If you had to use one word to describe Lee Roy Selmon, that word would be “genuine.” No matter the circumstances, no matter how bright the spotlight, Selmon always was who he was. There was no pretense about him.
It is a cliche, but Selmon was larger than life. Although he was exceptional in many ways, it was how he presented himself, how he was able to direct attention away from himself to others, that set him apart.
We were reminded of that again this month when the University of South Florida decided to remember him by giving his number to the defensive lineman who best exemplified his personal and physical attributes.
“This will be a great way to carry on the legacy of Lee Roy Selmon,” USF Coach Alex Golesh commented according to the school’s football website. “It’s really a neat deal for USF. The number 63 will signify someone who has worked and shown a level of integrity, athletic ability and academic excellence, all the traits I’ve heard about since I’ve got here that defined Lee Roy Selmon,” Golesh said.
Selmon, of course, had a major impact on South Florida football. He was hired by then athletic director Paul Griffin in 1993 primarily to get the program started and helped guide it through its formative years.
Selmon worked with Jim Leavitt, USF’s first – and most successful – coach, and because he was extremely influential in the Tampa Bay community, he became the driving force behind the effort to get the first football facilities built.
When Leavitt took the job, South Florida had nothing. No offices. No locker room. Not even a practice field. Leavitt, in fact, found a goal post under the soccer stadium grandstand and had it set up so the team could work out.
Leavitt’s office was a cramped trailer that had two partitions, one for him and one for his receptionist. This was a program that literally had to be built from the ground up, and without Selmon, it would have been much more difficult. In many ways, Selmon was the glue that held things together.
In 2001 though, things started to unravel. First, Griffin was fired after covering up a complaint of racial bias made against USF’s women’s basketball coach.
That led to Selmon being elevated to athletic director, a move that gave South Florida football immediate credibility. Selmon was tremendously respected in both the collegiate and pro football community, and we can only speculate on how that would have impacted USF had he continued on in the job.
For one thing, Selmon’s approach was almost the direct opposite of Griffin’s.
Griffin was a dynamo, pushing the athletic department to expand at a rapid pace. Perhaps because of his experience at the highest level of collegiate football; Selmon played at Oklahoma and was on two national championship teams there, he understood what was needed to compete. And he saw first hand how difficult it was to build something from nothing when he was with the Bucs.
So, Selmon was more conservative than Griffin. He wanted the program to move forward; on Selmon’s watch, USF jumped first to Conference USA and then to the Big East, but he wanted to make sure USF was ready to make the move when it happened.
And then there was the dismissal of Leavitt. Selmon wasn’t directly involved in this, he retired at the end of 2004 for undisclosed health reasons, but there is no question that had he still been in charge it might never have happened.
Selmon was succeeded as AD by Doug Woolard, who had nominal control of the football program. However, after taking the team to three straight bowls in 2005, 2006 and 2007 plus starting out 6-0 with wins over nationally ranked Auburn and West Virginia and being voted No. 2 in the polls that same year, Leavitt had the bit in his teeth.
This was his program and he would run it his way. He was in charge. That changed in 2009, when Leavitt grabbed a USF player by the throat and slapped him at halftime during a game with Louisville. The school investigated, Leavitt tried to interfere with the investigation and he was fired. That sent USF into a mire of mediocrity from which it hasn’t yet recovered.
Had Selmon still been at USF, none of this might have happened. Woolard couldn’t control Leavitt; Selmon could. Like everyone else, Leavitt deferred to Selmon. Selmon’s quiet demeanor gave him an aura of authority that commanded respect. Leavitt would have coached the team but Selmon would have been in charge of the program.
Where ever he has been, Selmon made his mark in his own, unique way. What ever he did, whether it was playing football, working in the community or advocating for a cause, nobody did it better. And as USF – and others – have found out, you can get some one to take his place, but you can’t replace him.