MikeG

Is this game definitely on ESPN?

Those are cool.

He wasn't talking about Coker-- he was comparing this to the Miami OC/Tight Ends coach. One problem with the analogy-- the talent level that guy had to work with was top notch.

Two things-- 1) Dungy Dungy had no reason to change anything in Indy when it came to the offense. Why fix something that clearly was not broken? He has yet to be able to create a competent defense because the focus on the offense has created an imbalance. As for his offenses while Bucs HC--- there was one year where the Bucs set all kinds of offensive records-- a banner year with the exception of actual scoring offense (passing yards especially) under Les Steckel. Why Steckel was fired after that year made no sense whatsoever to me-- but that may have been the one time Dungy put his foot down in terms of power struggles-- and it made things worse. 2) Unknowns We DON'T know if Smith is good in the booth We DON'T know if Smith was totally to blame for Banks/Julmiste et al not "progressing". The QB coach is just ONE variable in that equation that is more heavily weighted on the talent and personality of the QB. We DON'T know that this was done to help CJL put more control on the offense-- specifically-- why would this be wrong anyway? Ultimately, it is CJL who is directing this effort. He is the HEAD coach-- not the defensive coordinator (which he has two of by the way). I would hope people would stop jumping to conclusions about what is going to happen. It's not even June yet -- the kids are out there BUSTING THE COLLECTIVE ASSES in the weight room trying to be the best team they can be. Get behind that effort and quit worrying about how CJL is handling his coaching staff. Otherwise, I see you as a cancer to this team -- someone who wants to micro-manage every GD detail to the point that you actually think you know more than CJL. You don't. Deal with that. Have an opinion-- but remember that your negative quips do nothing to help out our school. Isn't it bad enough that we have 8 skrillion people from other schools talking about how terrible or insignificant USF is already? Christ-- has some pride, maybe a little faith, and do your part-- be there for this team. That is not too much to ask. If you said some of the things you are saying directly to the coaches, they would kick you off the fan base or make you run the stadium stairs until you got your role back in focus. And before some whiney ***** complains that I'm telling them they have every right to expect this or to be able to say that, reread this post and understand that as a fan, you too have a job. Good fans don't abandon the team -- ever.

My take: Let me put this as simply as possible. In terms of my support for the Bulls-- barring a complete personal financial collapse -- I will be buying/donating/attending and supporting the Bulls until the day I die as much as I can. I don't mind someone being upset about certain aspects of the program-- that is their right as free citizens of this country. This is just how I roll -- I support the Bulls regardless of the situation. If we never win another football game the rest of my life-- I will still be there with my support. In that regard-- how I feel about the hire or other situations is not relevant when weighed against my long term commitment to USF. It is entirely possible that someone who is not competant at being a QB coach can be a freaking mastermind as an OC. Until given the chance to show what he can do, I'll give Smith and Leavitt the benefit of the doubt and refrain from publicly decreeing this as a horrible manuever. I'll admit that success at this time is predicted to be a longshot and that was not solely based on who our OC was anyway.

Thanks for the heads up Vicki One other item that makes us a little different than the other Big East folks -- imo -- is that we are in Florida. As a general rule-- the cost of living et al is lower here than in the north east. So we probably get a little better bang for our buck on certain things which may be making the gap look like we are not doing things to the same level. I just watched the 1997 DVD of the first Bulls season recap (finally watched the whole thing Gene) -- it mentions at one point that USF is the 13th largest school in the country. Maybe not the traditional mix of more younger students/full credit hour loads-- but still massive all the same. I wonder where we rank in terms of size these days-- maybe it's even higher.

smazza will be back and if he wants the same seats, he is going to pay the new donor rates which went up significantly This will work out for the Bulls. I don't agree with his cavalier jump from the wagon based on one questionable hire but hell-- it is his money.

thanks Debbie Downer jk

I was thinking of the episode where George tries his best to get fired to take the Mets head scouting job, but ends up getting promoted to his bosses job (who gets the sweet scouting job). Great episode-- wears Babe Ruth's uniform to a meeting and proceeds to get jelly donuts crap all over it, drags the world series trophy around behind his car in the parking lot -- yada yada yada

