We Made It!!

[BullyPulpit]

17 hours ago, Apis Bull said:

I like this trophy better:

 

That's only about half of it....about $3 million by my rough estimate. 

[raptorcj]

Awesome! And of course the bonus hidden cam playback of John Hitt's reaction:

[beastiebull]

14 hours ago, Bausfkid said:

A very big step towards a P5 conference.  

Go Bulls!

Is this accurate?   Do all current members of the P5 have preeminent status?  Does UCF not have it?

[UCF_rustbucket]

8 minutes ago, beastiebull said:

Is this accurate?   Do all current members of the P5 have preeminent status?  Does UCF not have it?

UCF does not have it (just like USF a few years ago there's a plan in place to get there) but this is also just a thing for public schools in Florida. So only UF, FSU, and USF have it.

[Dave_Glaser]

11 minutes ago, beastiebull said:

Is this accurate?   Do all current members of the P5 have preeminent status?  Does UCF not have it?

My understanding is UCF currently meets 7 of the 11 required measurements for preeminence, so they still have a ways to go.

[Bausfkid]

1 hour ago, beastiebull said:

Is this accurate?   Do all current members of the P5 have preeminent status?  Does UCF not have it?

There are numerous criteria for P5 entry.  So many people think it's about W-L on the football field.  That could not be further from the truth. 

For us, until recently, we did not really fit into any conference, in part due to academics.  One of Dr. Genshaft's main focuses at USF has been to raise entry standards and academics.  She has done a great job during her tenure as noted by this designation.

A very smart conference will one day take both of us (USF and UCF) as we both offer so much.  Once that happens hate them like there is no tomorrow.  Until then we need them to be right on our heels in every way.

Go Bulls!

[BullyPulpit]

 

Dear USF Alumni:

I am excited to share momentous news with you: USF is now a Preeminent State Research University.

Thanks to the unwavering support of our community and the hard work of so many individuals across our campus, the University of South Florida now officially stands among the most elite institutions in our state. Today, USF earned the designation as a “Preeminent State Research University” from the Florida Board of Governors -- validating our efforts over more than a decade to transform USF into a premier institution of higher education, rivaling peers twice our age.

The Florida Preeminence program rewards high-achieving universities based on 12 metrics, including graduation rates, student retention rates, research expenditures and the number of patents awarded.  In order to earn Preeminence, a university must meet or exceed at least 11 of the 12 benchmarks.  Only two other Florida universities have achieved this status – until today.

This critical designation comes with additional state resources and special privileges, which will have an exponential impact on our continued efforts to grow our research enterprise, provide the highest-quality education to our students, strengthen our partnerships, and help us make an even bigger difference in our community.

There is another reward as well: The spirit of creativity, collaboration and dedication that has resulted from this drive toward greater excellence. At the University of South Florida, Preeminence is not just a title. It is a mindset that has guided us since before our goal had a name, before state law spelled out what it takes to earn the “Preeminent” distinction, in times of triumph and in times of challenge.

This mindset has energized USF and helped us achieve milestones once unheard of at this university:

• Since 2000, we have grown our research and development expenditures from $186 million to $502 million today, placing USF in the top 30 in the nation among all public universities for research productivity. These are dollars that come to USF from public and private agencies to support our growing research enterprise, which provides solutions to the world’s most pressing problems and makes a significant contribution to our economy. In fiscal year 2017, USF’s research funding alone supported more than 5,900 jobs and generated over $1 billion in local economic growth

• We are applying our creativity to real-world problems and finding practical solutions that have a major impact on the world in which we live. Because of our focus on increasing research productivity over the past decade, USF has become the nation’s fifth leading public university in generating new United States utility patents, and ranks 12th among universities worldwide. This ranking puts USF alongside some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including the University of California System, Harvard University and Stanford University. This ranking is just the latest marker of success for our efforts to translate academic research into new technologies, medicines and products.
   
• Our holistic approach to student success, which includes data analytics, a wide array of services and our culture of caring, continues to have a positive impact on graduation rates. Florida’s Preeminence program requires a six-year graduation rate (a common measure across higher education) of 70 percent; we now stand at 71 percent, compared to just 46 percent in 2002. We have very specific goals in place to continue building on that progress. I also want to emphasize that our students are graduating regardless of race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

• We continue to increase the profile of USF Athletics, positioning the Bulls for even greater national competitiveness. In the past two years alone, we have captured seven conference championships, increasing our collection of league titles to 112. And our student-athletes continue to reach new heights in the classroom; their combined grade-point average this past spring was 3.1, extending the department’s 3.0 GPA streak to seven consecutive semesters.

