Appreciate what we have, Bulls.

[Flowers4Heisman]

Quote

St. Petersburg Times

[...]John Allen, USF's first president in 1960, took a strong stance that the university would stress academics rather than competitive sports. Over the years, USF's lack of football became almost an article of faith among many professors and academically inclined students and alumni.

But another strain of opinion also emerged, that football - like the other sports USF began playing in 1965 - would round out the college experience for many students and alumni. A task force studying ways to improve campus life two years ago recommended that the football question be considered again.

Borkowski, who promised to put off any discussion of football until a major capital fund-raising drive had finished, agreed.[...]

Quote

USF names 37 to task force to consider football  St. Petersburg Times - October 22, 1991

University of South Florida president Francis Borkowski announced Monday the members of the task force that will study the feasibility of adding football.

The 37-member committee, drawn from faculty, staff, students, alumni and prominent bay area businessmen and community leaders, will meet for the first time on Oct. 29. A consulting firm, headed by former University of Florida athletic director Bill Carr, will supply data projected costs and revenues to the group.

""We haven't been given our official charge yet, but it's clear the president wants us to look at the viability of football and how it fits in with the university,'' said Leon Mandell, a professor of chemistry and the task force chairman.

""I came here from Emory University in Atlanta eight years ago because, I believe, all the geo-political factors necessary for a great university are present here. In the context of that, it makes sense to look at the athletic program. Something great will happen here ultimately, and football could be part of it.''

Borkowski had promised he would initiate a study once a capital campaign ended this past summer. That campaign raised nearly $117-million in three years. That coincided with a long-range planning committee's recommendation to evaluate the entire athletic department.

""Clearly the most dominant issue in any consideration of athletics at USF is the question of football,'' Borkowski said in a prepared statement. ""If we do have a football program, I want to underscore that it will not be paid for with public funds. It will have to be self-supporting.''

Borkowski has said that it may cost as much $15-million to start a program. If USF were to go with a Division I-AA program, akin to the University of Central Florida, the annual expenses would probably be about $1-million a year.

USF athletic director Paul Griffin and Athletic Association executive director Hance McCain will serve as staff members to the committee. (See list, 2C.)

""In terms of my key concerns, I think we have to assess first can intercollegiate football be established and supported at our university without impacting on academics,'' said Ken Rollins, Jr., president of the alumni association and member of the task force. ""That is the first and foremost function of the university. Secondly, the key question would be, assuming the first hurdle can be gotten over, where will the funding come from and is there money in the private sector to mount a competiti ve program.''

In fact, several of the committee members already have voiced their desire for football, provided, of course, it doesn't siphon funds away from academics.

""My personal opinion, without fully exploring it, is I would like to see Division I football at USF,'' said Chuck Hewitt, USF Dean of Students and an associate vice president.

""If it was here, it would have added to my collegiate career and experience,'' said Keevin Williams, a senior from Tampa and the president of student government. ""However, when I go into committee, I'll keep an open mind.''

 

USF committee favors football  St. Petersburg Times - December 4, 1991

 

 

The process that could lead to the birth of a football program at the University of South Florida gained momentum Tuesday, when the committee appointed to assess its feasibility met for the second time and no one spoke out against the idea.

""There is not an element that is saying: "No. We don't want football.' There are those saying yes, and the maybes,'' said Catherine Peek McEwen, a local attorney and one of the 37 committee members selected by USF president Francis Borkowski.

Many members openly endorsed football Tuesday, citing the sport's record for generating school spirit, something they said is lacking at USF.

""I've been here four years, and we've never had a focal point; you have to practically beg people to show up at events,'' USF student-body vice president Lana Chiarielllo said.

""I felt shortchanged in relation to the people who went to Florida or Florida State,'' said Charles Santana, a 1972 graduate and an accountant with Raulerson and Santana. ""There was no college life.''

