It's Not Unusual For Local Columnists To Write Stuff Like This

[Triple B]

USF needs new coach to inject life into basketball program

 

• Tom Jones, Times Sports Columnist

 

 

Here's a sure-fire way to get USF basketball on the map: cheat.

 

Start paying players. Buy them cars. Fix their grades. Get mom and dad a swank house in South Tampa.

 

Instead of showing off the new facilities and bragging about the weather and academics, just stuff hundred dollar bills into brown paper bags and hand them out to recruits. Maybe then the Bulls can become one of the nearly 70 programs that makes the NCAA Tournament.

My motto: a Final Four in five years and NCAA probation in six.

 

I'm kidding, of course. But you do wonder if breaking the rules is the only way USF will ever have a respectable basketball program.

 

Once again, USF is looking for a head coach. Stan Heath was fired after seven years. He was a nice enough guy, but a 97-128 record, including a 3-15 mark in the American Athletic Conference this season, wasn't going to cut it.

 

So now USF looks for the next coach who will finally wake the sleeping giant and turn it into a college basketball powerhouse.

 

Good luck with that.

 

Is USF a good job? Everyone seems to think so.

 

Everyone is wrong.

 

USF is not a good job. And do you know why? Because it has never been a good job.

 

Think about it. When has this program ever been relevant?

 

It has been to only three NCAA Tournaments. It has won only two NCAA Tournament games.

 

Coaches have come and gone. From Lee Rose to Bobby Pascal. From Seth Greenberg to Robert McCullum. And now Heath has come and gone.

 

So where does USF go from here?

 

By all accounts, USF hired a sharp athletic director in Mark Harlan, the former associate athletic director at UCLA. Harlan had little, if any, say in the firing of Heath. That move appeared to be the doing of USF president Judy Genshaft.

 

But let's hope Genshaft stays out of the way when it comes to hiring the next basketball coach. It's not her area of expertise, and Harlan needs to make his mark at USF.

 

The biggest name floating around is Ben Howland, who took UCLA to three consecutive Final Fours from 2006-08. This rumor is gaining steam because Harlan worked with Howland at UCLA. Although it's not known if they have a good relationship.

 

Howland was fired last year after going 25-9 and getting knocked out in his first game of the NCAA Tournament. Geez, going 25-9 and making the tournament at USF might get you a parade down Fowler Avenue and a statue outside the Sun Dome. There was a little more to Howland's firing than his record. He was criticized for not recruiting well enough in California, and a negative Sports Illustrated story accused Howland of losing control of his team.

 

Certainly, Howland would be a big-time hire, and he would bring a suffocating defensive style that could help USF win sooner rather than later. But would Howland be interested in USF? There are rumors that he would rather go to Wake Forest, assuming Wake fires coach Jeff Bzdelik.

 

That makes sense. Wake is in the ACC. It's a better job. And that's the problem USF is going to face going forward.

 

Spin it all you want, but the American Athletic Conference is not a major conference. It's not bad, but it's not the ACC or the Big Ten or the Big 12 or the Pac-12. Louisville, the best hoops program in the American, is leaving after this season for the ACC.

 

USF's conference still has Memphis, Cincinnati and UConn. Tulsa is coming in. But if you're a coach with your choice of offers, coaching a bad program in an average conference doesn't sound like a dream job.

 

There is talk that coach Buzz Williams is unhappy at Marquette. But why would you leave Marquette for USF even if you were unhappy? It's a step down and could be a potential career-killer for a guy who someday hopes to land a big-boy job in a major conference.

 

USF has three choices.

 

It could find a young coach at a small, up-and-coming program, kind of like how Southern Cal scooped up Andy Enfield from Florida Gulf Coast. Maybe USF could make a run at, say, Manhattan's Steve Masiello or Fairfield's Sydney Johnson or Robert Morris' Andy Toole.

 

It could go after an out-of-work coach such as Howland. Bruce Pearl was a thought until Auburn hired him Tuesday.

