VickiM

Wow, thank you for the kind words. Its been an honor and a privilege to get to know so many members of this board, and I look forward to cheering with you at Bulls games. Thanks again. Much respect to you all. Regards, Vicki

Audio is available on Press Pass at GoUSFBulls.com. 20-14 now USF

The service is Thursday, January 25, at 4:00 p.m. in the USF Corral. Anyone joining us for the service should use Entry 1. Thanks, Vicki

Limited tickets to the Kick-off Luncheon, featuring Archie Manning, available. Please email me TODAY, this morning if possible, if interested. vmitchel@admin.usf.edu Vicki

Luncheon: Tickets will be limited, and I won't know until Monday whether or not we will have any available. If you're interested, please email me at vmitchel@admin.usf.edu. Spirit Tent: We'll have a tent at the stadium, in the same area as the staging for the pep rally. It will have cofee and hot chocolate and cash bars, and you can pick up poms and beads and tattoos, and other spirit items. The Sun Dolls will be there helping with tattoos, and Rocky, and others. It's intended just to give Bulls fans a place to gather and get ready for the game, not as a full tailgate. Tailgating/Parking: We're still trying to get confirmation on tailgating and parking policies (whether UAB's will apply). Stay tuned. Vicki

Due to circumstances beyond our control and involving Bowl logo approval, we had to change the souvenir from backpack to a commemorative football. People who purchased them should have received an email notifying them of the change and offering to refund the purchase or reduce the order (where multiples were bought). Those we don't have an email address for will receive a phone call next week. The commemorative footballs can still be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls. Vicki

Qban, I'll be able to let you know more tomorrow. As far as the tent is concerned, we'll have as large a tent as we can right near where the pep rally is taking place. It would be a great place for Bulls fans to gather, particularly during the pep rally. Will let you know what we'll have there after it's confirmed sometime tomorrow. You're correct that the pre-game tailgate is at the team hotel. I'll also try to find out about your parking/tailgating questions.

The Kick-Off Luncheon (Sheraton, $50) was originally in our air charter package, but we had to pull it because there were only going to be 50 seats available beyond our players and official party.  They've now notified us that they have some additional tickets, and we're trying to work the numbers.  I'll let you know what we finally work out, Lake.  The number will be limited. The rest of the schedule: Friday night: Five Points Reception:  The Alumni Association is working on a fan reception similar to what we did last year in Charlotte.  It will at least be a gathering place for Bulls fans, and a place to get started.  They'll let us know more soon as plans become finalized. Bull Bash ($100, B&A Warehouse):  Huge buffet & open bar from 7 til midnight; live band.  Limited tickets left. Saturday: Brunch ($50, $15, free 3-0, Sheraton Ballroom):  Pre-game brunch from 9-10:30 USF will also have an 80x100 tent at the Stadium Saturday morning, and will let you know soon what will happen there.  There won't be a cost. More details soon, but hope that helps. Vicki

Before all those panties get too tightly wadded . . . USF will have a presence in Five Points Friday night (in addition to the party with buffet, full bar and live band), and a pre-game presence at the stadium, in addition to the pre-game brunch at the hotel. Just stay tuned, and you'll have details soon, k?

We are contractually bound to the Sheraton for the tailgate, but we will also have a large USF tent at the Stadium. We expect to begin moving people to the stadium at 10-10:30 so they can enjoy the pep rally as well if they'd like. More details as they are finalized.

Also, we don't have any hotel rooms left.

The sales staff will keep a waiting list . . . in fact we were able to take care of about 4 additional people from that list yesterday because of cancellations. Most, however, are not comfortable waiting and proceed to make other travel plans. I encourage anyone who is still interested in the charter to call 1-800-GoBulls and ask to be put on the waiting list. At this point, I'm afraid it is highly unlikely that we'd be able to get another plane. Even if we could, it would require those 170ish fans to put money on the table immediatly and in non-refundable fashion before we could risk the $70K it would take to secure a plane. Are you looking for air travel, AB?

No more planes available at the price we have or lower; possibly could get one, but it would take about 170 people willing to pay $400 - $500 a seat to schedule it. v

The team and official traveling party, and about 200 boosters will all be at the Sheraton. Those flying on both of the charters will be at the Sheraton, and about 50-60 land package purchasers. At that point, we booked rooms at the Doubletree and continued selling the land package, the Bus package, and SBC. We have about 85 rooms at the Doubletree. Jim, I'm willing to deal for that Sheraton room. ;-) vicki

ALau, Haven's arrival was unexpectedly early, so Eric definitely had to make a quick exit. If you need something, email Amabel, Anwar or me and we'll be happy to help. vicki

Eric and Liisa Soncrant's baby girl, Haven Soncrant, was born this morning at 11:09 a.m. Eric says all are well, and I'm sure he'll share some pictures with us as soon as he, um, recovers. Congratulations to the Soncrant family! Vicki

All of our rooms at the Sheraton were booked through travel packages. We actually had to move about 85 rooms to the Doubletree, which we think people will like because of the Five Points location . . . and because there will be about 150 Bulls fans there! v

the tickets being donated by alumnni and friends will increase the 500 number and free tickets will be given out as long as they last. In the event a student gets to the Dome after the 500+ are gone and purchases a ticket, we'll refund their money--in the order received--as additional donated tickets come in.

