Drewski

Even though I graduate with my masters this semester, I will still make it a point to go back and enjoy that building. It is absolutely impressive!

Definitely agree about the library, however I think the new future honors college will be the the signature building on campus. I think I read that somewhere. Can't wait for those renderings to come out. About Cooper...Not another dollar needs to be sunk into that pile unless it's to tear it down. I really don't see how it can be renovated at all. What kills me the most about cooper is that this building houses tons of classes for incoming freshmen students. I remember thinking on my first day of classes back in '02, "This is college?" Not a great way to boost morale for so many eager, excited, incoming college students. I guess you can be cute, and think of it as a rite of passage for all bulls, but it's still kind of sad when your high school was ten times nicer than the [glow=yellow,2,300]new building[/glow] you'll be spending most of your time in as a freshmen. I think I found a flaw in your argument. Cooper Hall has to be more than 40 years old... not a "new" building by any means. Moreover, USF only has about 5,000 freshmen each year... and accepts far more transfers from other schools who don't have to take Freshman English or other "Gordon Rule" courses. Is the building terrible? Yup. It just doesn't have quite impact you might think. I didn't mean new as though it was built yesterday...I meant it more as it being a new environment for new students. When you're a new student, everything is new to you. Sorry for not being clear when I typed it initially. I agree with everything else you said, in the grand scheme of things it is a very minor factor in actual impact of a person's collegiate experience. I wasn't trying to provide a sound rock solid argument...it was more of a rant based on a combination of my own personal experience when I came to campus, and also continuing with looking at my brother's new schedule straight out of freshmen orientation two days ago where 3 out of his 5 classes next semester will be in Cooper. >

Hey Bullwark, if you don't mind I'm going to respond to a post you made in the library thread, mainly because my response veered off into talking about Cooper... Definitely agree about the library, however I think the new future honors college will be the the signature building on campus. I think I read that somewhere. Can't wait for those renderings to come out. About Cooper...Not another dollar needs to be sunk into that pile unless it's to tear it down. I really don't see how it can be renovated at all. What kills me the most about cooper is that this building houses tons of classes for incoming freshmen students. I remember thinking on my first day of classes back in '02, "This is college?" Not a great way to boost morale for so many eager, excited, incoming college students. I guess you can be cute, and think of it as a rite of passage for all bulls, but it's still kind of sad when your high school was ten times nicer than the new building you'll be spending most of your time in as a freshmen.

I also kinda like the business building because of the uniqueness...however the blonde brick is what kills it for me. The new addition is top notch though!

Thanks for the reply Jim, your points are well taken. I still disagree a little bit however. I realize that it is not all one site. I think I even narrowed my criticism down to the home page in my original post. Regardless, my argument stems from my opinion that it is more important for USF to put an effort into a nice home page than it is for any of the schools that you listed because all of these schools, as well as the remaining 54 AAU schools not listed, have established reputations. Chances are, checking out the home page for the AAU schools won't be the first impression people get because they've heard of these schools in one way or another. It's a lot different for us, which makes our home page that much more of a proactive marketing tool. Just to branch off into the info that you provided about the different departments being responsible for their own pages, I understand when it comes to branching out into the different colleges, but I still feel that there should be some consistency up to a certain extent. For example, in the top row of links on the home page (see attached picture below), the first link "Prospective Students" takes you to a new page that has the same general theme as the homepage which is good. The second link starting with "Our Students" and beyond takes you to a completely different looking page which are remnants of the old home page theme. This is what I mean when I said inconsistent. Even if people don't have a problem with how it looks, it makes the user have a harder time with information gathering since there is no apparent pattern to how things are organized. Another example of a piece of the site that seems like it is just left for dead, is the "online photo tour". See link.. http://usfweb2.usf.edu/tourusf/index.html For a site that was re-done not too long ago, I feel we could have done a little better.

So we all know that we don’t have the best reputation when it comes to aesthetically pleasing things at USF. Although there have been a lot of pleasant changes, and plans for the future (i.e. new Marshall Center, Research Park, new Athletic Complex, new Athletic logos etc. ) I’m curious to know what everybody’s biggest pet peeve is in hopes of creating more discussion and possibly acting on such concerns. For example, my biggest pet peeve is the USF homepage. I know I’ve already made posts about my displeasure, but it continues to irk me more and more every day I look at the thing. It’s amateurish, inconsistent, and if I were a prospective student or someone trying to find out more about the university, by looking at the web site I would not come to the conclusion that this University has grand aspirations to become a premiere research institution. We even have links from the main page that take us to other pages that look nicer than our home page. An example is below. Although not perfect, it still has a nice sweeping picture and simple elegance. http://www.acad.usf.edu/ Other notable mentions for me: Cooper Hall USF TV Commercials

Thanks!

Is this confirmed that it will be a night game? or is it speculation. This info is critical in my decision as to how many nights to book the hotel for.....

UMMMM... that's exactly why it would improve your degree because increasing the popularity of the school also attracts higher talented individuals which gets recognized heavily in academic rankings. Higher talented students go on to be more successful in the workforce which in turn increases alumni donations. It has more of an impact than just athletics. It just kills me that some people still don't get it. I use the same example over and over....if you root for a professional sports team, it's a little different because even though you may live in tampa, you can never really say you are a buccaneer....but when you go to a university like USF, you are a BULL. And yes, that does mean in every facet. But that's just me, what do I know..

