Name Change

[Guest Sprtsfn627]

It is not my intention to offend anyone with this post.  If you're going to be offended easily, please stop reading.

I am very proud of this university.  USF was my first choice of university, and I do not regret the decision.  It has proven itself a well-rounded university that offers quality education with the opportunity of a great social life.

And yet, there is still the ridiculous stigma that USF is a bad university because it has a direction in its name.  While others seem to be able to shake this stigma, for some reason, USF has had trouble doing so.  It seems that too often the school is judged by its name rather than its accomplishments.  

The legitimate point against our name is that USF is in fact not in South Florida.

I feel that with a name change, we could better identify and promote the university.  Not only because of location, but also with the hope to remove the "directional" stigma.  The questions that I propose to you are:

1. Is a name change a good idea?

2. Which name could be used to identify us?

Your thoughts on the subject are much appreciated.

[DawgPound]

I seem to recall Bull fans trashing UCF when O'Leary joked about changing the name to remove the Directional U stigma.  Outside of Southern Cal and maybe Southern Miss, the directional schools are kinda lame.

While I don't have any real suggestions, maybe using Tampa Bay somewhere in there might be an idea.

[Velcro]

I like USF... its the school i went to, and am proud of.  No name change needed.  I don't care if other schools use the "directional" tag as an insult.  if we changed our name, they'd find something wrong with that too... its just trash talk.  

[EXBULL21]

I don't know...I think it would be a hard sell.  Florida and Florida State are taken so the rest of the public universities in the state are by default left with a "directional" name.

There are directional named schools out there that have big names and big followings.  For example, North Carolina, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Southern Cal (as mentioned before).  

I think it will just take time to develope a national identity.  The university is still relatively young, is only 9 years old football wise, and has just joined a major athletic conference.  I really believe that in 20 years, we all will sitting around talking about USF in the same manner as people sit around and talk about school like UF, Miami, etc.  Yes it will take some time do develop, but I think the university in general is in a great situation.

Heck...how about Florida Tech :-)

[Velcro]

fwiw, UNC and USC are not directional schools... just regular names that reside in directional states.

[Velcro]

Florida Tech is taken, (well, WAS taken... just ask Smazz)

[UCFBeach]

According to spazza, ucf has every name available..

;D

[TyBull]

I like USF... its the school i went to, and am proud of.  No name change needed.  I don't care if other schools use the "directional" tag as an insult.  if we changed our name, they'd find something wrong with that too... its just trash talk.  

Ditto..........

[Brad]

Maybe we go from the green and gold South Florida Bulls to the Pewter and Crimson Tampa Bay U. Pirates.  

[BullDoug]

Sell university naming rights to the $120MM donor to build the FB stadium.