USF training camp

[puc86]

I wish someone was commenting on how far the negotiations have gotten, because I was there when they were exploring and negotiating the same kind of set up in Lakeland. Like I said earlier with as vague as they quotes are the same article could have been about Tigertown and been 100% true.

[puc86]

Never mind contacted my own source vero sounds pretty official

[HappyHourHero]

I feel like I'm the only person without a source...

[Mama_Bull]

I wish someone was commenting on how far the negotiations have gotten, because I was there when they were exploring and negotiating the same kind of set up in Lakeland. Like I said earlier with as vague as they quotes are the same article could have been about Tigertown and been 100% true.

They should have something finalized in the next few days:

Holtz is already putting his changes in place for the Bulls.  For the first time in school history, the team will hold training camp off campus.  Recent reports have Dodgertown in Vero Beach as the location, but Holtz said Thursday that they've scouted several location and hope to have a final decision in place in the next few days.

Regardless of the location, the team bonding, especially for the first year under a new coaching staff, is critical.

"The only way that I can really get everybody into dorm rooms and create a camp type of environment was to turn and take them away," Holtz said. "I've done it at a number of different places."

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=137890&catid=4

[SRQ]

coach knows what he's doing, esp when it comes to 'head stuff'.

[Mama_Bull]

Looks like a "GO" for Vero Beach.  ;D

JULY 23, 2010

Vero training camp news expected Monday

USF is expected to announce Monday that the Bulls will be holding about two weeks of preseason football training camp across the state in Vero Beach, and it's not the first time a Skip Holtz has bonded away from campus.

In his first head coaching stint at Connecticut, Holtz took his team west to the Berkshire Mountains for training camp, following a model his father Lou used at Notre Dame, taking the Fighting Irish to camp at nearby Culver Military Academy.

"I think we need to get into a camp atmosphere -- we have to have camaraderie and chemistry building, players getting used to coaches and coaches getting used to players," Holtz said Friday. "This allows us to do that with zero distractions, and as a new staff, there's an advantage in being able to do that."

While details are still being finalized, the Bulls would likely spend two weeks at the Vero Beach Sports Village, starting practice Aug. 6 with a day or two on USF's campus, then returning to Tampa the weekend before fall classes start Aug. 23. That would still allow a full two weeks of practice before the Bulls open their season Sept. 4 against Division I-AA Stony Brook at Raymond James Stadium.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bulls/content/vero-training-camp-news-expected-monday#comments

[subflea]

Frankly, we're spending millions upgrading Athletics, including soon to be practice fields for football, training facilities, weight room, all our training staff is on our campus. Nobody else is around campus early on in training camp, so I don't really see purpose of "getting away". What would be the purpose of doing it in Lakeland or Bradenton? That's already the Tampa Bay area. Want to do it Ft. Myers or Ft. Lauderdale or somewhere like that, maybe.

Having it seen it firsthand here at Cincinnati, I can tell you it is nothing but a good thing, regardless of how close it is to campus.  The idea of getting away from campus is so you can keep the team together 24 hours a day.  When you just have fall camp on campus, after practice the team is free to do whatever they want at night.  If you get off campus in a camp atmosphere, those kids are stuck together every night.  It definitely promotes team building, plus it gives the team 2 full weeks to have nothing on their minds but football.  Even when classes are not in session there are tons of distractions once practice breaks for the day if they stay on campus.  The point is not to go far away to promote the team, just to get far enough away that the coaches have full control of activities every night.  In fact, at UC the camp facility is completely closed to everyone but staff and whatever limited media they choose to let in the facility.  For the most part no one in the area even realizes the team is there.

[ajusf16]

I love it. Hope they beat the tar out of them, and then they come back to town something fierce.

[South_Florida_Flip]

coach knows what he's doing, esp when it comes to 'head stuff'.

Agree with you 100%

This camp idea is a good one.

[usfbullcpa]

The Lakeland option is hard for logistical reasons.  Think of it, you have to house well over 100 people for the week.  In Lakeland you do not have the dorm facilities for that and would have to go to hotels.  That is expensive and hard to put together without 3-4 months lead.  Then you have to have daily transportation, food service, coaches rooms, meeting rooms.

All this is met at Dodgertown already.  the other option would be Disney, but even when the Bucs did this they took over an entire hotel up there and have to bus back and forth.