Well, unfortunately not everyone has the benefit of knowing her or her intentions, so the only thing we have to go by is how the article read as she wrote it. By the reaction on this board, and also in the comments on the Oracle, we weren't off base at all.

This is completely disrespectful to the pride that each one of us has for our University. Personally, this infuriates me. She certainly has the right to say and feel whatever she wants, but we also have the right to counter it. Don't just let her be, let her know how you feel. I love that Tom is actually brave enough to take charge of this....although this chick probably thinks she's right and she's putting him out there in a bad light, I have a feeling a majority of the student body is just as disgusted with her.

If it’s a perception problem, it’s because we have not built the needed awareness yet that changes people’s minds as to who we are. Just because the awareness is not there, doesn’t mean we are indeed a second rate school. That line of thinking is what will kill us in the future. Afraid to admit it? What are we afraid to admit? That we are building something special here? The growth of this school has been exponential. Looking back, it even seems like it’s not the same school I entered into four years ago. With the advances in research, campus infrastructure, athletics, and even the logo changes you can tell that this university means serious business in becoming one of the better ones. If anything I’ll admit that we’re turning heads in more ways than one. I also don’t feel the need to write two page papers defending why I chose to come to USF, I’d rather go up against candidates from those schools for jobs and win out, which I’ve done on more than one occasion. I’ve never regretted where I went to school and I feel even more proud to be a contributing member in establishing the history of our school rather than chasing it at another one. And if you scroll up, they’re not defending why they chose USF to people that attend other schools, but rather to inform our own students who happen to have this flawed thinking.

WOW....that's really bad. I love how they say, "some in the media".......yeah, including themselves.

I agree with this one hundred percent...That's why I'm not so sure a playoff would work the way they're proposing it. The BCS system is flawed, we all know that, but it may actually be the lesser of all of the evils.

C'mon guys, I have a feeling that if we were in that same situation, we'd be singing the same tune. In fact, we may very well be in that situation in the near future, as people tend to discount the BE for their own reasons. I'd rather the system be fixed now, rather than when we're possibly the ones getting screwed. And I'm not saying that I think UF is getting screwed or deserves to play for the NC, but there has been instances with other teams in the past where what you do on the field is not enough any more. i.e. the 13-0 Auburn.

I agree, can someone please clarify this? Is this really a possibility?

You can't really compare us to traditional universities where that is the case. We are in a period of rapid growth on all of our campuses, whereas other schools are more established. So until we are satisfied with the student population, there will be more of a need to expand facilities, etc.

Rome is nothing more than an entertainer....It kills me when I hear people quote what he says as if it has any sort of weight. I'm not implying that anybody posting above has done that....just speaking generally.

I know I will start by writing how I feel and sending it to the contact information that was posted above. If anybody else knows of a better and more effective way, please post it.

This commercial is still not up to par in my mind. Even if it is a large cost to bring in a professional crew to do it right, the dividends that we will realize as a result of changing the perception of our school will more than make up for the costs. To be quite honest, I didn't realize the true value that USF has to offer until I went there and graduated. I had the opportunity in Tampa to work for a well known company throughout college while maintaining and high GPA. When it came time to interview for a real job, I beat out candidates from much more prestigious schools because of my grades and applicable experience. This is an extreme competitive advantage that we have at USF compared to other college towns that can’t always offer such job opportunities and that message is not relayed to future candidates who might consider attending USF. Don’t ever underestimate the power of aesthetics. That’s also why a lot of people care about changing our uniforms, because it changes how people view us, as silly and trivial as it sounds. Simple things like a classy looking website, or a well thought out commercial go a long way in establishing credibility. And only then, will we truly turn into the University that we know we are.

I don't even think that the content is the problem. I agree we have invested a lot in research, but the commercials themselves lack quality production. They look like some free high school project. It's exciting that we're growing and the quality of USF is rising at a high rate, but its constantly discouraging that we drop the ball on so many little things that are necessary to attract the top quality students that we aim for, like a commercial that is shown during athletic events on national TV. For another example...see our usf.edu homepage. For a site that was recently re-done...it's been done wrong.

I can...I'm officially done with the Bull Ring. It was cool that there were so many USF people there, but that place drops the ball everytime. They're under new management now, and the first thing they do is drop the specials they used to have for USF games. . . . I truthfully don't see that place lasting unless they get their act together; and believe me, I'd love nothing more than to have a USF place like that succeed.

Did he mean ever? or just this year? If it's the latter, I don't necessarily disagree.

I was thinking the same thing...however, there will be a Chili's in it plus other attractions. So there will be excuses for alumni to come back and enjoy it when they're in the area.

http://www.usforacle.com/media/storage/paper880/news/2006/11/08/News/New-Marshall.Center.Drawings.Unveiled-2446790.shtml?norewrite200611081140&sourcedomain=www.usforacle.com I know that this doesn't directly have an impact on USF football, but indirectly it shows the growth and progression of our school which could help with recruits in the long run. I was wondering what everyone things about the new plans? I for one am really excited about where we are going as a University, Go bulls!