Bull Market In South Florida
USF, Big East Banking On Each Other
By Pete Young
St. Petersburg Times

The South Florida football express finally slowed up, just a little bit, last season.

But by joining Pitt, West Virginia and the new Big East for 2005, the Bulls believe they are locked back onto the fast track, for good.

That's what being a part of a BCS conference means to those who have been blocked out. Especially when you are located in football-fertile Florida. Big East membership is the celebrated puzzle piece that could lift USF into the company of the state's Holy Trinity of football: Florida, Florida State and Miami. It is the final blast of credibility needed to vault it into the national consciousness.

Though UF, FSU and Miami have massive, longstanding reputations, there is such an abundance of prep football talent in Florida that a newcomer such as USF could turn the Big Three into the Fab Four with a smart, determined effort. And BCS membership.

"We're growing toward our goal,'' said former athletic director and chief fundraiser Lee Roy Selmon, "a prominent spot nationally.''

Planting Seeds

Precocious USF, a large state school in Tampa, began play in 1997. The Bulls tore through every checkpoint from inception to national respectability. In 2001 and 2002, its first Division I-A seasons, USF was a combined 17-5 and notched a marquee win, 35-26 at Pittsburgh.

In 2003, though, the Bulls went from a relatively soft independent schedule to membership in mid-level Conference USA. They scrapped together a 7-4 record, 5-3 in C-USA, but again missed that elusive first bowl bid.

Joining the Big East for 2005 eliminated any feeling of stagnation and replaced it with euphoria.

"(It) is a great opportunity for the university,'' USF board of trustees chairman Dick Beard said. "It takes us to the next level."

Coach Jim Leavitt (51-26, seven seasons) and staff now can sell prospects on the blazing neon sign previously absent from their recruiting brochure: the BCS. And though the Big East is perceived as weakened and less glamorous without Miami, USF has loaded its future non-conference schedule with games at South Carolina (this season), Penn State (2005), Auburn (2007) and Florida (2008, Ô09).

Leavitt, 47, the only coach in school history and driving force behind USF football, has forged a solid program out of thin air with very limited resources. Seemingly overnight, USF has molded second-tier Florida high school recruits, high-caliber late academic qualifiers and a few big-school transfers into a respectable Division I-A program.

Also now tucked into in Leavitt's vastly upgraded recruiting arsenal is the long-anticipated $15-million athletic facility, which was completed this summer. The sprawling, state-of-the-art complex already has paid dividends. USF signed its most highly rated recruiting class ever in February, by far. Rivals.com ranked it No. 43 nationally, higher than any of the Bulls' future Big East league members. They swayed several recruits in the 11th hour, among them receiver Johnny Peyton from nearby Pasco High, who jilted Pitt.

"Johnny definitely would not be going to South Florida if they weren't in the Big East," Pasco coach Dale Caparaso said. "My gut feeling is that, if South Florida doesn't join the Big East, a number of their recruits this year don't go there."

For the second straight year, every USF recruit is from Florida. Junior college stars Andre Hall, a running back, and Antonio Searcy, a defensive tackle, played in Kansas but prepped in Florida.

The message: Local prospects no longer need to leave to play for a major program. Oh, and you might get to play a little sooner. That message is heard loud and clear throughout the rest of the conference.

"The South Florida coaches feel like they won the lottery down there," Pitt coach Walt Harris said last February. "They're not just in the Big East now. They're in the BCS."

Building A Contender

USF, founded in 1956, views itself as an emerging young force. The campus is almost 1,500 acres, enrollment has crested 40,000.

The Tampa Bay area (Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Sarasota) is the No. 13-ranked television market in the country, and the conference's biggest in football. ESPN moved South Florida's scheduled Sept. 4 game with Pitt to Monday the 6th, for a Labor Day national telecast. By agreeing to the early-season change, the Bulls' game against Memphis in November will be picked up by ESPN, giving South Florida three national telecasts.

Such TV status appealed to the Big East, and the booming local population means USF always will have a bushel of prospects right in its backyard.

"We've done great recruiting kids from right here,'' Leavitt said." Why would they want to leave?"

Two new relatively high profile assistant coaches added in March also should further elevate recruiting. Carl Franks, the longtime Florida assistant and a proven veteran of Sunshine State recruiting wars, is the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator.

"He's got a lot of credibility,'' Leavitt said. "He's going to carry a lot of weight. He will oversee all of our recruiting. He's going to be an extension of me."

Former Florida State All-American and Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Lawrence Dawsey is the new receivers coach and brings much-needed name recognition. The Bulls' biggest drawbacks are an identity crisis and still-developing fan following. USF is undergoing a large-scale transformation from commuter school to destination campus. Many are unaware of USF's fast-rising stature. That includes many right in Tampa, which is dominated by Florida and Florida State alumni and has a widespread devotion the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Another major issue is money. Youthful USF does not yet have an abundance of wealthy alumni donors. Start-up costs for football were severely debilitating. The Bulls' football budget remains far behind their future Big East brethren.

The money shortfall has hurt, but donations and the budget are increasing annually, and the average attendance at plush Raymond James Stadium, the home of the Buccaneers about 15-20 minutes from campus, moved past 30,000 last season. A unique marketing deal between USF and the Bucs will also help boost the USF advertising campaign. With Tampa-area icon Selmon now focused solely on fundraising, donations should continue to soar.

Many also expect USF's on-field prospects to soar. "(The Big East) puts us in the big leagues," USF president Judy Genshaft said. "Major public universities have big-time sports. When you attract faculty from Tier 1 universities, they all expect big-time sports. We're the big player now."

Pittsburgh president Mark Nordenberg, a major figure in the conference realignment, commented that South Florida "really has tremendous potential."

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese wanted USF specifically because of that potential.

"I talked to a lot of people who know a lot more about football than I do, and they said take (South Florida) in your league," Tranghese said. "They have a chance to be very good. They come in better situated than Virginia Tech did in (1991)."