Love him or hate him, I think we all agree as the article says USF basketball cannot go on like it is. http://www.tbo.com/sports/MGBB0R06PYE.html By JOE HENDERSON Published: Feb 28, 2007 TAMPA - Doug Woolard met me Tuesday afternoon with a smile and an apology. The University of South Florida's athletic director is always smiling, so I didn't read much into that. Then he started the conversation by saying, "I'm really sorry, but …" That's never good. We had an appointment to talk about the future of USF's men's basketball coach Robert McCullum, but Woolard changed his mind. He fell back on his policy of not commenting about a coach until the season is over. That's two more games, starting tonight against Providence at the Sun Dome. We always feel compelled to note that McCullum is a good man, which he is, and runs a clean program, which he does. But he also is about to conclude his fourth losing season in as many years here. Normally that would get you fired, but USF basketball has never been normal. So we wait. "I just feel you have to look at the entire body of work, the entire season, before you make these decisions," Woolard said. Woolard made a policy exception a year ago. Rumors were rife that Bob Huggins wanted the USF job, so with two games remaining in the season Woolard pointedly announced McCullum would return. There are no such names circling around the USF job this time, particularly not someone the caliber of Huggins. But it's no secret that McCullum's future is in doubt again and people won't be surprised if there is a change. Woolard could have stopped all that with a simple declarative sentence: "Robert McCullum will be back next season." How hard would that have been? He wouldn't say it. Read into that what you will. Losing Continues McCullum is 40-74 since coming here, including 12-16 this season against a schedule front-loaded with creampuffs. He is 4-26 in the Big East. Those numbers are not unexpected, given that USF's basketball program is probably more in line with the Big South right now than the Big East. It's still unacceptable. Some of that is McCullum's fault, some of it isn't, but all of it has happened on his watch. His recruiting has been spotty and his luck has been worse. The Bulls have had more major injuries the last few years than a program ought to endure, but that only serves to magnify the recruiting problems. Lack of depth leads to bad teams and public apathy. On most nights, between 7,000 and 8,000 of the seats at the Sun Dome are empty, which kills the atmosphere. Which makes it hard to recruit. Which makes it hard to win, which keeps the seats empty … you get the idea. USF has a reputation in the coaching fraternity as a place where careers go to die. Lee Rose had been to the Final Four twice when he came to Fowler Avenue, but he couldn't produce more than a couple of NIT berths. Seth Greenberg had similar results during his tenure before he fled to Virginia Tech, where he's about to win his second ACC Coach of the Year award. **** Vitale calls USF the toughest coaching job in America. Any young turk interested in this job likely would be warned by the elite coaches that USF is a career-killer. The evidence supporting that argument is compelling. But USF can win, even in the Big East. The Bulls have been competitive in every Big East sport except men's basketball. Five years ago there was no program in America lower than USF women's basketball, but that has changed. The men should be able to do the same. Wait And See It's hard to see how anything in the last two games would sway Woolard one way or the other. The positive aspects of McCullum's program won't change - his kids generally are solid citizens, he stresses classroom performance. But the negative things won't change either, even with a couple of wins. It would cost about $400,000 to pay off the two years remaining on McCullum's contract, plus at least a couple of million more for the new coach. That's not insignificant, but money doesn't seem to be the issue. The real question is: Can USF win often enough with Robert McCullum as the head coach? If the answer is yes, then Woolard should announce it to the world and start getting ready for next year. But whatever he decides and whoever coaches, one thing is clear: USF can't go on like this. Something has to change. You don't need the whole body of work to know that.