Folks, the Alumni Association is working on putting together something Friday night at a Five Points establishment, similar to what we did in Charlotte last year . . . a gathering spot for Bulls fans to kick off the weekend. Stay tuned for more details.

Jebbull, have you received a callback yet? If not, email me at vmitchel@admin.usf.edu

The bus trip will leave early Friday morning in order to arrive in B'ham as close to 5-6 p.m. as possible. Your Sheraton room should be cancellable. The Doubletree is only 2 blocks away from the 5 points area, so there will be plenty to do within walking distance for those who don't attend the party.

Prices are posted here:  http://admin.xosn.com//pdf3/54084.pdf

First charter will leave Friday morning, probably 9 or 10ish and return immediately after the football game on Saturday. Second charter, which we're in the process of confirming, will leave around 1-2 p.m. on Friday and leave B'ham around 10-11 Saturday night. For the people on that charter, we'll bus them to Five Points after the game where you can have dinner and party for a while, then we'll get you to the airport and back in Tampa an hour later. Seats are $365 each.

Actually, we've been asked the same question several times, since many schools do limit the number of tickets you can purchase. You can purchase as many tickets as you like, but for groups of 20 or more you'll need to call 1-800-GOBulls. Otherwise, you'll be able to purchase them online. Vicki

No fighting here, just attempting to provide some clarification about the technical aspects of fund raising.  I didn't mean to imply that anyone was "satisfied."  No one should ever be satisfied, by the way; when you're satisfied, you quit, and none of us ever want to do that.  We have a great university here, with an incredible track record for its youth, unbelievable opportunity in front of us, and there is no ceiling to what we can accomplish.  It's really encouraging that you and others are so interested in the subject, because in large part, USF will go where you--as an alumni and donor body--take it over your lifetimes.  Some quick points, offered in a friendly spirit: President Genshaft and her academic and administrative team have established a longer term vision for USF to be among the Top 50 public research universities according to criteria first published by former UF President John Lombardi (the "Lombardi Measures").  USF is already there in some measures; in others we have a ways to go. Two of those areas where we are further behind are endowment and annual giving.  Those measures have a great deal to do with your longevity as an institution and will take more time to catch up.  It's not realistic to believe that our endowment will double in a couple of years, or annual giving will quadruple overnight. What IS realistic is to set annual goals that drive you aggressively in that direction.  I would suggest that going from $41 million in 2002 to nearly $70 million in 2006 is positive progress.  The endowment number before our first campaign was something in the neighborhood of $10-15 million. The endowment number, by the way, is cumulative, not annual.  We've built it here at USF for 50 years, where as some of our peer institutions have built it over hundreds of years.  The endowment number also has a great deal to do with investment performance and will fluctuate with the market.  In that area, by the way the USF Foundation has out-performed all Florida institutions and ranks very well nationally.   The endowment number is also influenced by institutional priorities.  When an institution like ours (in a growth mode with a high need for physical infrastructure and operating dollars) sets fund raising priorities for current spending dollars instead of endowment (where the corpus is invested and the annual income is spent), your endowment numbers are going to grow more slowly.  One of the challenges of administrations in every university is to maintain a balance in fund raising priorities between things that impact the institution now (facilities, operating dollars), and things that grow the institution for the long term (endowment). Our leadership understands that, and it's reflected in their priorities. The $20 million number you reference in annual giving was a one-year anomaly following the end of a $256 million comprehensive fund raising campaign.  The next year it was back up.  That is a trend you will see very often at the end of a multi-year fund raising effort (where bell curves typically apply).  When you end a campaign, most of your gifts have been pledged over 5 years and donors are in a "pay out" period.  It's also a time in which you develop new institutional goals and convert those goals to fund raising strategies that will help actualize them.   The key question to ask yourself is this:  after the planning year, did the institution reach and maintain a new giving plateau?  In this case, the answer is yes.  USF was on a $40 millionish plateau in the last year of the last campaign, then after a planning year, took it to $50M, $60M, and last year just a bit shy of $70M.   You'll see the same thing, by the way, at the end of USF's first capital campaign, where we went from something like $23 million to $11 million, then $30 million the year after that.   You'll also see it in athletics, where we went from about $5.1 million, to $3 million, to $6 million last year.  The $3 million year was the planning year in which we were working on the facilities plan, getting the appropriate approvals, and gearing up for a much larger fund raising effort. Finally, I don't think you meant to say that the Morsani and Patel gifts were "detrimental" (hurtful) to the institution.  If you want to talk more about this, call me sometime and I'll take you to lunch.  I appreciate your interest and ardor for the subject.  It's kind of a favorite of mine as well, as you can probably tell. You can find me at 974-1889. Sorry for the long post and, again, I very much appreciate the level of interest you take in your university. That's a sign of good things to come.  Go BULLS! Vicki