Urgent News for USF Students, Alumni, and Supporters: Save Our School!

We don't venture far from sports usually, but it appears now that our university is in a bit of trouble as far as funding. Admittedly, I am not too big on the political side, so you'll have to forgive me if some of these things are not properly stated. I will, however, not be posting any opinions on here. You all are welcome to post what you feel in the comments or anywhere else, but this post is meant strictly to inform those who aren't up to date on the whole situation.

Yesterday it became apparent that the Florida state senate had entertained a proposition by state Senator J.D. Alexander to cut an egregious amount from the state of Florida's financial contribution to the state public university system. You may have heard Alexander's name in the recent months in the talks of the potential, and now probably impending, split of the USF Polytechnic satellite campus from the University of South Florida system. If you've heard of the cuts, you've surely heard that USF is the one shouldering a very significant amount of the load, suffering a cut of over 58% of their state funding. USF released an illustration of what they plan to do to cope with the losses this morning. I'll explain the situation after the jump.

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Welcome to USF, New Students! Bars Edition

Many students are going to get tired of hanging around campus all the time and not having much to do. Luckily, USF students can choose from a selection of bars around the area to spend their nights with their friends or to catch a game. Here are some places where you can grab a drink or two (or 10)*.

Peabody's - Peabody's made the list yesterday for sports bars, but they're more than that. They have nightly drink specials, including BOGO pitchers on Mondays, $1 drinks on Wednesdays, and Ladies' night on Thursdays. They've got USF specials, including 2 free hours of pool on Thursdays. The atmosphere is always fun and you'll meet some interesting people.

World of Beer - One of the newer bars around the Tampa area, WOB has hundreds of beers on tap from all over the world. Here, you can have several types of beers for weeks and never get tired of it. Their loyalty card program encourages trying all the different beers they have and rewards different milestones along the way. Wednesday night is college night, so students with a college ID get half off select drafts after 9 p.m.

Mr. Dunderbak's - An institution for USF bars, Dunderbak's is one of the oldest bars in the North Tampa/Temple Terrace area. For 40 years Dunderbak's has served Bulls students with great food and better drinks. It's a German-style restaurant, so you know you'll be able to get a great beer here. They also have a selection of nightly events, including live music on weekends.

Tia's Tex Mex - Another recurring member on the list, Tia's has great margarita specials with a new flavor every night. They stay open until 3 a.m. on Friday nights, and once a month they've got a "Yappy Hour", where people around town can bring their dogs to share a night out.

Copper Top Pub - Three words: Best. Wings. Ever. Copper Top is right across 50th street from USF, which means it's a prime location to have some good drinks and not have to drive home. They've got a room of pool tables and some good bar food to help space out your drinks, but the bartenders are always happy to grab you a pitcher for a decent price. In the same plaza as Cop Top, CDB has great Italian food and better prices on beers.

Other Places to Grab a Drink: Chili's, Beef O'Brady's, Gladstone's Grilled Chicken (awesome food and 25 cent Yuenglings or $1 pitchers).

*We know you college kids like to have a few drinks, but these places are all pretty serious about I.D. Be cautious with their rules and drink responsibly.

Mostly Successful Week for Bulls

Over the past week, there were several USF teams in action. Right here in Tampa, the softball team had a three-game conference series against Connecticut, which they wound up sweeping. The lovely ladies of USF Volleyball held their tenth annual find raising golf tournament across the street at River Hill Country Club on Friday, which was enjoyed thoroughly by the guys at Voodoo Five all day. Up in Indiana, the track team spend a couple days competing in the Polytan Invitational Tournament, where they wound up winning winning five events as well as improving on some personal bests. The baseball team didn't have quite as much success, however, as they bring home a 1-2 record from their three-day stay in Louisville. USF Golf had the Big East tournaments during the week, and while they competed beyond expectations, expectations were low to begin with.

The USF Softball team had yet another conference sweep, this time welcoming UConn to the new softball complex. As I wrote before, the Bulls had a great Friday, dominating a doubleheader and allowing only three runs all day. Sara Nevins got her eighth save, taking over the outright spot for most season saves in USF history. They completed the series sweep Saturday afternoon with an 8-0 run-rule victory and another Nevins gem. She has now not allowed a single run in her last 41.1 innings pitched.

