Greg Auman

just to be fair here, they haven't averaged 17,000. saint louis averaged 17,000 in home attendance in 97-98 - think their attendance was sixth-best in the country that year. but last year, they averaged 8,030, and two years ago, it was 8,918. not to scoff at 8,000 fans, which would be a remarkable turnaround for USF. they're just not getting 17,000 there anymore.

i think one reason woolard was well-suited for the USF job is that the tampa market -- from the Bulls' perspective, at least -- is actually a lot like the st. louis market. both have one major college in a metro area, competing with pro franchises in the NFL, NHL and MLB. one thing woolard mentioned when we did our Q&A was that his marketing goal is to get USF in the same breath as the pro teams here, so just as folks in st louis would say "Cardinals, Rams, Blues and Billikens." one thing woolard mentioned about kosha (it's co-SHAY) is how much energy he has. he'll start july 18, same day as the big east preseason football meetings in rhode island. greg

for what it's worth, my 2-year-old now loves Chocolate Lucky Charms (it was a sample at Publix; he gets caught up in identifying the marshmallows). and my wife, sadly, is from the Goodbar camp, a rift we're still working to overcome. and i was completely objective until woolard answered, and only then did i reveal any hidden Krackel allegiance. greg

ok. "other" is leading the voting. if we're going to have a respectable cereal poll, i'm with velcro: get Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the ballot. I'm channelling my inner 8-year-old here, but how can Grape-Nuts make the ballot? It's gravel!

I think the root of Leavittation's unhappiness is that he's secretly a "Hershey's Special Dark" fan and knows that his favorite rarely makes anyone's top three. Don't mess with crisped rice, people! greg

sorry, sheriff. didn't mean to leave you out. best way to answer your question is that my newspaper's policy has the home team's beat writer write the game story when two teams we cover play each other, and since the usf-uf games are in gainesville, that means the gator writer would write the game stories on those. probably not the answer you were looking for. greg

hey all. good thoughts here, both liking and disliking the Q&A. our "kicking back" interviews are usually pretty laidback, so sorry if you're not used to reading them and expected some Mike Wallace interrogation. as far as future football scheduling, hey, i'd like to get answers on that too, but Woolard has a personal policy of not commenting on any scheduling negotiations or potential opponents. he just doesn't do it, as a rule. it's not that i hadn't thought of the question, i just knew there wouldn't be an answer. and he's not going to shed any light yet on which stadium gets built first -- nothing beyond the Sun Dome renovations will happen for the upcoming school year, and they're still in the feasability studies for the other facilities. in general, he's pretty fair to all media outlets in that if he's going to break news about USF, he'll do it in a press release that everybody gets. and the upper deck will be open for the FAMU game. i might do a note to update the ticket sales this week. a Q&A like this has to try to reach all readers, not just the elite-level Bulls fans who read this board. i'd like to have more insider information that you guys would appreciate, but most of my readers just want to get to know a public person on a more personal level. doug's a guy who's full of good stories, so i could do a few of these each year and never run out of stuff. could do one on his basketball playing days -- he went up against doug collins in high school, and his college basketball coach also coached walt frazier just two years before he worked with doug. his son chris is director of championships for conference usa - another basketball player turned athletic administrator, a lot like his dad. tons of little nuggets like this. fun stuff. if anybody who missed the chat wants to talk with me, again, e-mail me at aumanac1@aol.com, or call my cell anytime at 813-310-2690. i'll drop in on the chatroom if you want to chat there. i like talking with you guys -- any opinion about USF athletics, however angry with me you might be, is going to give me a different perspective on how I can cover the Bulls. greg

good questions! and maybe i can do another one on november 9, just as basketball gets going. i've got to save some of these questions for the chat though. i'm certainly with you guys in wanting a more thorough and reliable USF page on the sptimes.com site, but a lot of that is out of my hands. we should have everything I write about USF on that page, and i'll continue to ask our online folks to try to address that as best as they can. the best way you can make a difference with our USF coverage is by sending an e-mail to sptsnews@sptimes.com any time you have a thought or suggestion -- good or bad -- about our coverage. i look forward to chatting on thursday -- take it easy on me, ok? greg

hey. just starting to plan coverage for the fall. obviously there are a lot more big, compelling games on the schedule this season compared to last. i feel a lot more familiar about things at USF after a year on the beat, and i'm excited about a lot of stories that could come together this fall. greg

