Flowers4Heisman

We've got to go back to what got us to the NCAA Tournament: Defense!

We have to keep them under 60 points. If they go over 65 points, the Dome lights need to stay out for good this time.

You know what? I'm thrilled.

I'm thrilled that we are arguing about new hires on the football coaching staff...

We could be worrying about what Holtz is going to do next season!

I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the rest of this Christmas present Santa brought all of us.

I don't care what happens with the hire; it's all good!

GO BULLS!

We all heard it when Coach Taggart said he wants to win Championships at USF.

In the old days of the Big East, win and you got respect. Win and you could get to a BCS bowl, like Louisville did this year. And this was how we got to #2 for three minutes during the regular season.

Now, let's say all that we can count on is a schedule of football teams to play each week, whoever those teams may be and whatever the conference calls itself when it is all said and done.

Fine. It looks to be inevitable, like it or not.

My question is this. If USF wins, and I do mean win with great seasons, can USF still get ranked and get to good bowls?

I guess I'm trying to figure out of winning is still rewarded after all the conference shuffles and all of that. Yes, all the big programs are trying to hoard up all the money. No doubt about that. But can they have a monopoly on everything?

Does USF still control its own success with winning football?

I remember when he couldn't get into USF the first time, and then he came back after going through the JC route. I mean the guy really, really wanted to be a Bull. I always liked him for that.

Anyway, I was disappointed in how he got so little playing time. I don't know the whole story.

My question is this. How can a guy who couldn't get enough minutes on our defense is getting a look at by an NFL team?

"Congrats to #USF DE Claude Davis, who has signed a reserve/future contract with the New York Jets."

https://twitter.com/gregauman

Make us proud, Claude!

I remember the Sun Bowl. Yikes!

I want what the Ducks got cooking. I would be tickled if USF ever played like that on offense.

I have never payed attention to Stanford. Is it anything like that?

Greg Hudson

1994-1996 UCONN (OL)

1997-2000 Cincinnati (LB)

2001-2004 Minnesota (LB)

2005-2009 East Carolina (DC)

2010-present Florida State (LB)

He played college football at Notre Dame, where he was a two year starter at linebacker.

This guy has ties to Holtz. No thanks.

The bold text quoted makes you an idiot.

Kevin Steele was mentioned as well (Prior DC for Clemson who was fired/resigned after the WVU-Clemson bowl game massacre)

Why? Just because I have an opinion?

Maybe we'll meet at a USF game one of these days and I'll buy you a beer --if you are old enough to drink.

I hate all this waiting, but I must say that it is encouraging.

A quick hire for such an important position can be a very bad move. Plus, it also means that we are not going after somebody just fill a spot, maybe a $9.99 coach just to have somebody in there.

I think we still have extremes. We make great plays on both ends of the court, and then we go to sleep and we can't stop anybody, and we can't buy bucket on the other end. That could be said of out individual players also, with their game performance.

USF controls its own destiny this season. We have a team that can make the NCAA tournament. But will they?

Go Bulls!

Greg Hudson

1994-1996 UCONN (OL)

1997-2000 Cincinnati (LB)

2001-2004 Minnesota (LB)

2005-2009 East Carolina (DC)

2010-present Florida State (LB)

He played college football at Notre Dame, where he was a two year starter at linebacker.

This guy has ties to Holtz. No thanks.

The bold text quoted makes you an idiot.

Kevin Steele was mentioned as well (Prior DC for Clemson who was fired/resigned after the WVU-Clemson bowl game massacre)

Why? Just because I have an opinion?

The team has improved exponentially since the opener.

I give them a lot of credit for working hard and righting the ship.

Go Bulls!

I just hope we get somebody good! Man, the waiting is killing me.

Okay, we could have hired Shannon. I guess it wasn't in the works.

"New Arkansas LB coach Randy Shannon will earn $315K annually thru June, 2014"

https://twitter.com/JJohnstonTBO

Sucks. Who is next up?

I hope we at least get somebody with some XBox or PlayStation football experience.

Certainly dampens the kitty litter.

Greg Hudson

1994-1996 UCONN (OL)

1997-2000 Cincinnati (LB)

2001-2004 Minnesota (LB)

2005-2009 East Carolina (DC)

2010-present Florida State (LB)

He played college football at Notre Dame, where he was a two year starter at linebacker.

This guy has ties to Holtz. No thanks.

Okay... I thought they were going to fire the new guy they got. Haven't caught up with the Hogs lately.

Well, if it's a DC job, I don't see how USF wouldn't be a better job! I fee much better about it now.

Arkansas would want a hot coach -not to the ladies, though.

