Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is no way to go through life, USF

[TherapyBull]

What exactly is the point of this article? Blow up USF and start over? USF is what it is. Deal with it or find someone else to root for because the majority of those things aren't going to change and some, like no OCS (ask Pitt how much that's hurt them), don't mean squat and are one person's perceptions, not fact.

"What exactly is the point of this article?"

Based on USF's objective resume, it is in its current situation with regards to conference realignment.

"Blow up USF and start over?"

No continue to support USF academics and athletics via donations and attendance at sporting events.

"USF is what it is. Deal with it or find someone else to root for because the majority of those things aren't going to change"

Thats a terrible attitude and not supported by the people who passionately responded to this thread, we want USF to be better, and feel it has the capacity to improve

"like no OCS (ask Pitt how much that's hurt them),"

Pitt was established in 1787, has an endowment of over 2.5 billion dollars. Is an AAU member ranked number 58 nationally by US News. Has national Championships in football and a Heisman winner. They need an OCS about as much as Harvard and Penn need a marketing department for their business schools. This was exactly the point of this thread. Pitt has a tremendous objective resume, and was desirable to another conference.

"don't mean squat and are one person's perceptions, not fact."

If you are referencing me, I'll take it as a compliment, I'll also give you the benefit of the doubt that you did not read the thread. The whole thread is on USF's position based on objective data. I think all my posts do a pretty good job referencing stats, ranking, and articles.

[TherapyBull]

If I hear one more person say USF is a commuter school I'm going to crack my head on the desk. Don't like 80% of the students live within 5 miles of the campus now? On Campus housing has been sold out 2 years now and the apartments just off campus are pretty much slap full..... commuter my ass....

Yeah, I lived in Gainesville for a few loooong miserable years. I can tell you that most student there don't live on campus either. It's stupid to even bring it up. Almost as stupid as the off campus football stadium. The only reason schools have on campus stadiums is because there are no other places to play. They had no choice but to build. And if you build, you tend to do it on your own property, hence the OCS was born.

"The only reason schools have on campus stadiums is because there are no other places to play. They had no choice but to build. And if you build, you tend to do it on your own property, hence the OCS was born."

Yes, but they also discovered the amazing benefit of having 50K plus on the campus during gameday. Alumni returning and bringing their families is a great thing. I'm to tired to search for articles from schools who just got on campus stadiums noticing this benefit. They are out their. If you do not beleive me, ask Judy or Doug, they say it all the time.

[Florida Bull]

There are some commenters, I am wondering if they can ever be happy with USF's accomplishments.

[ProudBull]

I really don't want to jump into this mess of a thread, but I do want to point out a couple of things. One of the things that made USF unique was that it still served our community. The whole commuter school thing is a result of the Tampa Bay area (large metro area) having a solid university to serve it's citizens that could earn a degree while still working. With the exception of Tallahassee you can't really say that about the other universities in the state. The low undergraduate graduation rates result from those who were working and going to school at the same time. People taking those night classes who are older and not living on campus. None of things in my opinion are bad things. Life happens and they have to stop taking classes for a while or for good. So it really depends how you look at it. From a numbers point of view yet it looks bad, but we were a university that served it's community and to me that was a good thing. USF is definitely making strides to try and shed the commuter school image, but I'm not a fan of how they are going about it. For a research 1 institution better relationships with the area would help boost research (i.e. in the college of education and in the college of health)

On somewhat of a side note, USF has grown so fast to be a research 1 that we really don't have the infrastructure of a research 1 university set up yet. There are still policies and faculty that were set/came here when we were a comprehensive university. I came in as doc student with part new faculty educated in research 1 schools and old faculty who are still in comprehensive university mode. It's amazing how different they really are.

As for AAU, it's just a good ol' boys club. I think it was SU or someone up north that just decided they didn't want to be part of AAU anymore because they didn't feel it was worth their effort. Yeah it would be kind of cool to be in it, but it shouldn't be what defines us. IMHO if there is anyone that can get us that bid it would be Judy.

In terms of conference realignment and the cluster@#$% that it is, which I think is the ultimate point of this thread, I don't think any of this really matters. I think it's about money and tradition. It's asinine to even look at the teams that are in the conferences now. Really the only conference that makes any sense right now is the SEC. You would think university presidents would be able to control themselves and not act like they've never seen money before. I drives me crazy to think that someone like the NCAA should have authority over them. Someone needs to slap them in the face, look them in the eye, and say what the #$%& are you doing?