Robert Ulrich, former mayor of St. Petersburg, said USF never could achieve its goal of becoming one of the nation's top 25 public institutions without an ""emotional infrastructure.'' A football program, he said, does much to create that.

""Without a doubt, what I heard today, most of us concur that a football team would be appropriate,'' said Gus Stavros, chairman of Pelam Investment and a member of the USF Foundation Board of Trustees. ""It would bring a spirit to the university that it now does not have.''

Whether football is appropriate for USF was one of three issues Borkowski asked the committee to address. With little debate, they reached a conclusion about his second issue, agreeing that a model program controlled by the president could be started.

So what's left? Borkowski's third charge was for the committee to decide whether football makes cents, not simply sense. McEwen and others said the economic issues are the only reasons for hedging.

""In my opinion, there was clearly a consensus,'' said USF athletic director Paul Griffin, a committee member. ""The only hesitancy (for some, including Tampa Bay Buccaneers president Gay Culverhouse) was there was not an opportunity to match the options with numbers. But economics is the easy part. This was the most important part of the discussion: the subjective issues.''

When the group meets again, Jan.14, a consulting group headed by former Florida athletic director Bill Carr will provide expense projections and marketing strategies for a program at the club level, at the Division I-A and I-AA levels, and at the proposed I-AAA level.

Joining Carr is Georgia Southern athletic director Richard Wagner, Northern Illinois athletic director Gerald O'Dell, and Robert Stewart, a former athletic director at Troy State who now is an assistant professor of finance at the Alabama school.

""I think in general USF would like to have a successful football program,'' said Richard Lockey, the director of allergy and clinical immunology at the USF College of Medicine. ""But I want all the information I can get first.''

 

 

USF's football boosters win over regents  St. Petersburg Times - August 30, 1995

 

 

They came in skeptics and walked out believers.

Representatives from the Florida Board of Regents came to the University of South Florida campus Tuesday to hear the school's pitch for an NCAA Division 1-AA football team.

The seven regents and Chancellor Charles Reed started the day by raising questions - about the financing plan for the team, about gender equity in USF sports, about the chances that football will take money away from academic programs or will hurt smaller sports.

But after several hours of testimony from administrators, business leaders and students, their doubts were wiped away like letters on a chalkboard.

""As an old classroom English teacher, I'm not much in favor of football,'' regent Audrea Anderson said after a straw poll at the meeting's end. ""I'm aware of how disruptive it can be in the classroom. But after looking over the materials the university has put out . . . I have been won over.''

In the straw poll, six of the seven regents present and Chancellor Reed said they would vote to approve USF football at the next meeting of the full board Sept. 15 in Orlando. Regent C. B. Daniel said that he would not commit to a yes for football, but that he ""felt good about it, especially in light of the community support we've seen today.''

""This comes as a complete surprise,'' said USF President Betty Castor. ""We thought we would be in the prayer position for the next two weeks.''

Earlier in the day, Daniel and regents Steve Uhlfelder and Julian Bennett had expressed doubts about whether the university's rosy financial predictions for a football team were realistic. Athletic director Paul Griffin defended the study that said USF's program would cost 15 percent less than the University of Central Florida's program and 12 percent less than Florida A&M University's program. He also said attendance projections weren't overoptimistic.

""Our 1998 projections are based on an average attendance of 15,000 per game,'' Griffin said. ""I think that's a relatively responsible, secure and achievable goal.''

The regents also wanted proof of a financial safety net for the effort. In the event the football program does have money troubles, the regents said, they wanted assurances that the community would step in to help.

Precision Motors president and sports booster Frank Morsani said that wouldn't be a problem.

""We have a record in this community of paying our dues and writing checks for what we believe in,'' Morsani said, noting that USF has received $5-million in pledges toward its program.

Those sentiments were backed up by a string of local business leaders who showed up to cheerlead for the program, including Visionworks president Rob Roberson, Atlantic Gulf chairman Jim Apthorp, and former college and pro football player Larry Smith.