 

Or USF could make a run at an assistant from a successful program, and here's the perfect guy from that option: Florida's John Pelphrey.

 

He's still a young guy at 45 and has spent valuable time as an assistant under Billy Donovan both at Florida and Marshall. He has high character. He also has run his own program, coaching South Alabama and Arkansas, winning 54 percent of his games and going to two NCAA Tournaments. And he knows how to recruit in Florida. Actually, USF interviewed Pelphrey back in 2007 before hiring Heath.

 

Right now, USF is not a good job. Forget all that stuff about facilities and weather and conference and so forth. This will only be a good job when the right coach comes and makes it a good job by turning USF into a winner.

 

Pelphrey seems like the right fit.

 

Then again, it's USF. History suggests there is no right fit.

 

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/basketball/college/usf-needs-new-coach-to-inject-life-into-basketball-program/2170834

 

 

[Brad]

Old fart with bad sense of humor...

It's not unusual to be loved by anyone,

It's not unusual to have fun with anyone,

But when I see you hanging about with anyone

It's not unusual to see me cry, I wanna die

It's not unusual to go out at any time,

But when I see you out and about it's just a crime,

If you should ever wanna be loved by anyone,

It's not unusual, it happens every day,

No matter what you say

You'll find it happens all the time

Love will never do, what you want it to

Why can't this crazy love be mine.

It's not unusual to be mad with anyone,

It's not unusual to be sad with anyone

But if I ever find that you've changed at any time

It's not unusual, to find that I'm in love with you

Woh woh woh woh

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

[BDYZR]

As bad as it is, I think this is the most print we've had since 2007. Seems all the local opinionators are writing something about the BULLS.

Even Steve Otto got his shot in this morning.

 

http://tbo.com/list/news-columns-sotto/otto-dont-sweat-the-money-if-youre-fired-from-usf-20140319/

[Paisa el Toro]

It's up to USF to make them write otherwise. Our fans have thin skin.

[Brad]

Otto says

But this is USF, with a College of Business and I'm guessing dozens of smart money types who know how to make great business deals.

He needs to do more research.

[Brad]

Farther down in the story, Johnson points out that USF is now paying three former coaches a total of $7 million to not coach their teams. Former football coach Jim Leavitt earned a $2.75 million settlement after contesting his firing. Former football coach Skip Holtz, after getting his contract extended, was then fired with another $2.5 million payout to go away.

Incidentally, the guy who extended his contract is now former athletic director Doug Woolard, who is no longer the AD but is remaining at USF and getting his base salary of $560,000 through next year.

About all you can figure is that at least USF has figured out how to reduce the stress at the unemployment lines.

That's USF.

[BDYZR]

Otto says

 

But this is USF, with a College of Business and I'm guessing dozens of smart money types who know how to make great business deals.

He needs to do more research.

 

Like most of them around here that write a piece...

[raptorcj]

Our record speaks for itself. It's mediocre until it improves, and I agree Harlan has a great opportunity to make his mark early.

[Hem]

He took cheap shots at the program/university and skewed records to make it look worse than it was. Guy knows nothing about USF.

 

Written like a true *******.

[Triple B]

Old fart with bad sense of humor...

It's not unusual to be loved by anyone,

It's not unusual to have fun with anyone,

But when I see you hanging about with anyone

It's not unusual to see me cry, I wanna die

It's not unusual to go out at any time,

But when I see you out and about it's just a crime,

If you should ever wanna be loved by anyone,

It's not unusual, it happens every day,

No matter what you say

You'll find it happens all the time

Love will never do, what you want it to

Why can't this crazy love be mine.

It's not unusual to be mad with anyone,

It's not unusual to be sad with anyone

But if I ever find that you've changed at any time

It's not unusual, to find that I'm in love with you

Woh woh woh woh

Yeah yeah yeah yeah

 

Bad sense of humor?? Thought it was pretty damned clever .... I'm sure Delilah would have approved.