That's a very generous gift. Great news -- imo

One of my favorite bars while road tripping back in the day was in Chapel Hill, NC-- a bar called "He's Not Here". We did many a horn (a Chi Phi thing-- funnel) at this bar back in the summer of 1986 on our way to Chi Phi Congress. Other favorite bars of mine-- (and jeebus-- I've been to what seems like a million) but not so much "college" bars include: Captain Tony's, Ricks, Dirty Harry's (Key West) Tiki Hut on Isla Morada (best Rum runners) Whiskey Joes (I like peanuts and reggae) Undertow (St. Pete Beach) Green Iguana (Westshore version) Panama Hatties (St. Augie) The Shroom (Melbourne) Elmers Irish Pub/New World Brewery (Ybor) O'Briens, Bilmar Station (Carrolwood) Payton's (Phoenix) Whisky Park (south tampa version) Newk's and countless others I forgot to mention or that no longer exist As for USF Bars: Kasey's Kove had it's moments. So did little dumps like The Grog, Time Tunnel, Rickeys, CCs (and all it's varieties), Montanas, Brass Mug, Baba Louies, DNA, Dooleys, Greenary, Patricks, The Zoo, The Hub, and a bunch of other places I have been over the years. It's hard to name one as "the best" but what is certain-- there are a lot less of them these days thanks to Ybor and Channelside. Even the good bars down in South Tampa-- the ones that made that area fun to be in are disappearing-- bars like The Chatterbox (rip), Macs, and now Red Dog are losing out to developers. Will the Tiny Tap survive? Who knows. Some people find dive bars to be disgusting-- I think they are unique and have character. If you are unable to stomach dirty tap lines-- well-- drink out of a bottle like the rest of the babies do. (pre-emptive "you're a drunk" to smazza)

Do you recall how much the total payout is to FAMU?

shoot-- I thought you were saying they had announced all the starting times for the games.

can't leave out the Big Stein.

The original point is that if we want to make some improvements to the USF baseball facilities-- George seems like a good guy to get involved.

I think we have gotten our moneys worth out of what we've put into that current facility. Nothing since 1982 (beyond new lighting)--- NOTHING? wow

I read this elsewhere. Now I know GS was a Green Jacket guy etc-- but has he ever gotten this generous with the Bulls (prolly for Basketball).

To hear some people talk, you would think our baseball team is total garbage -- that's inaccurate imo. Is Eddie getting the job done? I couldn't tell you, honestly. Facilities are important, no doubt. But I think Woolard is working towards that as his current priority. I think I recall some folks complaining about "when is the athletic facility going to be built" and not long after that, we had a nice one. But this stuff takes time and what is clear to me is that some folks forget that UF/FSU/Miami all have deep pockets and more history than we do. They can make things happen much easier than our weaker alumni base and tight budgets. They are ACC and SEC schools who have had years of prime time budgets - so lets not compare our situation with them too closely. We will get there. Sure-- UCF put up a new baseball facility (not sure how good it is but I'll guess it is nice) and they are looking at building an on campus football stadium. But you see-- we are NOT UCF. The way I see it, they chose a baseball stadium and football only facility over a full blown althetic center. They are in definite need of a better football stadium, while we are not at this point. It comes down to choices. We made ours and built something that not only helps ALL sports, but definitely football and status in the Big East. I doubt other members of the Big East or other BCS schools bring up the lousy USF baseball stadium as the first item that needs improvement. They are probably amzaed we are building as quickly as we are imo. I guess I could have just said "Hey, Chill" but felt the need to expand on that thought. I know everyone wants so badly to be the best in every aspect-- and that's great-- but let's be smart about this and stick to the priorities. Woolard has a comprehensive plan which includes specific baseball stadium updates (and others like softball). And it seems VERY aggressive from a financial standpoint-- BIGGER than the Athletic Facility USF had to work hard to get built. As with all things Bulls (not coaching, building)-- patience.