I don't see how Shannon would fit in as a head coach for them. He couldn't do it in Miami, so I don't see how he could make it work there. And he's pretty cold as a head coach right now, in my opinion.

He belongs at USF!

What I really am optimistic about is that we haven't had news that WKU's defensive coordinator is coming to USF. Amen to that!

There must be a bigger fish on the line.

I'm curious to know what you bulls think the differences were that brought the results that we got -and what do you think we will need to exceed all prior levels of achievement?

I'll give it a go:

Leavitt: Great defense. Players played with emotions but the bad thing was that when they played scared (something to lose) or weren't playing against good teams, they laid an egg.

Leavitt could never put together the offense that we needed for the victories would have put USF on the map -championships.

To this end, I think he couldn't recruit enough talent on the offensive side. We never got the linemen we needed, and our receivers were never as good. We had enough QB talent at times, but so much was missing elsewhere.

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Holtz: He got fired because he missed the cornerstone of USF's success: defense. When you are that soft, you are asking for trouble. Frankly, offensively, it was nothing that I hadn't seen before under Leavitt. Sure, it got pretty ugly when B.J. was not in there. Otherwise, it was the same horse and pony show that I had seen for years. I mean he did beat Notre Dame at Notre Dame, so he's not that bad of a coach. In the end, with the timeouts and whatnot, he was on a sinking ship and his mind wasn't right. I don't look at those moments as the defining moments of his coaching ability. Anyway, it doesn't matter now. He's not our problem --that dang $500K a year is, though.

To be certain, he failed to recruit also. He didn't run out of time; he ran out of players.

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Coach Taggart:

I think he's going to be fine offensively, along with recruiting. At least in my estimation, he will be much better than the last two coaches.

Defensively, if he doesn't focus on this (meaning hiring the right DC and implementing the right scheme), it could be trouble. I need to see how Stanford and WKU did with their defenses. I did remember seeing a lot of scoring from WKU opponents.

The bottom line is that we have a chance to be better than what's been achieved at USF, but the coming days will reveal more, when the new DC is hired.

Do we have anybody to run the ball next year?

I'm just thinking out loud since we picked up a QB coach and an OC.

Punt the ball on first down and let's play some defense --that is if we get Randy Shannon!

We've never been an offensive juggernaut, but we've had some darn good defensive teams. I want that back more than anything. Randy Shannon or bust!

These hires look okay to me. My mind says: "I didn't pay a lot for that muffler."

If we get his defensive coordinator from WKU, I'm off the bus. --Just saying!

If we have a QB coach, does that mean we'll have a full-time QB next season?

Do any of you know if we're going to have an OC? If not, that could be money spent on hiring some really good coaches for other positions.

Man, I get so excited when I hear him talk. And you know it's not just b.s.

Jim Harbaugh's success has been amazing. And I'm not talking about winning at Stanford. He transitioned from the college game to the NFL without missing a beat. That's magic right there. Not many have been able to do it.

And our coach is about to bring that magic to USF!

Look, yes, being in a good conference is important. And every Bull wants USF in a good one. Fine. No arguments there.

But the finger points to USF first and nowhere else.

Remember when we got into the Big East (when the Big East was good)? How did that happen? Because we were a good program!

How does Notre Dame "survive" without a conference and has their own network TV? Because they are good.

And you know what, we beat them a few years ago. Both teams were very similar (very average teams) and we won that game. Now, they are playing for the NC. They made the right coaching moves and got back to winning. It all happened right before our eyes.

My point here is that we should worry about winning first and foremost. Winning got us into a good conference (before the Big East became bad). Winning will get us into another good situation, whatever that may be.

Even if we got into the SEC right now (go along with me for a second!), and we didn't win, they'd kick us out.

Why does the new Big East feel like a leaky lifeboat? ALL THE TEAMS STINK!

And that sad part was that USF football was at the bottom of the pile this year.

USF needs to focus on USF and just win!

Stupid. They have zero bargaining power by themselves. If they do this, a couple of them would only go along because they have a back door into another conference (ACC?) The other schools would find themselves to be minor players.

I beg to differ. The Pope is pretty powerful! Nobody wants to be excommunicated for not scheduling one of these schools.

Program perception is everything. Why? Players have parents and families. And they don't allow their children to play for people who have no morals.

Yeah, it would have been interesting to have Petrino at USF. But it would have a been a huge gamble, just like WKU is taking now.

Let's see what happens in a few years.

My bet is that USF will come out much better than WKU.

Heck, USF couldn't live with Leavitt slapping someone. There was no chance Petrino and his baggage could to come to Tampa.

Makes one think about the Petrino interview at WKU. Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall.