SI story on Taggart, Holtz, USF, Big East

[WoolyBully]

If he wins big and wins quickly -- and if one of the power leagues decides to expand again -- he might wind up saving the entire USF athletic department from itself.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20121217/willie-taggart-south-florida/#ixzz2FLdpGHfr

I like that line. Yeah, it's an "if", but it's the "if" that we all hope pans out. I don't expect it for a year or two, but hopefully he can dig us

out of that hole.

[Rizman]

If "Ifs and buts were candies and nuts" we would all have a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas bull fans....

[Triple B]

It's nice to get some positive press every once in a while. With the exception of his statements about getting into the ACC and Big 12 (I agree with gobulls83 on this), I thought the article did a good job of presenting the current state of affairs at USF, without trashing the program or the conference. Instead, it seemed to focus on the potential upside Taggart could provide.

I think that's what most of us are hoping for - there's no reason why we shouldn't compete for and win our conference regularly. Once we can do that, then let's talk about national title implications from being in the Big East. Often these problems will resolve themselves with winning.

If you mean he didn't belabor that point ad nauseum, fine ... but the ever present trashing was there, just more subtle than most.

[Triple B]

I think the stated claims both in the aticle and by the posters are both wrong. We didn't get an invite because we were in FL. Sound counter intuitive? Consider we are outiside of the Geographic models of the P12, B12 and B1G. The only 2 conferences we might fit geographically in(not everyone has the BE national model, we see how well that worked) are the SEC in which we had zero chance and the ACC which already had 2 FL schools. Hence, no where to go.

Did I miss the part where it was explained how WVU fit the B12's geographic model?

[GaUSFBull]

I think the stated claims both in the aticle and by the posters are both wrong. We didn't get an invite because we were in FL. Sound counter intuitive? Consider we are outiside of the Geographic models of the P12, B12 and B1G. The only 2 conferences we might fit geographically in(not everyone has the BE national model, we see how well that worked) are the SEC in which we had zero chance and the ACC which already had 2 FL schools. Hence, no where to go.

Did I miss the part where it was explained how WVU fit the B12's geographic model?

No, but what you did miss is my reply saying the exact same thing, just two responses down from Bill's.

[TallyBull]

It's nice to get some positive press every once in a while. With the exception of his statements about getting into the ACC and Big 12 (I agree with gobulls83 on this), I thought the article did a good job of presenting the current state of affairs at USF, without trashing the program or the conference. Instead, it seemed to focus on the potential upside Taggart could provide.

I think that's what most of us are hoping for - there's no reason why we shouldn't compete for and win our conference regularly. Once we can do that, then let's talk about national title implications from being in the Big East. Often these problems will resolve themselves with winning.

If you mean he didn't belabor that point ad nauseum, fine ... but the ever present trashing was there, just more subtle than most.

I think that's accurate. I'm just so used to seeing it be front and center... when it's presented subtly, I view it as a win.

[StevieRayBull]

Conference affiliation is not unimportant, but I think it's clouding everyone's thoughts too much nowadays. This article was fair in it's discussion of conference affiliation, but our interest as fans in the program shouldn't be dominated by this. USF just needs to be worried about winning the games it plays and the rest will take care of itself. Better conference affiliation could help us with recruiting, but it's not the end all. If we were moving up from 1-AA, I'd be more worried about our recruiting position, but our place in the state right now is good enough to attract whatever recruits we'll need.

All this conference affiliation talk is mostly high school-type drama and politics. I'd rather be the guy who goes about his business and isn't worried about being "popular" with the other conferences. In the end, he'll be a great success. I think Boise State has been the best example of this in recent history. Granted, they're playing the conference game too, but if I were a Boise fan, I'd be happy with the coaching and program rising based on success on the field.

Again, I understand that conference affiliation isn't irrelevant, but I'm not going to sweat over what we can't control or make too big a deal of it. What we can control is winning the games on our schedule, and I think we have the coach to do that.

Edited December 17, 2012 by StevieRayBull

[TrujilloBull2013]

I like Andy Staples, but his claim that USF would be in the ACC or the Big XII if they had won a single conference title is absurd. Louisville and West Virginia didn't get in because of football success - they got in because of fan base and the money that comes with it. Fan bases are built up because of success, so there's that, but a single Orange Bowl appearance wouldn't have put USF on the same level of West Virginia and Louisville, which have been around for years and years and years, and in Louisville's case there has been a ton of basketball success on top of it.