I think USF will be fine. The chances of us getting into the "big five" are slim, so no matter what conference we are in, we at least have chance to get into the play offs. I'm sure Doug and Judy are doing their best. It's not like it's in their best interest to play in a crappy conference.

In the end I think USF just needs to worry about what it can control.

Go Bulls!

[TallyBull]

Good post, ProudBull.

[Sellular1]

Good post, ProudBull.

Agreed. Nice work!

[outrunner]

About being labeled a commuter school, this is a tricky label. It usually stems from the number of students living in university housing. For USF, that only counts as the dorms on campus. Other schools, such as UCF, contract to private apartment complexes as "university housing", so all those students who are technically commuting aren't counted as commuters. Since USF doesn't contract out, all of the students in off campus apartments are considered commuters. This also doesn't account for private condos and houses rented out to students in the immediate areas.

That's the problem with this label. It makes it sound as if students are just living at home with their parents and driving to school each day, when that is not the case. It really is a poorly defined label with no true set of standards, that has a derogatory notion to it.

[Sellular1]

About being labeled a commuter school, this is a tricky label. It usually stems from the number of students living in university housing. For USF, that only counts as the dorms on campus. Other schools, such as UCF, contract to private apartment complexes as "university housing", so all those students who are technically commuting aren't counted as commuters. Since USF doesn't contract out, all of the students in off campus apartments are considered commuters. This also doesn't account for private condos and houses rented out to students in the immediate areas.

That's the problem with this label. It makes it sound as if students are just living at home with their parents and driving to school each day, when that is not the case. It really is a poorly defined label with no true set of standards, that has a derogatory notion to it.

All I know, is that when I was in school at USF many of the kids would go home to the east coast of florida on the weekends to get their laundry done...

[Hem]

About being labeled a commuter school, this is a tricky label. It usually stems from the number of students living in university housing. For USF, that only counts as the dorms on campus. Other schools, such as UCF, contract to private apartment complexes as "university housing", so all those students who are technically commuting aren't counted as commuters. Since USF doesn't contract out, all of the students in off campus apartments are considered commuters. This also doesn't account for private condos and houses rented out to students in the immediate areas.

That's the problem with this label. It makes it sound as if students are just living at home with their parents and driving to school each day, when that is not the case. It really is a poorly defined label with no true set of standards, that has a derogatory notion to it.

All I know, is that when I was in school at USF many of the kids would go home to the east coast of florida on the weekends to get their laundry done...

Not anymore. Many of them live off campus (College Court, Campus Lodge, 42North, etc) because the apts on campus are very pricey. If they built some nicer dorms (no Delta, Kappa, and all the other old ones are not nice) that were competitive with the private housing nearby, people would stay on campus. Nobody leaves on weekends b/c we are all at these apt complexes together, or the ones on campus do their laundry there.

[outrunner]

About being labeled a commuter school, this is a tricky label. It usually stems from the number of students living in university housing. For USF, that only counts as the dorms on campus. Other schools, such as UCF, contract to private apartment complexes as "university housing", so all those students who are technically commuting aren't counted as commuters. Since USF doesn't contract out, all of the students in off campus apartments are considered commuters. This also doesn't account for private condos and houses rented out to students in the immediate areas.

That's the problem with this label. It makes it sound as if students are just living at home with their parents and driving to school each day, when that is not the case. It really is a poorly defined label with no true set of standards, that has a derogatory notion to it.

All I know, is that when I was in school at USF many of the kids would go home to the east coast of florida on the weekends to get their laundry done...

Not anymore. Many of them live off campus (College Court, Campus Lodge, 42North, etc) because the apts on campus are very pricey. If they built some nicer dorms (no Delta, Kappa, and all the other old ones are not nice) that were competitive with the private housing nearby, people would stay on campus. Nobody leaves on weekends b/c we are all at these apt complexes together, or the ones on campus do their laundry there.

I agree. The campus life on campus sucks on the weekends. There's nothing to do. But in fairness, we're in Tampa, there's a multitude of activities to do in the city; unlike Tally or Gville, where there is a much smaller selection of activities.