ProudBull

I really don't want to jump into this mess of a thread, but I do want to point out a couple of things. One of the things that made USF unique was that it still served our community. The whole commuter school thing is a result of the Tampa Bay area (large metro area) having a solid university to serve it's citizens that could earn a degree while still working. With the exception of Tallahassee you can't really say that about the other universities in the state. The low undergraduate graduation rates result from those who were working and going to school at the same time. People taking those night classes who are older and not living on campus. None of things in my opinion are bad things. Life happens and they have to stop taking classes for a while or for good. So it really depends how you look at it. From a numbers point of view yet it looks bad, but we were a university that served it's community and to me that was a good thing. USF is definitely making strides to try and shed the commuter school image, but I'm not a fan of how they are going about it. For a research 1 institution better relationships with the area would help boost research (i.e. in the college of education and in the college of health) On somewhat of a side note, USF has grown so fast to be a research 1 that we really don't have the infrastructure of a research 1 university set up yet. There are still policies and faculty that were set/came here when we were a comprehensive university. I came in as doc student with part new faculty educated in research 1 schools and old faculty who are still in comprehensive university mode. It's amazing how different they really are. As for AAU, it's just a good ol' boys club. I think it was SU or someone up north that just decided they didn't want to be part of AAU anymore because they didn't feel it was worth their effort. Yeah it would be kind of cool to be in it, but it shouldn't be what defines us. IMHO if there is anyone that can get us that bid it would be Judy. In terms of conference realignment and the cluster@#$% that it is, which I think is the ultimate point of this thread, I don't think any of this really matters. I think it's about money and tradition. It's asinine to even look at the teams that are in the conferences now. Really the only conference that makes any sense right now is the SEC. You would think university presidents would be able to control themselves and not act like they've never seen money before. I drives me crazy to think that someone like the NCAA should have authority over them. Someone needs to slap them in the face, look them in the eye, and say what the #$%& are you doing? I think USF will be fine. The chances of us getting into the "big five" are slim, so no matter what conference we are in, we at least have chance to get into the play offs. I'm sure Doug and Judy are doing their best. It's not like it's in their best interest to play in a crappy conference. In the end I think USF just needs to worry about what it can control. Go Bulls!

I was under the impression that Skip just wanted him to come in and run a similar defense to what Snyder was running so the kids didn't have to learn a whole new system. Skip is conservative (painfully so), but it's worked for him in the past, so i guess that's why he's sticking to it. I can only hope that both him and Cosh are starting to realize that it's not working. Watching 3rd down is the most frustrating thing in the world. At this point if you chose a play at random you'd have a better chance of stopping them.

I go back and forth on this. It's not like Skip is sitting back in his office counting money and practicing his evil laugh. He wants to win he just isn't doing it. It may only be me, but I think Cosh is the issue. For the record I didn't like Snyder either. With a good DC we win most of those close games and really most of them wouldn't be close. Wally wasn't perfect, but at least we had an idenity, a D that was tough and fast. He certainly did more with less and that's the kind of guy we need. I get it, it's ultimately on Skip, but I can't see Skip being too terribly happy with Cosh right now. Getting rid of Skip right now is not the answer and really he should get at least one more year (and believe me I don't like say that). My guess on why he got the extension was because a: Doug was happy with Skip's improvement in academics (face it, our academics really needed some help) and b: with the crazy budget cuts going on right now Doug might not of had the money later and c: at that point there was still promise--he came in and did well in his first season (same as Leavitt had been doing) and the second season we were sold on the fact that we were "this" close.

Do you have to be a student to join the team? My friend and I are interested, but my friend is an alumi and I will be graduating again in Dec. If nothing else would it be okay to practice with you. BTW the jersey's are GREAT

MADD uses fear tactics to fiat laws on states. MADD is the reason the drinking age is 21. MADD is the reason the margin for DUI went from .15, to .12, to .10, to .08 in every state. MADD is singlehandedly ripping the rights of states to decide their own laws away from them. I agree that fighting drunk driving is a good thing, but MADD uses tactics of federalism and fear to mandate laws to states, blackmailing them into passing absurd laws in order to keep their access to federal highway funding. ummmm. thats kinda true ya'll. However, if ya'll lost a son or daughter to drunk driving.... not saying that they are right in HOW they go about things - but i understand WHY they go about things in this manner. And I don't see that changing any time soon.... Belle your right on the money. MADD has been trying to change us from a reprenstative republic into a dictatorship over many years. They are only recentlyseeing the fruits of that evil labor. For every kid they think they save, they relegate four times that many into perpetual servitude in which redemption is nonexistent. For shame!- Try and lose a relative or loved one to a drunk driver. Grothe was being irresponsible at the time and deserves some sort of punishment. I am sure he made and honest mistake and there is no need to crack down hard on him, but some of you trivialize the situation and MADD or what have you. Its a self-centered attitude and most people act that way until THEY become the statistic. Apparantely SOME of your fan base are as about mature and responsible as your players. Try not to be so self-centered in inconsiderate. There is a reason for law. Some people dont feel the need to get wasted and jump in the car. Those people die all the time due to people that DO get wasted and jump in cars. Is that fair? Thats why there should be laws to protect them. I agree that this shouldn't be trivialized, but don't just say it is some of our fans...there are fans from every school that act this way.

13-0 is definitly possible, but I don't see it happening. We tend to drop stupid games we should win (UConn, I'm still pissed about that) and play one or two great games. So accroding to our routine and with a better team than last year, I'm saying 10-3

What we need to do is establish a run game. Once we do that MB can pass and run all he wants. In other words we need to be able to take the pressure off of him, so he is not the entire offense. We just can't keep running MB like we did last season or he is going to get hurt. My question so far is why are we not using carlton hill as our backup QB? He is listed as a wide reciever, but he has more experience at QB than Gregory.

This is a tricky one just because all the hype that he has gotten. From all the hype you would think he is going to run all over people. Yeah, that would be great, but he is out of shape and hasn't really been in the football world for two years. I hope the hype hasn't gotten to his head. If he gets the starting job this year I will be impressed. That means he busted his ass and that he is committed to the team.