If his argument were valid at all, Boise State would be in a bigger league by now. He is plainly wrong.

you're comparing apples and orange bowls. the article didn't say USF would have got into a bigger conference off success alone, but success COMBINED with our market in a talent rich state would have made us a no-brainer.

WVU and UL are not good comparisons because they have TRADITION + ON-FIELD SUCCESS, as well as reasonably successful b-ball programs (ON-COURT SUCCESS!) we have non-of-the-above. what we do have is the market and recruiting base. and since a 16 year old program cant simply INVENT tradition (USF tried... and failed) we would need that on-field success to complete the equation: TV MARKET + ON FIELD SUCCESS = invite to real conference. hypothetically speaking.

Boise is not comparable either because while they have on-field success, they have little more tradition than we do (yay, a blue field. we have cannons and pirate ship in a red stadium beyotch!), have a non-existent TV market, no fertile recruiting ground, and even their on-field success is not comparable because they haven't played in a BCS/AQ conference since 2005 the way we have.

the better comparison for your argument would be Cincinnati. they've won conference titles, been to the Orange Bowl, some school tradition, decent hoops and a relatively large TV market (34). THEY haven't been invited to the ACC or Big12 yet, so winning a couple BE titles may not have guaranteed us anything.

i think the biggest factor we had in our favor was momentum. we were a "hot" team. Leavitt plateaued but Holtz tanked us. there's no telling what Leavitt may have done in the past 3 years but the trajectory after 2007 was NOT upward by any means in or out of conference, and 3 or 4 wins a year in the BE most likely wouldn't have been sufficient. we needed to keep moving upward and we didn't. even worse we moved backwards. had we won a BE title, gone to the Orange Bowl, and maintained even 8 or 9 win seasons consistently i think it's fair to say we would be more attractive right now than we currently are.

[Sellular1]

Conference affiliation is not unimportant, but I think it's clouding everyone's thoughts too much nowadays. This article was fair in it's discussion of conference affiliation, but our interest as fans in the program shouldn't be dominated by this. USF just needs to be worried about winning the games it plays and the rest will take care of itself. Better conference affiliation could help us with recruiting, but it's not the end all. If we were moving up from 1-AA, I'd be more worried about our recruiting position, but our place in the state right now is good enough to attract whatever recruits we'll need.

All this conference affiliation talk is mostly high school-type drama and politics. I'd rather be the guy who goes about his business and isn't worried about being "popular" with the other conferences. In the end, he'll be a great success. I think Boise State has been the best example of this in recent history. Granted, they're playing the conference game too, but if I were a Boise fan, I'd be happy with the coaching and program rising based on success on the field.

Again, I understand that conference affiliation isn't irrelevant, but I'm not going to sweat over what we can't control or make too big a deal of it. What we can control is winning the games on our schedule, and I think we have the coach to do that.

Sorry brah, there's a big difference in being in a conference that pays $20million + per school vs $1million per school. Hardly high school drama.

[charsibb]

Conference affiliation is not unimportant, but I think it's clouding everyone's thoughts too much nowadays. This article was fair in it's discussion of conference affiliation, but our interest as fans in the program shouldn't be dominated by this. USF just needs to be worried about winning the games it plays and the rest will take care of itself. Better conference affiliation could help us with recruiting, but it's not the end all. If we were moving up from 1-AA, I'd be more worried about our recruiting position, but our place in the state right now is good enough to attract whatever recruits we'll need.

All this conference affiliation talk is mostly high school-type drama and politics. I'd rather be the guy who goes about his business and isn't worried about being "popular" with the other conferences. In the end, he'll be a great success. I think Boise State has been the best example of this in recent history. Granted, they're playing the conference game too, but if I were a Boise fan, I'd be happy with the coaching and program rising based on success on the field.

Again, I understand that conference affiliation isn't irrelevant, but I'm not going to sweat over what we can't control or make too big a deal of it. What we can control is winning the games on our schedule, and I think we have the coach to do that.

Sorry brah, there's a big difference in being in a conference that pays $20million + per school vs $1million per school. Hardly high school drama.

It's also completely out of our hands, so drama is all we got