• In 2019, we will open our Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute as a key anchor of the historic downtown redevelopment project, Water Street Tampa, led by Strategic Property Partners President Jeff Vinik, together with Cascade Investments. As we train tomorrow’s doctors, we also will unite physician scientists working together to find the treatments and cures for heart patients today and in the future. The economic impact of this project will be significant; the Heart Institute is projected to drive between $56 million and $73 million annually in local economic activity. In so many ways, USF is making life better.

While we celebrate being recognized as Preeminent by our state leaders, this is not the end of our journey. It is a new beginning. We will continue our quest to move up in national higher education rankings so that we can attract even more of the best and brightest students and world-class scholars and researchers.

I invite you to click on the link below to view a video that celebrates our rise to Preeminence. More information also is available at usfnewera.org, including details of USF’s New Era Fund. Created to mark this historic occasion, this new scholarship will be awarded to full or part-time students, at any academic level, pursuing any major, on any USF campus.

 

 

Thank you for all you do to support USF in the community, and GO BULLS!

 

Sincerely,

Judy Genshaft, President
University of South Florida System

   

[puc86]

8 minutes ago, Bausfkid said:

There are numerous criteria for P5 entry.  So many people think it's about W-L on the football field.  That could not be further from the truth. 

For us, until recently, we did not really fit into any conference, in part due to academics.  One of Dr. Genshaft's main focuses at USF has been to raise entry standards and academics.  She has done a great job during her tenure as noted by this designation.

A very smart conference will one day take both of us (USF and UCF) as we both offer so much.  Once that happens hate them like there is no tomorrow.  Until then we need them to be right on our heels in every way.

Go Bulls!

There is absolutely no evidence that USF and UCF is better as a package or that any conference will be more likely to expand by pairs with two teams 90 miles apart. All other expansion has been to gain footing in areas a conference does not have locked up. We are better off alone and being the clear cut choice than we are in having the waters muddied and a conference having to flip a coin between us and UCF.  The only people that have ever bought the crap UCF was selling that we are logical pairs, when they wanted to move up in conference, is the AAC and some short sited Bulls. If and when another conference comes calling UCF will be looking out for number one and trying to cut our throats to get in just like we should be doing to them. Better together is bs and just something people say when you have something that they want.

[BullyPulpit]

10 minutes ago, puc86 said:

There is absolutely no evidence that USF and UCF is better as a package or that any conference will be more likely to expand by pairs with two teams 90 miles apart. All other expansion has been to gain footing in areas a conference does not have locked up. We are better off alone and being the clear cut choice than we are in having the waters muddied and a conference having to flip a coin between us and UCF.  The only people that have ever bought the crap UCF was selling that we are logical pairs, when they wanted to move up in conference, is the AAC and some short sited Bulls. If and when another conference comes calling UCF will be looking out for number one and trying to cut our throats to get in just like we should be doing to them. Better together is bs and just something people say when you have something that they want.

To be clear, better together works if the conference is genuinely interested in both teams. It adds to the potential value. I have been saying for awhile that the best way to make ourselves appealing to a P5 conference is to be willing to take a reduced share of conference revenues over a period of time. Start out with a 25% share that escalates to a full 100% share after the first  8 to 10 years. That adds value to the conference and would still be more than we are currently making by a long shot. By year 5 of being in a P5 conference we would regularly be filling the lower bowl and having to open the upper bowl for some games at Ray Jay. 

[puc86]

6 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

To be clear, better together works if the conference is genuinely interested in both teams. It adds to the potential value. I have been saying for awhile that the best way to make ourselves appealing to a P5 conference is to be willing to take a reduced share of conference revenues over a period of time. Start out with a 25% share that escalates to a full 100% share after the first  8 to 10 years. That adds value to the conference and would still be more than we are currently making by a long shot. By year 5 of being in a P5 conference we would regularly be filling the lower bowl and having to open the upper bowl for some games at Ray Jay. 

But there is zero evidence that there is a conference out there interested in either of us much less both. Our best chance at success in life is creating obvious market differentiators between us and any other like situated teams, suggesting that we should want anyone to be as close as possible to us is just asinine and flies in the face of common sense.

Edited June 28, 2018 by puc86