CitroKnight

From this morning's St Pete Times.  One of USF's 2005 recruiting class, Gene Coleman, pled guilty two years ago in a case involving six felonies. Had South Florida done background checks on its incoming recruiting class, it would have known that junior college linebacker Gene Coleman was charged with six felonies - including two burglaries, two larcenies and dealing in stolen property - after $13,000 in jewelry was stolen from a neighbor's home in June 2003. In August he reached a plea agreement, entering guilty pleas in return for adjudication being withheld, pending successful completion of four years' probation, according to FDLE records. "I knew he hadn't been an angel, but when we talked with his (junior college) coach, he hadn't had any incidents in his two years there," said Bulls coach Jim Leavitt, who was not aware of the details of Coleman's arrests. "There's going to be things people have done in the past. What's more relevant to me is what they do when they're here. We don't want people to ever do anything bad. ... Now six felonies, $13,000, if that had happened two weeks ago, that would be something we'd look into." http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/06/Sports/Background_checks_var.shtml

GarySJ: UConn's Rentschler Field is not a good point of reference. That stadium is built below ground, as many up north are. That has to be significantly more expensive than raising an above ground stadium. A better point of reference is Papa John stadium, which cost $63 million. That $63 million included removal and remediation costs on the site, which was an old railyard, a brand new, two story football facility building, housing weight training, offices, etc., an airconditioned banquet and meeting facility which runs the length of the stadium, tucked under the stands on one side, and 100% chairback seats. If you peel the costs associated with all of that, which we will not be building, $45 million does not seem that unrealistic. The football facility building could easily account for $10 million, and the air conditioned banquet facility must be a fair amount. One thing I can assure you of, this plan is NOT a ploy to seek leverage with the City of Orlando.