My Manifesto

[BaltoBull]

Let me begin by saying I don't post here often, but I follow this message board quite a bit.

That being said, I want to share my thoughts with regards to college athletics, realignment and the seismic shift that is apparently beginning to happen in college football. I welcome all thoughts and opinions either agreeing, disagreeing or correcting me.

As a result of realignment, I have almost completely lost faith in the system. I am still clinging on to the hope that somehow, USF will find itself in one of the "elite" conferences one day, but as time goes on, I am less convinced this is going to happen. Therefore, this is how I feel about college sports (particularly football and basketball) and the Bull's place in them -

At this point, I am resigned to the fact Louisville, UConn and likely Rutgers will leave the NBE as soon as they are offered (as I am certain we would if given the opportunity). This of course will be capitalized by the pundits, in particular the WWL, further eroding our prestige and "perception". Based on what I've read, I'm led to believe that UMass, Nova and someone else will fill the void (Tulsa?, Tulane?).

I realize that the NBE is becoming an "urban, large city" based conference as opposed to the major, land grant universities. I see where USF and a lot of our conference mates fit into this new mold.

Here are my thoughts on the elite conferences and I wonder how many share my opinion -

As I mentioned before, I really think it is unlikely we are going to be given a chair at the table. Even if we were, what's the point? Would we ever really have a shot at the National Championship? Would the voters and the media ever allow it? What about other schools in the power conferences; off the top of my head, Iowa, Perdue, Wake Forest, Virginia - do any of these schools, regardless of conference affiliation ever truly stand a chance at winning it all?

For those who are going to say, "We are in a top recruiting market, we are surrounded by talent, etc..." - it doesn't matter. As Seth Greenberg said, "(No one grows up) wanting to be a Bull". I believe he's got a point. We don't have the history of other programs and until we do, this is the way it is. We've assembled some good teams consisting of the cast-offs, a few exceptional cases and the remainder of the kids the other schools didn't want, but long-term, I think this is the best we are going to do.

I've read recently that perhaps the power conferences will separate from the NCAA and do their own thing. Now, more than ever, I'm ready to say, "Go ahead". I believe once the 'have's' leave the scene, the rest of us (the 'have nots') can move forward on a more equal, level playing field. The other conferences will do whatever they can (stipends, television networks, etc...) to further widen the gap between them and the rest of us. I am resigned to the fact we will not compete with the 'Big Boys' consistently and over the long-term. Before we start discussing the 'Big Wins' (Auburn, Miami, FSU, ND) - remember, none of these were because we were the better team in the media's eyes, they were all because the other teams were worse. And if we truly believe we are capable of producing these kinds of marquee wins on an annual, consistent basis, especially after the ending of "AQ" status, I think we are sadly mistaken.

With the movement to consolidate money, prestige and exposure within the ranks of college football, I think it is time I will realistically reset my expectations and realize where we are as a program for the foreseeable future.

I think the best place for USF is the NBE. To hell with the rest of the conferences. When all is said and done, I believe the Bulls will be competitive and fun to watch in a conference with more parity than most of the others.

Please excuse the random nature of this rant. I've been wanting to broadcast these thoughts for a while.

[I Bleed Awesomeness]

on top of being a young football program, i believe being in the state of florida and attempting to recruit against uf, fsu, and um just makes it extremely tough for us. ALL of the top tier recruits are going to choose one of those more established programs over us....every time. it doesnt matter that florida has the best athletes in the country if we have 3 of the more storied programs in football poaching students athletes from our own backyard. i cant think of any other area in the country where this is the case. we've geographically been behind the 8 ball from day one. so the question is, how do we slowly start to tilt the scale towards a more equal recruiting effort? i think in a lot of ways weve already started to make steps in this direction, bcs conference, brand new facilities, etc. i get frustrated all the time just like you do, but i try and think realistically as much as possible. its going to take time, a lot more time....and money. maybe god will eventually shine his light down, and we'll get some super sweet tv deal that no one saw coming, that puts us more in the national spotlight. until then however, im going to go into each football season expecting to be mediocre, that way if were any better, im happy. oh, and i drink a lot before the games to make the pain more bearable.

[pmcbri2]

We were #2 in the Nation at one point. If we win our games and stay in one of the "major" conferences, we will have our chance someday. USF has a lot going for it. Mostly that it is in a major TV market and has a growing Alumni base and tradition. You make some good points, but I think USF is already a major College Footbal "player" and thanks to last Season, the BB team is on the right track as well.

[Danm1983]

i'm in agreement, though i really don't know how it's going to play out. in football, there's clearly a line being drawn between about 60-something universities. i can actually see it. with basketball, baseball, and other sports, the level of competition and prestige is a bit different. mid majors can compete in those sports and do regularly. i understand football drives the train, but if they split off, i don't know how it will affect the other sports. sure they could and would probably have to go along for the ride, but they don't necessarily have to. i dunno. it's very complicated.

that said, any sort of super conferences will surely dilute the chances of many teams. to me, i was good with the 12 team conferences. in every other sport, round robin and other things can be played. in football, you at least played your entire division and half of the other division with an eight game schedule (or 3/4 of the other division in a nine game schedule), which was about as far as it could get without diminishing out of conference games to less than three. i actually feel bad for some teams in these conferences. their greed allows them to wallow in the money (which the students don't see - but i'm not for paying student-athletes either) by sacrificing any chance their football teams ever have to be perennial powers if they aren't already - there will always be that dream year once in a while for indiana or arizona state or vanderbilt. at least most of the schools that never sit at the top very long in football are able to compete in hoops often. but i guess it's kinda always been that way with some of them.

as for usf, if we end up in some sort of limbo league between the "elite" teams and the FCS (or worse, some combination of the FCS and the leftovers), i guess i'll just take pride in hopefully winning and having a good time watching the guys play and have fun. maybe the talent goes down, but maybe there will be less pressure and it will be more hunky dory?

if usf ever got left out, they could at least breathe easy knowing they'd be one of the biggest and top teams left in the 'have nots", along with teams like UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston or SMU, some of the MWC teams...and whomever else gets left out.

maybe the elites break off and they implement european soccer style relegation for the bottom rung teams to allow the top rung teams from the middle division to move up once in a while....usf could get its shot then and stay up to play with big boys for a while....but that wouldn't happen.

i dont think we have anything to worry about right now. AQ may go away, but there would be too much lawsuit and other stuff going on for some group of universities to try and break off from the rest. congress would definitely not let that happen...people's alma maters would be at stake.

