Ghostbuster

48 minutes ago, John Lewis said:

I don't see this as going "Too Far" as the thread title asks.

We lost a 2 time All American player, so it should be newsworthy about how he is doing on his new team in year 1.

I look at it as being incredibly tone deaf at best.

"Hey USF fans want to know how the girl who dumped you is doing while you all are still at rock bottom?"

Sure a "follow-up story" technically qualifies as news and sure maybe some USF fans will find it of interest; but if we're being honest and think of this in terms of a venn diagram, the crossover of USF fans put off by this article (rubbing salt in the wound) is going to be far greater than the number of USF fans interested in how Battie is doing.

And if you make the call to still go with the story, it's like I said: tone deaf at best or poking the fanbase at worst.

Another "L" from their sports reporters.  Maybe they need a new coach too.  

Lol... this has gotta be my favorite breaking news: "something may happen by the end of the decade".  Someone deserves a raise for that scoop.

Like it or not, based on how many people attended last year's game the "rivalry interest" is there; so it makes financial sense for both schools to do it and fill up their respective stadiums.

Nothing wrong with giving a shout out to a QB who will likely take the field at some point this year.

I don't think that means he's the QB1...just means the coach is hyping up his players.

As far as how I felt just before each new coach's season began:

Holtz: -1/10, yes negative ranking simply because I hated what we did to Leavitt.  Embarrassed to admit it but I didn't even go to his first few games because I felt it supported the firing.  On paper he was a fine hire though.

Taggart: 7/10. At the time I really liked what I saw in him, even tho track record wasn't long.

Strong: 8/10 when hired, 4/10 as soon as he came out in his introductory conference and said "we need to slow the offense down so the defense can drink Gatorade".  Exposing himself even more, he thought he *fixed* his mistake by saying "oh I mean Powerade not Gatorade".  

Scott: 0/10.  Co-offensive coordinator that didn't call plays, only ever worked at one place and stayed with his old team throughout playoffs instead of focusing on USF.  Kinda expected him to be a loser and he proved it along the way.

Go: Ambivalent / 10.  Last year absolutely destroyed my ability to be hyped for football.  I do think Coach Go can actually turn us around bc he made such a difference at Tennessee, but I don't care enough for it to register on the scale yet.  

3 hours ago, smazza said:

you cant blame espn for usf not being in a p5

we stink

Not what I was saying.  ESPN has supposedly been a big driving force helping conferences pick which team is more desirable.

So I was saying it's harder to convince a conference and ESPN to promote us (now) than it is to convince the AAU to accept us.  To be clear, I'm not saying the AAU is less work to get, but I am saying there are more reasons for a conference to deny us a spot and there are no quantifiable metrics for us to achieve that automatically qualify us for any P5.

Let's say we turn things around the next 5 years and are conf champs 3/5 years (in football).  Would that qualify us for the SEC?  Would going undefeated in the new AAC for 'X' number of years *ever* matter to the SEC?  Probably not...

My point is the P5 has finite spots, and even if you accomplish great (fleeting) results in athletics, there are lots of reasons for you to be denied.

The AAU, unlike the SEC, doesn't care if it already has Florida.  There are no limits to the number of seats because you don't start taking money away from the others once you join.  (Technically there are incentives for AAU to stand still, but with sports the TV contract *is* the lifeline; whereas AAU grants you access to more funding and grants, but it is not the sole source)

No brainier, P5.

AAU would have been there eventually.  They're not inviting based on who ESPN tells them to take. 

Contrast that with the P5, where the musical chairs have pretty much been taken away at this point and we're SOL (nothing within our control).

There's a 300+ million dollar gamble being played by the university that says not only can we quickly win enough to be attractive to a P5, but that a conference will have an opening for us.  And I would not want to be on the losing side of that bet, making interest payments with AAC revenue.

2 hours ago, bull2saintleo said:

ECU still had two of their stud starting pitchers available between today and tomorrows games.  If they use one today against UCF, it leaves one remaining for the best of two Saturday games against the Bulls.

Definitely would have preferred to see UCF win today to avoid the rematch with #1 seed (and their depth).  Oh well, at least their game went long today.  Maybe we can squeak one win out of two attempts...

1 hour ago, Friscobull said:

Apology accepted, all good Gator, you be you, I’ll be me.  You are definitely not afraid to be wrong, you are actually quite good at it.  

Wait...You're gloating about someone being wrong for thinking/hoping USF could have more than 0 drafted?

Christ Almighty this fanbase needs an enema....or some wins to get us off each other's backs.  

I mean seriously is this the point we're at?  So starved for wins we're turning on each other just to feel like we've won an online argument?

5 hours ago, puc86 said:

The same Uconn that decided creating the aac was a mistake and then pivoted to the plan I suggested? 

The same UConn that did not get invited to a P5 conference while 3 AAC members (who were former conference mates) did.

And don't get me started on the fact that comparing us to UConn is ridiculous because no conference in the world wants our basketball team.  UConn went back to the BigEast because they have won Natty's before and oh look they did it again this year.

Going independent would be the dumbest move in the history of dumb move for our program, and in fact I'm surprised Michael Kelly hasn't been advocating for it since a lot of his other decisions have been terrible.

A conference EQUALS more money, more exposure, more recruits, etc.  It's why Kennesaw State MBB players, who were in the dance this year, decided to follow their coach to USF which has been a dumpster fire.  Now those players' games will at least be on ESPN3 as opposed to www.RandomSportsStreaming.com.

1 hour ago, zarnozdabull said:

Woah, this might be a huge problem for us if true...

