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Confirmed: Jim Leavitt Does Not Like Mario

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I just saw this little gem on X. I think we always knew there was bad blood, but this confirms it. Mario certainly didn’t like anyone who was a threat to his power. The quick exits of Josh Gattis and Kevin Steele make a lot more sense now.

 

 

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Two really big ego guys...

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Mr. FishDuck

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I think we know whose side Jim Mastro was on.

 

 

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I always liked Leavitt, what a defensive turnaround he gave us. Leavitt just had too many skeletons in his closet, Mariø, on the other hand, has nothing in his closet.

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The two have a past as head coaches in Florida and going against each other. I believe Leavitt was at UCF and Cristobal was at FIU and there was some negative back and forth. 

 

Let's just say there was bad blood before they were at Oregon together. 

 

It's a bit of a shocker that Leavitt stuck around for the first year of MC's HC tenure at Oregon. 

 

Because in reality it was probably a poor coaching hire from Taggart to being both to Oregon with preexisting bad blood. 

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Who is Coach Mastro calling a clown? I'm no expert on the platform X formerly known as Twitter. My thought is he is calling Leavitt a clown. If he agreed with the Leavitt post would he not post a 👍 or 💯.  A friend asked me and I'm not sure. Maybe Mastro thinks both are clowns.

Edited by JB89
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If you were a coach behind a guy, you knew well, and who had lost over 60% of his games coached you would probably stick around too, just saying. By the way, Mariø has a losing record everywhere but Oregon.

 

Leavitt knew Mariø, and was probably blown away at his success at Oregon. Leavitt is a winner, and stuck around to watch the surefire train wreck coming down the tracks. The fact there wasn't a train wreck further proves what an amazing job Head Coach at Oregon is.

 

I wonder how good Oregon would have been under Leavitt, especially compared to Mariø. Leavitt isn't an Oregon type head coach, but I bet he would have done much better than Mariø.

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On 12/31/2023 at 3:29 PM, JB89 said:

Who is Coach Mastro calling a clown? I'm no expert on the platform X formerly known as Twitter. My thought is he is calling Leavitt a clown. If he agreed with the Leavitt post would he not post a 👍 or 💯.  A friend asked me and I'm not sure. Maybe Mastro thinks both are clowns.

He thinks Leavitt’s a clown. It makes sense. He was the RB coach and running game coordinator, so he was in lock step with Mario.

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Suggest Googling Leavitt.  There's some serious skeletons in his closet from his USF days.  He was never going to get a head coaching job.  

 

SYNDICATION.BLEACHERREPORT.COM

The internal-external investigation conducted by the University of South Florida documents that per...

 

The other issue with Leavitt was he never moved to Eugene when he coached at UO.  He kept his home in Colorado and rented a hotel room during the season.  That totally aggravated MC.  Aggravated is my way of not using the politically incorrect vernacular.

 

He was a loose cannon at events and was eventually not allowed to attend any events involving donors.  Also toward the end of his tenure he was not allowed on the road to recruit.

 

I was at an event at which both MC and JL were in attendance and the tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.  Safe to say MC hated Leavitt

Edited by Augduck
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In 6 seasons (four at Oregon and two at Miami) how many coordinators has Mario ran through?

 

Leavitt, Avalos, De Ruyter, Arroyo, Morehead, Gattis, Steele, Dawson, Guidry? So, not a single coordinator that has lasted longer than two seasons?

 

So, I went back to Florida International and looked at there coordinators while MC was there (2007-2012) and I found:

 

2007

 

OC: James Coley

DC: Phil Galiano

 

2008

 

OC: Bill Legg

DC: Phil Galiano

 

2009

 

OC: Bill Legg

DC: Phil Galiano

 

2010

 

OC: Scott Satterfield

DC: Geoff Collins

 

2011

 

OC: Scott Satterfield

DC: Todd Orlando

 

2012

 

OC: Tim Cramsey

DC: Todd Orlando

 

So, 12 seasons as HC, I'm detecting a pattern.

 

Three thoughts.