[I Bleed Awesomeness]

a smart man once told me everything is relative in life. so, if we cant make our program more attractive to recruits, we have to make other programs look LESS attractive. ill keep praying to the gods for a major recruiting violation scandal to destroy the efforts of uf, fsu, and miami, in unison, for the next 5-10 years. imagine how attractive we'd become then! unfortunately, im not sure even that would sway a lot of 4 and 5 star athletes in our direction.

[CousinRicky]

First, FSU and UF only got about 1/2 their recruits from the State of FL this year. But Baltobull brings up a lot of good points. There are a lot of programs that have been around much longer than USF and are in better conferences that do nothing year in and year out in the major sports. Princeton played Rutgers back a hundred years ago to kick off college football. Don't think either of them have won a national title in the last 50 years, if ever.

I really believe that USF fans just need to enjoy college sports for what it is, a sporting event in which college age kids go out and do their best. I don't expect to see USF win a national championship in football, basketball or baseball in my lifetime. But it doesn't mean I'm not supporting them with my money, attendance and support. Yes, I get crazy at games and hate to see them lose (like at tonight's baseball game), but in the big picture, just being able to watch a fairly talented team go against some other fairly good teams is good enough.

I remember the first game I went to was USF v Cinci when USF probably wasn't in a conference. That was the first college Football game I ever saw in person. Went into OT and thought "wow, what a great thing this college football is". It was so exciting. We weren't playing for a national championship or a championship of any kind. But I still enjoyed the heck out of it.

This shake up in the Big East really doesn't make a difference to me. Sure it would be nice to be the SEC or Big12, but if it doesn't happen there really isn't much I can do about it. College football is becoming more and more a big business and USF isn't in the big boy money club. And that probably won't change for another 20 - 30 years when one of the researchers that graduates from USF hits it big and starts throwing multi millions at the athletic program

[I Bleed Awesomeness]

First, FSU and UF only got about 1/2 their recruits from the State of FL this year. But Baltobull brings up a lot of good points. There are a lot of programs that have been around much longer than USF and are in better conferences that do nothing year in and year out in the major sports. Princeton played Rutgers back a hundred years ago to kick off college football. Don't think either of them have won a national title in the last 50 years, if ever.

I really believe that USF fans just need to enjoy college sports for what it is, a sporting event in which college age kids go out and do their best. I don't expect to see USF win a national championship in football, basketball or baseball in my lifetime. But it doesn't mean I'm not supporting them with my money, attendance and support. Yes, I get crazy at games and hate to see them lose (like at tonight's baseball game), but in the big picture, just being able to watch a fairly talented team go against some other fairly good teams is good enough.

I remember the first game I went to was USF v Cinci when USF probably wasn't in a conference. That was the first college Football game I ever saw in person. Went into OT and thought "wow, what a great thing this college football is". It was so exciting. We weren't playing for a national championship or a championship of any kind. But I still enjoyed the heck out of it.

This shake up in the Big East really doesn't make a difference to me. Sure it would be nice to be the SEC or Big12, but if it doesn't happen there really isn't much I can do about it. College football is becoming more and more a big business and USF isn't in the big boy money club. And that probably won't change for another 20 - 30 years when one of the researchers that graduates from USF hits it big and starts throwing multi millions at the athletic program

yeah, but the ones from florida they DID get, combined with miami, are over 80% of the top tier recruits in our state.

[bullcocky101]

Let me remind you that Florida State was a big fat 0 of a program before Bobby took over. He immediately began challenging all of the top programs in the country and loaded his schedule with nationally recognized teams. Florida State beat a good share of these teams and were elevated to the status of an elite program which equals recruits, booster money, etc....don't give up hope, building a program takes time and USF has a good foundation.

[BasketBull2012]

USF football's success has been created due to one simple fact: winning games.

If we did not win before, we'd be floundering about.

We need to win and get the fans back and go to major bowls and build a high profile. If we don't win, we will be in a squeeze.

Winning and putting on a good product is what USF can control.

[Bull94]

Let me remind you that Florida State was a big fat 0 of a program before Bobby took over. He immediately began challenging all of the top programs in the country and loaded his schedule with nationally recognized teams. Florida State beat a good share of these teams and were elevated to the status of an elite program which equals recruits, booster money, etc....don't give up hope, building a program takes time and USF has a good foundation.

It took UF 100 years to win a SEC championship let alone to be relevant nationally.

Miami almost shut down their program before their great run that started 30 years ago.

I agree. it takes time.

BTW people make way too big a deal about AQ status. we, along with 30 or 40 other programs, have had AQ status for awhile and have never played in a BCS game. Hawaii, Boise State, Utah, TCU have all played in a BCS game without AQ status.

Cousin ricky- we could start a college all star team with kids that played high school ball in our surrounding counties let alone the state. let's start with Aaron murray(Plant high) from Georgia and add sammy watkins from clemson(1st team all american as a true freshman). UF won titles due in large part to the 7 kids they got from lakeland in one recruiting class.