a few dollars if the school rescinded Leavitt’s Hall of Fame invitation. (I’m pro-NIL, after all.) I got an auto-response that someone would reply to me in two business days. I still haven’t heard a word. I guess my emails “got lost.”

Weeks after the fundraising emails and the Hall of Fame announcement, alums who saw one of my social posts connected me with the family of late USF running back Joel Miller. Joel bore the brutal brunt of blame for Leavitt’s firing from people who didn’t know what happened in the locker room that day in 2009. If I thought USF was wrong before, I learned just how much worse letting Leavitt near the Hall of Fame really looked for the school. The Millers have receipts, thanks to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and emails to administrators.

I’ve read the Hall of Fame committee’s minutes detailing who pushed to get Leavitt’s name on the docket. It reveals a lot about a bent-to-fit process, which is sketch at best. Most defenders said Leavitt “put the football program on the map” because he was USF’s first football coach. To those who voted him in: why risk our university’s national reputation by sliding this man into any hall, except one that leads to a crisis communications class?

Last week, USF announced that honoring Leavitt in person would be a distraction, so he won’t attend the ceremony or a dinner beforehand. His name, however, will be in the Hall. Really, USF? A back-door induction is somehow acceptable?

I realize I’m more passionate about this than an average public relations agent, so let’s look at each stage from a simple crisis communications window:

What happened ➡️

Coach, fired for cause, was nominated for induction into USF’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

What a credible PR specialist would advise:

A simple and emphatic, “NO.” If the USF Athletics HOF committee followed that advice and its own criteria, there’d be no negative publicity, and the school could simply celebrate its successes.

What happened ➡️

The family of the late player caught in the middle of the Leavitt scandal contacted USF leaders for meetings after it was announced the former coach would be honored in the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame. According to Joel’s mom and sister, more often than not, they were delayed, deflected or ignored. (There’s an email/digital trail.)

What credible PR would tell the school:

Upon publicly announcing that Leavitt will be inducted into your Hall of Fame, schedule meetings between Miller’s family and decision-makers to answer why the coach with a conscienceless history will be honored, and let them have their say. Listen empathetically. It’s a sign of respect and a simple way to show the Millers and others that the university values college athletes and their families over a disgraced coach’s legacy. It’s basic reputation management. And common sense.

What happened ➡️

Leavitt was arrested on domestic violence charges two months before the scheduled induction.

What a credible PR advisor would say ➡️

Do the right thing. End it now. Rescind the honor. Don’t hide behind, “he’d be a distraction,” while slipping him through the back door. That’s a cowardly response.

What happens if the induction stands?

Instead of celebrating worthy athletic talent, USF will drape a publicity cloud over the Athletics Hall of Fame and the university at large, not to mention innocents within its athletic department.

Is this the way you welcome a new athletics CEO (athletic director) and soon-to-be-named university president? Neither deserves this.

Here’s the bigger point – putting Leavitt into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame isn’t just bad judgment. It was an institutional choice to dismiss violent behavior and a coach’s lies and reported attempt to coerce an athlete to change his story. Further, it bent Hall of Fame standards and reopened wounds for the Miller family and those who saw it from the inside.

Of course, this crisis was avoidable

Like many crises, this was entirely avoidable. USF’s Athletic Hall of Fame committee has mere hours to reverse course and save face for current and future honorees, not to mention the school. Otherwise, the stain sticks.

I learned the art and practice of PR on USF’s Tampa campus, at its award-winning newspaper and in the sports information office. Too bad the people steering this Hall of Fame fiasco didn’t. If USF doesn’t make a smart decision now, it sends a clear message: winning and being “the first” matter more than integrity.

©2025, Gail Sideman, gpublicity, SIDEbar

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