but let's not forget that we have an even longer road ahead of us to be a real player in college football. Yeah-- we might have the talent on the field or some special athletes. And we are improving in many areas all the time. THe problem is that we have so much ground to cover to catch up to what the established guys already have set up. It really comes down to a couple of things imo: 1) National presence-- getting in the Big East was HUGE, despite the bashing it took last season. And for those who make light of the Big East as a BCS member, I have to ask-- what other BCS conference did USF really have any shot of joining? I think we are lucky to be in the BE but it will take several years, if not decades, to gain the type of respect you see afforded to the FSU's, UF's, Miami's of college ball. 2) Money -- our alumni base is tiny and young relatively speaking to the other guys we are trying to emulate. Corporate bucks don't hurt but this one will take years to catch up on. With that type of cash flow, you get the physical plant required to run a top flight organization. We've run on the shoe string budget and stayed tight on our budget as much as possible-- which was probably the smartest thing we've done during the growth process. Fans need to grasp that concept and realize we don't have the resources these other guys have reeadily at their disposal. 3) History -- winning a game at Pitt or any of the other accomplishments most of us can rattle off from memory may be pretty **** great but they pale in comparison to the big guys. It will take dozens of wins against top twenty five teams and final rankings in the top twenty five before we can start to get respected as a program. While it is humorous to certain extent to hear other fans make fun of our team ("who have you beaten?" etc) and ignore the rapid ascension at the same time, it is not exactly that far fetched to say our program is very much wet behind the ears. 4) Improved Opportunists -- there are so many more avenues that USF can expand upon that will push this program even faster (marketing, media relations, fan relations, corporate partnering, etc). I think we do what we can with the limited resources-- see number 2 for the main limiting factor here. It's a viscious cycle -- takes money/resources to make money. Perhaps we've maxed out in some areas but others we have let slide where the bang for the buck was justified. 5) Tampa Area support - This is a big football town with plenty of support available beyond what the Bucs can cover. WE aren't the NFL, but we are football and (despite last year) competitive/fun to watch as well. We need to get the community excited about our program. With any luck, the Big East teams will generate some good interest. Fan friendly approaches -- parking, tail gating, concessions, seating, getting the word out -- the game day experience -- could use some improvement. For the die hards--- you know and agree to a certain extent when it comes to these factors. But being realistic about the expectations of where the program is heading and how fast USF Athletics are getting us there takes plenty of patience and one other item -- knowing the concept of diminishing returns. IMO, the closer we get to the top of the mountain, the effort has to double to move half as far as the last move. OK-- off the soap box-- slam away.

I am surprised to hear you want to stop this open conversation about a potential transfer to USF. Losing out to Tennessee (or UF/FSU) in a recruiting battle gets treated like some sort of disrespect by the recruit here-- and that seems more than a little weak on our part. It's a tough decision figuring out where you will go to school. Sure-- it would have been a great opportunity for him at USF from the get go-- and he did give us a good look-- but we would be pretty silly to believe playing in front 100K fans versus 25-30-35K is even a close call for some people. These kids take a shot at the established big time and get treated like they screwed USF out of something-- I don't get that line of thinking (and to be fair-- this isn't just directed at Mr. Mazza). But of all people I would think this topic would be of interest to you Steve-- not something to simply "let it go". And calling your girlfriend a "ho" makes you sound like a thug

I've heard the UM tickets are $49 face value.

The article was someones opinion so I don't have a problem with that. This part was a little odd though: Students come out when our teams win. If we could win consistently, they would always beout there. Getting 6-8K or so students at a football game is pretty **** good considering the makeup of our "student" population imo. The opinion that our QBs were horrible in the Spring game fails to recognize the effort of the defense and other factors like the way we ran a draft of players, instead of team #1 vs #2 which is typically used by other schools. PS-- for the Knight fan who found the Corral record not all that great-- take into account how very young that team was. They weren't expected to do that well at all - so that could be a good sign for next year.

A true freshman coming in and almost unseating a veteran player of Lefors ability is not some sort of fluke folks. He is a very good player who is deserving of this type of ranking for one simple reason: the experts feel he will have a great year in that offense and with the supporting cast. The Heisman isn't about who is going to be the best pro football player. It FOCUSES on who is the best college player in terms of impact to his teams success and overall performance. Guys like Charlie Ward, Gino Torreta, Jason White, etc -- they all led their teams to great success but didn't play or show anything in the pros that was outstanding. Andre will have to have an amazing season (as will the Bulls) to even get any attention at all. He will have a good shot in the pros regardless just a talent alone. But winning the popularity contest that the Heisman has become is an extreme longshot.

Nice pickup - she will be a USF superstar imo

They will name one soon enough imo. If they turned around and made Franks the OC right away, the sneaky plan I referred to (installing the modified offense in the Spring during closed to media practices) would seem a little obvious. Plus-- the Hobbie's body is not even cold yet. Dimel might happen though too-- I won't discount that possibility or even someone else entirely.