 

1. Only one coordinator who survived over two seasons with Mario.

 

2. How long will it be in MC's coaching career will it be before he has another coordinator that lasts three years? Anyone betting on Dawson or Guidry right now?

 

3. Who is this Phil Galiano and how did he survive three seasons with Mario?

 

I guess he was a grad assistant at Rutgers in 2003 when Mario was there coaching OL. Apparently FIU wasn't too great on D in 2007, made significant improvements in 2008, and fell back in 2009 and his contract wasn't renewed. In 23 years coaching he has had 14 stops, and currently is special team consultant to the New Orleans Saints special teams coach Darren Rizzi. Looking at his bio, surviving three years as a coordinator with Mario possibly is a bullet point.

 

It would be interesting to get Coley, Legg, Galiano, Satterfield, Collins, Orlando, Cramsey, Arroyo, Moorhead, Avalos, De Ruyter, Gattis, Steele (and probably eventually Dawson and Guidry) all in a room and see how many might agree with Leavitt?

 

It's certainly fair if one is uncomfortable with how things turned out at USF for Leavitt (as well possibly fair to mention USF paid him a $2.75 million dollar settlement and he went on to be hired 6 more times in his coaching career, I don't really know).

 

Also, 95-57 career record and 3-2 in bowls as a head coach (Mario is 74-73 and 3-4 in bowls). Leavitt is said to have started the USF program from the back of a van and went 95-57 (and was reportedly offered jobs at Alabama and Kansas State). I've read when Mario arrived at FIU, it was a program a lot like operating out of the back of a van, and he went 27-47 and was fired (and took five years to be hired as HC again).

 

Edited by AnotherOD
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On 12/31/2023 at 5:59 PM, AnotherOD said:

So, I went back to Florida International and looked at there coordinators while MC was there (2007-2012) and I found

This is fantastic insight!  Thanks for digging it up.  

 

I wonder how much of that turnover are OC's realizing that they don't want to be connected with such a trainwreck.

 

There are Miami fans who are clamouring for Dawson to be gone.  These fans are the ones who still believe MC can turn things around.

 

You don't burn through coordinators unless:

 

A.  You are Nick Saban/Kirby Smart and they keep getting hired away. 

 

B.  You are a horrible coach to work with and the coordinators would rather bail.

 

You can eliminate option A immediately for MC.  

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On 12/31/2023 at 6:14 PM, Ktmguy2018 said:
On 12/31/2023 at 5:59 PM, AnotherOD said:

So, I went back to Florida International and looked at there coordinators while MC was there (2007-2012) and I found

This is fantastic insight!  Thanks for digging it up.  

 

I wonder how much of that turnover are OC's realizing that they don't want to be connected with such a trainwreck.

 

There are Miami fans who are clamouring for Dawson to be gone.  These fans are the ones who still believe MC can turn things around.

 

You don't burn through coordinators unless:

 

A.  You are Nick Saban/Kirby Smart and they keep getting hired away. 

 

B.  You are a horrible coach to work with and the coordinators would rather bail.

 

You can eliminate option A immediately for MC.  

The thing is that MC hires really well, on paper. So in most cases I'd say that option A is often the case. Or at least has been when he was at Oregon and to a degree while at Miami. 

 

Avalos and Arroyo took HC jobs, sure they were fired but they took them. Moorehead rejoined the HC coaching ranks at Akron, not a great program but he is closer to home and it seemed like after his heart issues he needed to step back from the power conferences. 

 

Other coordinators took new jobs elsewhere, so more option B where they find new jobs at the same level they're currently at. 

 

Cristobal is a master of the off season. He recruits great both in terms of players and coaching personal. This is what has kept him his job at Oregon and got him his job at Miami, he wins the off season. 

 

And in doing so he injects hope into the boosters and fan base to give him another chance. 

 

However, that show doesn't have much life left in it if he can't produce on-field results for Miami real soon. At Oregon Cristobal was given a little lead way with a Rose Bowl win and two conference championships. 

 

But we were all feeling fine with him at the end of 2021. 

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And I am fine with MarinoO as long as he doesn’t come west of the Mississippi ever again.

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