macphisto

Not a as a coach (and I get the joke). I'd love to mend fences and honor him for what he did for us. People romanticize the past, including USF's past. I was at the WVU game in 2007. It was amazing - the best crowd ever at RayJay to this day. National TV. Two ranked teams. A program on the rise in a BCS conference. It felt like only a matter of time after that game. That first lost to Rutgers didn't quite end it all from an optimism standpoint, but the losses piled up and all the joy from rising to #2 was destroyed in just a few weeks. 2008 was a chance for a fresh start and the same disappointment. Finding a way to motivate when the team rose in the rankings and become a target was not there. The preparation for it was not there.

People forget how happy quite a bit of the fanbase was to get rid of Leavitt. 2007 was so exciting and so disappointing. Rutgers, UConn, Cincy, and then getting embarrassed in El Paso. 2008 was more of the same. We started the season ranked. Expectations were high. Ranked #10 and a mediocre Pitt team beats us in our own house. Started 5-0 then 6-1. Ended at 8-5 thanks to a bowl win in St. Pete. By the end of 2009, most were thankful for Leavitt building the program but convinced he could never take the team over the hump. No 10 win seasons. We felt, wrongly, that maybe Holtz could take that talent, keep recruiting, and get over that hump. But it only got worse. Taggart got us ranked once more. Strong had a solid season using Taggart's talent. Now here we are. I always will appreciate how Leavitt built the program from nothing. I will never understand the desire to bring him back. I also would have rather had Taggart if I was bringing back an old coach. But I'm just as happy to get someone who worked closely for YEARS with the guy who knocked Nick Saban off his perch. He wants to be here. We'll see for how long. And one thing I know is he KNOWS football a lot better than I do. I am excited to see what the future holds. I'm happy to remember the past and be thankful, but let's move on.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college-gridiron-365/os-sp-aac-espn-deal-20191213-nouryexgtbfvrdvja37rz3eogy-story.html "These discussions won’t have an impact on the amount of revenue each of the AAC members would receive, according to Aresco. That number was reportedly about $7 million annually per school. “No school will end up getting less money than they were going to get originally,” Aresco said. “That typically won’t happen, it’s just a question of what adjustments you make and if you make financial adjustments, it still doesn’t mean anybody is going to get less.”"

One thing that helps is Kelly is widely respected. I work in sports (college and pro). When he was named as the new AD last year, there was a real buzz and quite a bit of surprise. They weren't surprised that Kelly was hired by someone, but they expected him to go to a much bigger fish in the pond. He has a top shelf reputation and track record. I'm sure Dabo Swinney's respect helped a lot with Jeff Scott's interest. Swinney knows Kelly quite well and was a huge fan of us hiring him. Jeff Scott likely also knew him from his ACC days and felt he was an AD he could trust and work with. A respected AD will go a long way to luring top tier coaches who can lure top tier prospects. That also helps the program grow. His work with the Playoff also helps us in th enext round of P5 TV negotiations if any conferences want to add teams, especially if Coach Scott is successful.

Not really. FSU is a mess and is also a direct competitor to his alma mater, Clemson. I would guess FSU's dominance of the ACC in the 90s and early 00s may color his perspective on the school. He also knows how good Clemson is and likely believes they are not going to decline much over several years, so FSU's climbing over them in the Atlantic division to even get back into the ACC title game is a big challenge - and he'd have to overthrow his own alma mater. I would not be surprised if he does not go back to the ACC unless he gets the job at Clemson, but Dabo Swinney is not going anywhere anytime soon. I could see Swinney possibly going back to his alma mater once Saban retires and that would open the door for Scott to return to his if he's successful. Other programs like Ole Miss, Mizzou, etc all have their own barriers - they're called Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, and Georgia. You can get those schools to the point of being quite good, but even then a SEC title game berth is difficult. USF is a good place that has had some success. It's in a nice metro area that has a lot of football talent around it. The AAC is not too far off the bulk of the ACC - and you could make an argument that it is better than the ACC this year, minus Clemson. And there is the possibility with success that USF gets an invite to a P5 conference. The likely one remains the Big 12 when the next round of TV contracts hits for the big conferences (2024 for the Big 12, so an expansion would likely be announced by 2022 or 2023 to be ready for the next contract). The AAC deal did not include a grant of rights, so schools are able to jump conference. Taking a school like USF to a New Years Six and beating a P5 team there is a better way of drawing the attention of one of the big programs when they have an opening than going to an Ole Miss.

Not all players will consider playing for a team that is not in the running for the Playoff every year. Reality is that right now super elite prospects are not coming to USF. However we can certainly be friendly with Clemson for a time, giving them some access to campus facilities, etc. I doubt it would be direct help or passing recruits along to one another, but I can see both schools doing something like a joint camp in SC and in FL, etc. I doubt it is about direct referrals.

He may want to keep them on, but they need to follow the directives of the new coach. They also likely would need to be on hand for team meetings and the introduction of the new coach.

I can see him haggling over coaching staff budget and facilities. He will want an IPF and maybe more. And he will want to pay his coaches so he can pull in better assistants.

Scott Frost was able to make an arrangement to finish the UCF gig as HC and do USF. It Scott is willing to step away from recruiting and just coach, I think something can be worked out. Same for staff and facilities. USF needs to make a commitment to land a big fish like Scott. Though I'd say we need to bigger buyout as an assurance if we dedicate resources to facility upgrades and coaching staff pay.

