Bull Loney

While Football has never won a conference championship, plenty of other sports have. But in the last year or two… How many? Arguably, the pace of winning conference championships has fallen off. And if you believe the rising tide floats all boats, having an overall winning culture in the classroom, on the practice fields/courts/pitch, and in the stadia/arenas matters. There simply hasn’t been enough winning. It’s one thing to hate losing and say you want to win, but what price are you willing to enjoy to actually do what it takes to win? That’s the froth at the mouth, war daddy mentality that has to make a comeback. Then the winning follows - and it needs to start in the Olympic Sports, pushing the revenue sports to go harder and win.

The article was well written. The quotes from some legendary Bulls should cause us all to stop and think — maybe this is the exact medicine we need to take to get right. Let’s be honest, USF isn’t in a good place. Championships aren’t rolling in like they did. Hopefully this conference realignment provides an inflection point where the competition drops a bit, long enough for the Bulls to get off the ground and start winning league titles in everything, especially football and basketball. The AAU thing is nice, but it won’t sell a single ticket or garner a single TV viewer. No recruit is coming because of AAU status - they think it’s the Amateur Athletic Union anyway. Not saying to take the foot off of the pedal in academics or research, but it’s time to jam it through the floorboards in athletics, whatever that takes.

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That’s not the worst idea. He’s been cleared of the Baylor stuff and is looking for redemption. It’s sort of like Liberty hiring Hugh Freeze - the pain will only be there until the wins replace it and the narrative shifts.

Hire a head coach. Big celebration. Struggle to win. Get fired. Pay buyout. Rinse, repeat… Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result.

So has anyone asked why these coaches, who all look like sure fire winners coming in, go out looking so bad? Maybe there are deeper, structural issues that need to be addressed before ANYBODY can win here? And if all these guys keep failing ugly, what makes anyone think that a coach with real street cred would risk it here without those deeper problems being addressed? Firing Gregory at this point is just another opportunity to put yet another usf head coach on early retirement and pay them not to win here. Are we getting tired of this? Couldn’t the money be better used to fix the endemic problems?

MK hasn’t had a committed President working with him yet. That’s one of the biggest things missing in all of this. Presidents need to want to build buildings, they need to anchor the lobbying with the state, both the BoG and the Legislature. Presidents close the really big gifts that get things moving. MK can’t carry that water by himself unless he can 100% fund something (which likely means raising 125% of the cost to cover contingencies). Get MK a President that understands that 19 VP’s on campus can’t weigh-in on Athletics operations and branding decisions. Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the stew. Let MK hire professional collegiate athletics operatives and let them do their jobs with a clear set of objectives, campus cooperation, and minimal interference and political BS. You want a name brand coach to take you seriously? The AD can get the conversation started but the President makes the needle move. And because of where FB and MBB are facility-wise and funding-wise, no credible coach in either sport is coming without having a meaningful conversation with a committed President. And a big part of that conversation will be negotiating academic admissions standards, preferred walk-on standards, summer school, academic support from campus, etc. And when all that is done and winning starts back up, it’s a respected President, committed to Athletics’ success long-term, that will get Conferences into having serious conversations. AD’s consult on those decisions, but Presidents make the decisions. So judge MK when he’s not fighting the battle single-handedly (with the other hand tied behind his back) and has a President that decides that Athletics success is important to the Institution and backs it up. Until then, all MK can do is make incremental changes to improve day-by-day. He can’t even fire a revenue sport head coach without a Presidential OK. All indications are he’s actually well-liked and respected in collegiate athletics. He’s just not a magician. No AD in America worth his salt will take this job until the President question is answered satisfactorily and if that happens, MK can become more effective much more quickly than anybody else can come in and ramp-up. Give him a year after that and then judge him, otherwise you’re just paying another guy to not work at usf.

He makes a good point. Frustrating, but not without merit.

Well, when you don’t have the trophy and you never have, you have to something to build up the importance of winning.

USF could have all of the incredible success that Georgia Tech has had the last ten years. Of course, Johnson and his Jackets did win one ACC Championship (since vacated) and four division Championships. I guess that is a step up, right?

If CCS were dismissed, wouldn’t that give our signees grounds for a waiver to transfer? Essentially it would be like we lied to them about who our head coach was going to be.

The band sounds great on the broadcast!

Excited to be here! Just watching the Gasparilla Bowl... Ugh.