Criticism Bandwagon: Poor Choice in University Name

[SANJAY]

arent we the southern most state school or something like that? i remember there was a reason we are usf.

At the time we were founded yes we were the southernmost state school.

The politicians did not have the foresight to see population growth further south.

[Griggsy]

Tampa Bay University, to me, is the obvious answer. It reflects the University's Bay-wide mission, aligns with the local sports teams (Tampa Bay Bucs, Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa Bay Bulls), and is geographically accurate. I'm not sure why the assumption exists that University of Tampa would have a problem with it. They do not own the term "Tampa". Saying that UT would have a problem with TBU is like saying that UF would have a problem with FSU.

Unfortunately, I think the time already came and went for this. If USF was going to change its name, it should have happened during the rebranding of the school back in 2003-2004 and before joining the Big East in 2005. I STILL think it would be a good idea to change it, but I know I'm in the minority.

[smazza]

at this point what's the difference

it is lore

legend

usf needs to win

[smazza]

arent we the southern most state school or something like that? i remember there was a reason we are usf.

At the time we were founded yes we were the southernmost state school.

The politicians did not have the foresight to see population growth further south.

plain dumb on their part

u west fla would have been appropriate as there is a whole lot of state south of tampa

[TallyBull]

arent we the southern most state school or something like that? i remember there was a reason we are usf.

USF was the first state university south of Gainesville. So, at the time, in the early to mid-1950s, the name was accurate. It was THE state univesrity for south Florida, extending from Gainesville south to the keys. Things have changed since, of course, and "south Florida" has become a de facto reference to the area south of West Palm Beach to the keys, and generally does not include Tampa. But if you measure "south" as everything south of Gainesville (as opposed to West Palm Beach), well - then we are in south Florida!

[charsibb]

arent we the southern most state school or something like that? i remember there was a reason we are usf.

In 1956 we were. Not any more.

[charsibb]

We need the "6 people have posted since you did, you might want to check your post" message back...

[bull2saintleo]

Yes, is the school's name not the whole truth. The name was given at a time where there really wasn't much between Tampa and Miami and they probably didnt expect to have FAU, FGCU, UWF, etc.

WE ARE THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA!

[Cow Pie]

Well look at it this way... we are the Southern most Floridian University in the State... once you pass Ft Meyers or so its all Yankee retirement colonies, and then there is the Miami area... Miami does not = Florida... hence we are South Florida.

[IncrediBULL]

For those who don't know the history, when USF got it's charter, it was the southernmost state school in FL. There was FSU, UF, and then USF.

FIU, FAU, UCF, all were chartered at a later date. There was no FGCU. So it made sense at the time.

Florida is a very different place now, than it was in 1956. Our population went from under 3M to about 20M in that timeframe. Now the Tampa Bay metro area has over 3.5m people.