I doubt it. It likely is buyout language. USF probably wants a big buyout and Scott's agent will want maximum flexibility. They'll have to find a solution in the middle somewhere. A buyout that's too big would cause some pause in considering him because reality is that the new school will pay that buyout. There may also be issues with how quickly a buyout decreases. They may agree to a big buyout in the first two years, but they will want to have the buyout decrease quickly after that.

He redshirted as well, so if he is a Grad transfer, he'd have two years of eligibility left.

From what I've heard from the Lightning sources that work with USF, Leavitt contacted USF and Kelly told him he'd consider him. However Jeff Scott was always the primary target for Kelly from the chatter I've heard. I doubt Leavitt was ever Kelly's choice and it sounded like he was being included as a courtesy.

Spurrier and Holtz were both successful. Dabo started off with a win against Spurrier and then lost 5 in a row to SC.

One thing to note about Jeff Scott. His first job was as the HC of Blythewood HS in South Carolina when he was 26. It was the inaugural year of the football program there. They won the state championship. He then started coaching in college. So at 26 he led a first time HS football program to a win in the state championship in Class 3A. Blythewood hasn't won a championship since.

I appreciate all that Leavitt did, but c'mon. How many 10 win seasons did he lead the program to? Many don't seem to remember, but many were happy the scandal broke with him because there was a feeling that Leavitt could not get us over the hump. He did great in getting us to be a 8-9 win team, but he showed no ability to get a conference title or a prized big bowl berth. The biggest bowl we got into under him, the team was terribly prepared for. We were humiliated by Oregon despite being a favorite at the sports books. I do think it would be good to restore ties to Leavitt in some way and welcome him back into the program in some way. He deserves to be honored for how he took us from nothing to competing with some big programs. But he is not the answer going forward. If I were going to take a USF retread, I'd take Taggart. He was the first to get us to 10 wins - all with his own recruits. Strong then got to 10 wins the next year with Taggart's guys. Also Mizzou is not as appealing as you think. I have many family members who went there and have been to Columbia many, many times. It's not Tampa and it's a drive to KC and St. Louis. USF is much closer to recruiting hotbeds. Scott was also born in Arcadia and his dad graduated from USF. Being successful at USF is just as good as being successful at Mizzou - and should be easier since we're not in the SEC. There are many things about USF that are more appealing than Mizzou.

Thing is we averaged over 30K a game in 2016. Went over 40K against for a night game against Cincy in 2017. Even last year we went back over 40K for a night game when we were ranked. Attendance is in a solid place to start. Drawing consistent 30K+ crowds is easy when we're decent. That doesn't look impressive in RayJay, but it's far from bad. It's when we go on extended losing streaks that is just plummets below 30K. Win consistently and get ranked and that average can push above 40K - and we'll get more night games because TV will want them.

How did they follow that up in 2017? You want quick excitement? Beat Texas in Game 1 and keep winning. The crowd will start to show. Even if Texas is not all that, a high profile win goes a LONG way.

Winning solves all those problems. There are also some other major plans underway for promotion for Athletics overall. Expect the show for football games to get a major overhaul next year as well as some nice upgrades elsewhere that will impact all of athletics. The extra $5M a year coming from the ESPN deal is going to get spent.

We've heard little about who USF is talking to. Seems Kelly leads a pretty tight ship. I work with people close to USF Athletics via the Lightning and have heard the same. Kelly plays his cards close to his chest. I think we only know about Larry Scott because someone near him reported it and his connection to USF is known (and I would not be surprised if he'd be considered to come on staff by the new HC, depending on the contract with UF). We've only heard Larry Scott thus far has been talked to and I think we all realize they have not just interviewed one person. So who Kelly is talking to, we don't know. The Clemson people are hearing Jeff Scott to USF.

Should be noted that Jeff Scott is widely considered to be one of the best recruiters in the country. He doesn't recruit FL for Clemson, but he likely could adapt and get the right people.

From Clemson boards: "There is a lot of chatter out there about Jeff Scott to USF. The AD there is Michael Kelly, a friend of mine who used to work for the ACC and knows all about the Clemson program and Jeff Scott. I am hearing there is a lot of validity to the rumors but I am still trying to confirm. For what it's worth, this would be a fantastic fit on both sides.If that happens, I can see Tyler Grisham stepping into an increased role until a permanent fit is found."

Mizzou is hiring Eli Drinkwitz from Appy State.

I think this is true. Taggart jumped at the first chance. He knows the pressure of those big programs now. I don't tend to think the FSU issues like all on Taggart. Jimbo Fisher left that well dry and knew it was time to leave Dodge. After several successful seasons, things turned. Taggart was left with a full rebuild - much like he had when he came to USF.

Kelly has always proven himself to be a capable executive. His connections from leading the CFP could pay some huge dividends here. Not necessarily in a name, but I have no doubt that Kelly can talk with coaches and other ADs about potential coaches to keep an eye out for.

Great to win. This helps for morale. Helps the team grow. And will help on the recruiting trail. I don't care what conference you are in, to go from 10 wins to 24 is a feat. You can go back and look at our schedule to see the missed opportunities - opportunities that more practice and play time from this tournament plus a year of growth will help correct. There were six regular season wins we left on the court - and that's part of growing. You learn how to close those games out. I see no reason why this team could not be a 25 win regular season team next year with a similar schedule. Will that get us in the tournament? Depends on who those wins are against.