The team USF assembled also did its fair share of cheerleading. Associate athletic director Lee Roy Selmon talked up the character of the program he envisions, citing his own experience as a college and pro player.

The small voice of dissent came from Charles Arnade, a bespectacled, be-sandaled professor of international studies who seemed uncomfortable in a room full of gray suits.

He said that he had failed five times to establish a chapter of the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa at USF, and that strengthening academics should take precedence over a football team.

Arnade added that 1995 ""is not the time to establish an all-male team,'' and even challenged Griffin to recruit female football players.

The impression left on regents' minds, however, was made by the last speakers, students who made impassioned pleas.

""USF is ripe for the moment,'' said Ricardo Dominguez, a junior who is president of the Latin American student organization. ""Please, please, please give us a football team.''

Dominguez said the basketball tournament held on campus last spring is proof that sports can give a school cohesion and pride.

""I don't know if any of you attended the NIT game,'' he said. ""People were chanting, "USF, USF.' I mean, oh man, I had pride.''

Regent Daniel could hardly contain himself.

""I don't know if that was orchestrated for him to be the last speaker. But I feel tingly all over,'' he said.

 

PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THIS POST

[Flowers4Heisman]

I was just mad when I watched the other bowls. We started football sooooo late.

How long has 'Bama been playing football? (rhetorical)

Edited January 2, 2017 by FarEastBull

[NewEnglandBull]

Yeah our timing was way late but that being said those starting after us (or moved up to 1a after us) have not had the success we have had. I remember well when all of the feasibility studies were being done and I remember the regents vote. It was an exciting time. On to the future, all we can do is keep plugging away and continue to win. 

[Bulls 8_va]

Exactly.  Control what you can control.  

Until they invent a time-machine so I could go back to 1956 and convince/explain to President Allen the importance of USF Football.  

 

Could you imagine if we had alumni from the 60s,70s, 80s and 90s who had football??!?!  

 

GO BULLS!!!

[BDYZR]

It took a feasibility study from Oct. 22, 1991 til Aug. 30, 1995 to announce plans for football.

May 20, 2016 - South Florida looking into building an on-campus stadium, leaving Raymond James
USF has been playing at Raymond-James Stadium since its first season in 1997, but is looking into a five-year feasibility plan

http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/south-florida-looking-into-building-an-on-campus-stadium-leaving-raymond-james/

I didn't write the headline.

[Flowers4Heisman]

Of course, we are going to have an OCS, and be in a better conference. It's a certainty. The only question is when these things will happen.

We are in a major city + we are a major academic institution.

Students: 48,793 Undergraduates: 36,108 Postgraduates: 9,889

 

-------------

University of Oregon

Students: 23,634 Undergraduates: 20,067 Postgraduates: 3,567

[Rizman]

10 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Yeah our timing was way late but that being said those starting after us (or moved up to 1a after us) have not had the success we have had. I remember well when all of the feasibility studies were being done and I remember the regents vote. It was an exciting time. On to the future, all we can do is keep plugging away and continue to win. 

Example, a program in Florida that started in 1979 did not win their first D-1A Championship until 2005.  Took them like 26 years before they had their own stadium and only reason that happened was because the Citrus bowl was being upgraded.    We are doing well. 

[Apis Bull]

10 hours ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Yeah our timing was way late but that being said those starting after us (or moved up to 1a after us) have not had the success we have had. I remember well when all of the feasibility studies were being done and I remember the regents vote. It was an exciting time. On to the future, all we can do is keep plugging away and continue to win. 

I posted on another thread, but I'm too lazy to look for it. I don't think any of the schools that started football around the time we were established as a University have done all that great, so I'm not sure if we'd be any different than we are now.

[jchem1995]

Thank you Fareast. I was just graduating that summer of 95 and the buzz on campus was there. I remember hearing about the 5 mill from the community but didn't know that it was for assurance. I thought it was for insurance. Lol.  Good read. Dr Mandell just started there from Emory he was a cool guy.