ChiTown: What newspaper is that clip from? lmk and thanks greg

USF will have 11 scholarship players for 05-06, with Aris Williams sitting out and one scholarship still unused. seniors: Holmes, Jones juniors: Prekevicius, Mattis, Sills, Richardson, Buckley sophomores: Dennis freshmen: Howard, Cann, Markusovic

hey. mccullum really didn't explain why aris is transferring. said homer drew didn't have a single bad thing to say about him, said drew called him the most athletic player on the team. said williams is a better player than stores, so aside from losing frontcourt depth for this coming season, it's an upgrade for that scholarship. i'm trying to get in touch with aris this afternoon to find out more about why he's transferring. on stores, mccullum said it's too early to know anything on his future and whether usf is a part of it. i get the sense that with the new priorities toward continuing eligibility -- the importance of a good APR and the threat of scholarship loss with a bad APR -- they want to be all the more careful about bringing in kids they feel confident can do well academically at usf. that said, mccullum said he's very confident that the other six members of the class (seven, with aris) will have no problems academically. greg

hey. USF should have a release out soon, but the Bulls have added a 6-foot-9 transfer from Valparaiso, a forward named Aris Williams. Will have three years of eligibility after sitting out the 2005-06 season. At same time, McCullum said today that Brandon Stores, the power forward from Cincinnati, would not be academically eligible to join USF for the upcoming season. could maybe bring him next year. greg

He was fourth on the team with 11 catches for 153 yards and one touchdown.

Veit's title is "associate AD for marketing and business development." He and Jim Louk have both had marketing as part of their jobs, but now USF will have someone working exclusively on marketing. Marketing is still a big part of Veit's job, especially with football and other big sports, and Louk will handle ticket sales and radio contracts, as well as continuing as the radio voice for many Bulls broadcasts.

no, thanks to you guys for the tip! talked to her yesterday, seems like a good get for coach lessinger. falin (pronounced fallon, like jimmy) said she chose USF in november but hasn't officially signed, will soon. her first priority is definitely volleyball -- she'll be a right-side hitter, she said. if she can fit it in her schedule after volleyball season, she'll join the basketball team as a walk-on. i don't believe jose had a walk-on on the team this year, so it just adds to depth at shooting guard. greg

Stores was only at IMG for about a month. That's why he's not listed as being from there. He only played one season at Cincy's Christian Center Academy and one season at George Junior Republic in Pa. greg

TSA just called me back, and they had forgotten to include recruits and other extras in the total, so it's actually a crowd of 4,241 now ... greg

hey. mea culpa here. i checked with Tampa Sports Authority today to get an actual attendance for Saturday's spring game at RayJay -- the real number of tickets taken at the game -- and it's actually higher than the 3,800 announced as the attendance. that makes it more than double last year's actual attendance. again, it really didn't look like that when we tried to get a feel for the crowd from the press box, but guy i talked to said there was a steady crawl of people coming in well after kickoff. anyway, i'll have something on this in wednesday's weekly notes, but wanted to post something here since the attendance or perceived lackthereof has been a big topic of debate since saturday. greg

hey. on the crowd thing, it wasn't just a guess. we floated a crowd estimate around the press box at end of the first quarter -- plenty of time for late arrivals -- and there were others that ballparked it at closer to 1,000. any newspaper account will call it "an announced 3800." i'll check into getting an exact number that came through the turnstiles, and i'll get that number in the paper this week, whether it's higher or lower than the 1500. it wasn't a bad crowd at all, really, but i really don't think it was 3800 fans either. greg