Lol I dunno, I think it might be a bigger problem if we were paying out during a year we did so bad our coach got fired.

14 minutes ago, JTrue said:

There is no way we don't know what number it's going to take to sign him and we have 30 years to look at for what kind of coach he is. If you interview him without giving him the job, it's amateur hour.

Yeah which is why it's strange.

If he still gets hired and they just wanted to spite the leakers by pretending it wasn't a done deal...no harm no foul.

On the other hand if we don't land him and there really was interest on both sides at one point.....ooo boy did we (u-s-)F it up.  

I'm not a bball guy but this dude's resume sounded like a, oh what's a good metaphor... A touchdown hire?  No no, a home run hire.  Yeah that's the most fitting term here.

4 minutes ago, Bullcocky said:

When I did the math about two years ago, when you combine the winning percentages of usf men's football, baseball, and basketball, we have the worst conference winning percentage and overall winning percentage of all schools that play those three sports at the d1 level. 

Was not prepared for that gut punch.  I'm going to curl up in the corner and hope the math was off somewhere.

9 minutes ago, Brad said:

I did have the pmeasure of a guy telling me about UCF and FAU.

We need to multiply efforts one hundredfold -  this is part of the problemo.  

 

It goes without saying for UCF, but I'm willing to bet FAU also has had more success in the major mens' programs than us over the past decade.  (I know their bball team is good this year)

If our teams ever won enough to be shown and discussed more on TV...more people would know us.  This is a symptom of athletics.

8 hours ago, Triple B said:

SMU -  Started football in 1915; has 11 conference; more donor $$$

SDSU - Started football in 21; has 21 conference titles; more donor $$$

Whine about "thanking" USF when a program with a lesser resume "jumps" us ....

BCS Level/P5 have been/are the measuring stick.

We had that level, lost it and others are taking it.  That equals getting passed up.

Stating they have more donor $ just explains part of WHY they got a call up to the big leagues; it doesn't change the fact they are getting the promotion over USF who got sent to AAA(C).

1 hour ago, smazza said:

i cant get excited in february any more

They've got pills for that you can take any month

Clearly we just need an on campus basketball court to help with student turnout and then the wins will follow.

Oh wait...

Btw our new rival in the new AAC currently looks like this in men's bball:

So no pressure but we should reaaaaallllly try to turn this franchise around within a year.

35 minutes ago, USFBULL_08 said:

It is going to go both ways. Now it will be easier for guys to transfer home who want to be closer to family or want to actually play instead of riding the bench. Also, access to the playoff at USF could potentially be an easier path than many G5 teams.

Player recruitment and development might be even more important now.

If by going "both ways" you mean top talent will always leave from a poor G5 to the P5 (or rich G5) and unproven/unwanted talent will always flow down from the P5 to G5....

Then yes.  It will definitely go both ways.

59 minutes ago, Rocky Style said:

Uh oh:
 

 

Ya boy is mad.  Not the same as Mangham leaving.  Lecture me on how this is good.  

Think it's a sign for me to stop paying so attention to college football because NIL is ruining the game.

While these transfers happen to P5s too, it's going to disproportionately make G5s worse.  The G5 has to really dig for talented recruits that got missed.  But now when they find/develop one, the P5s can swoop in with no penalty and take em after a single good year.  

We lost a freaking kicker to the portal ffs....of course Battie was gonna leave.  Hell Byrum Brown might have enough film out there to warrant a dive into the portal. 

But don't worry, our administration is on the case.  They know if these kids were just playing in a smaller, cheaper stadium on campus we would be keeping them.

1 hour ago, CousinRicky said:

So serious question here. What good has all that extra money done for Rutgers in the Big 10 or West Virginia in the Big 12 (or dozens of other also rans)? 

I mean they can overpay for coaches but what other benefits come from all that cash? 

I just really don't think I need to explain why more money > less money.

Sure some programs may have a harder time succeeding after a move up and some may not spend their money wisely....but I mean come on.

We're out here getting excited for a 22 million dollar indoor practice field while UF just spent 88 million on a football center.  

Sorry but you will not be able to compete with that long term.  Two Florida schools, both completed those projects in 2022.  Now UCF will be closer to their ballpark of spending on facilities.  As if there wasn't already more of an incentive for recruits to go to Orlando (given their recent on field success), they will now lap us in the revenue.

There are only so many good players to recruit.  And of those that we snag, there's yet a smaller subset that will stay (at a poor G5) after a breakout season if offered a chance with a bigger, richer school with more facilities to offer.

11 hours ago, Bull Awakening said:

P5 is dead to me. No one can sit here and tell me how much better the P5 is after we continue to see AAC beat those so called P5 teams. With the 12 team playoffs starting in 2024 it becomes basically the P6 conferences.

Those leaving the AAC for the Big12 are getting (I think) a 30 million per year revenue boost.  And of course the Big12's tv contract is chump change compared to others....so that's a lot of leagues outspending and out-recruiting the G5.

Beating a P5 team in one bowl game at the end of the season (when everyone is seeing players go to the portal or declaring for the draft) doesn't erase getting beat off the field the other 364 days of the year.

1) Win football games

2) Win football games

3) Win football games

4) Win football games

Easy list because that's the only sport and only result that matters.

That is hopefully the mentality of USF athletics right now... because if they don't immediately turn this around the discussion for the next P5 call up will be Tulane/whoever else wins big games.  

1 hour ago, Gobulls90 said:

Weaver in the portal

So long quitter.  I woulda benched him as soon as I had a replacement considering he sat out against UCF