hey. good question on the road basketball games. it's likely something that won't be decided until next winter. being in the big east is certainly more compelling than traveling for road games in Conference USA. that said, we really don't travel much at all with UF or FSU basketball, except the occasional trip to durham or lexington, so it's been a college-wide decision for the Times more than it's been a usf decision. an improvement in attendance would help make a case for traveling with the team. and even if i don't go, we'll make every effort to have a stringer cover road games specifically from a USF perspective, so it's not just wire copy. that's probably not the answer you wanted, i understand. any time you as fans have a suggestion for a change in our coverage -- more, less, anything -- it always helps to e-mail the sports department so they get a sense of how readers feel. and if there's a good story i'm overlooking, by all means send me an e-mail and i'll look into it myself. greg aumanac1@aol.com

hey. i'm working on getting the Bulls page on our site improved. i'm glad you guys track down the links even though they're not posted to our Bulls page. all I can tell you is things will get better in that department, and thanks for the kind words. and i honestly can't think of a single instance where I've gotten anything -- a story, better access -- because of the Times' partnership with USF. it really doesn't affect me one way or the other. enjoy the game tonight. greg

USF gave out a bulletin with its rank among Big East schools in various academic categories. The bulletin cites a 2004 article which uses enrollment from fall of 2002. I'm sure they have more recent numbers, but probably can't get the same numbers from all the Big East schools, so they're using this. Here's where USF ranks: Date Founded (newest) Total Research (02-03): fourth highest, $197,884 5-Year Growth in Research (99-03): third-highest Federal Research Expenditures: third-highest 5-Year Growth for Fed. Research: third Endowment (thousands): ninth, $248,656 Faculty Awards: sixth (nine) Enrollment: first (38,854) Grad. Student Enrollment: 12th (22 percent) thought there was some interesting information here. i'll see if i can get the entire bulletin posted online. greg

hey all. thought i'd chime in, as this is a fun thread to speculate on. i should have an updated depth chart from USF in saturday or sunday's paper. the one bulldoug posted is a good first draft, and you guys have already added some good thoughts. here's what i can update just from what i've seen this spring: DT/DE: Lots of ends are getting looks inside, like Tim Jones. At DT, Ramon McCullough isn't in the top four right now. There are four sophomores in the mix -- Cray, Thomas, Clebert and George -- and Leavitt has tried freshman Josh Julmiste in there as well and spoken highly of him. LB: This is tough because Davis is suspended and Moffitt (ankle) and St. Louis (shoulder surgery) are injured. That said, Moffitt got rave reviews as an option in the middle, and they've given Josh Balloon a look there too. WR: As was posted, Bain's gone, as is Rod Joyner. So start with the five returning scholarship receivers -- Peyton, Chambers, Green, Marcus Edwards, Lipp -- and then Darren Haliburton has had a good spring as well. at RB, it's Hall, then Ricky Ponton. at FB, Craig Lloyd's gone too. QB hasn't been as closely contested because Denson has been out with an ankle injury since the second scrimmage. Leavitt said he expects him to be able to play Saturday. Julmiste looked sharp in goal-line drills Tuesday -- threw a nice pair of fades to Peyton for touchdowns. good question, too, on why ean randolph can't play this fall. initially, i figured he could since webber is just an NAIA school. but any transfer from a four-year school to a D-I school mandates a year off before eligibility. leavitt said randolph definitely has earned a spot on the team. tomorrow's times will have two USF features, plus the weekly notebook. didn't mean to have them all run at once, but that's just the way it worked out. greg auman

hey folks. just fyi, i talked with leavitt today and he said any talk of Carlton Hill changing positions is very inaccurate. he said Hill will be a quarterback this fall and won't be changing positions, whether he's competing for the starting position or not. greg