While the doubleheader was going on, down the road at River Hill CC the girls of USF Volleyball were holding their annual fundraiser scramble tournament. With nearr 100 prizes for raffles and plenty of supporters on the course, the day was a complete success. I'd tell you how much they raised, but I figured I'd just let them do that:

It's always great to see a fundraiser go well for any of our teams, so congratulations to the volleyball team on a great job on the course once again.

Out of the state, half of USF's track team went to Bloomington to compete in the University of Indiana's Polytan Invitational while the other half was in Baton Rouge for the LSU Alumni Gold competition. In Indiana, USF's 'A' team took the gold in the 4x400, while individually Jared Thomas won the discus. At LSU, the first-place finishers included Denise von Eynatten (pole vault) and Marqueshia Stallworth (triple jump). In addition to the victories in competition, the athletes achieved 11 personal bests and posted 27 Big East qualifying times.

The success wasn't unlimited, though, as the baseball team took a trip up to Louisville, there they lost two of three, dropping their first conference series since losing to West Virginia in the conference opener. USF dropped a late lead in game one, before getting blown out in game two. Saturday, the Bulls answered with a 10-5 victory thanks in part to the help of a grand slam by Andrew Longley.

The golf teams were playing in the Big East tournament at Innisbrook, where hopes for a championship win were pretty low. USF golf has underachieved in recent memory, but actually competed surprisingly not-too-horribly. The men's team tied their best-ever Big East showing with a fourth place finish, highlighted by a fourth-place individual finish by Robby Carl. The lady golfers earned a third-place finish, only shooting a higher final day score than eventual champion Notre Dame.

Overall, the weekend was full of South Florida sports, and it's always a pleasure when the teams give us something good to write about. Be sure to go out to the softball stadium on Wednesday for the Big East leading USF Softball team's final home series of the season against Notre Dame, who is currently second in the conference, and a weekend baseball series against St. John's. It's sad to see the USF athletics season coming to a close, but the end does bring the end of the semester for students, and the upcoming of a new athletics season to come soon.

Villanova's Vote Delayed

It looks like the anticipation of Villanova's Board of Trustees vote to move their football team to the FBS level is going to continue to kill us for a bit longer than expected. Apparently the board was prepared to vote, but officials from the Big East conference expressed their concern for Nova's stadium arrangements. As it is, the Wildcats play in PPL Park, home of the MLS's Philadelphia Union. The stadium seats 18,500, with room for expansion to 30,000. The average attendance for football games currently reaches around 5,000 to 7,000, while the Big East's average attendance last year (which turned out to be a bad year too) was 45,028.

Now I'm not the first to have thought of this, but you've got to think Pitt is behind this. Just as USF students, and probably executives, were opposed to Central Florida moving to a BCS conference, Pitt's formerly backyard FCS team now has potential to draw some recruits and attendance away from them. This letter was released from Villanova president Fr. Peter Donohue in response to delaying the vote:

Even if Nova does end up making the jump, they won't be able to play a full FBS schedule until 2014. That said, it has to say something for Villanova's continued loyalty to the conference for thirty years that they are here to stay, and deserve to be rewarded with the kind of revenue and national attention they have earned. Mostly, though, what I'm trying to say is: Anyone but UCF.

It is important to me that you are the first to know the status of our potential transition to the Big East Conference as a football member. At this point in time, no formal action will be taken on this matter at the April 12, 2011, meeting of the Villanova Board of Trustees as we had planned and previously communicated.

We very recently learned that the Big East Conference needs more time to complete its due diligence regarding Villanova’s potential football membership. Without a clear and formal invitation from the Big East, we cannot proceed. We are now working with the Big East to provide whatever additional information and details we can. It is our hope that in the near future we will proceed with the Board of Trustees vote as planned.

I am sure that some of you may be disappointed by this delay. But please know that whatever the outcome of this situation, we greatly value the positive relationship we have enjoyed with the Big East for over 30 years and look forward to the continuation of this partnership.

I certainly will share new information with you as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, I ask for your patience and your continued support.

Even if Nova does end up making the jump, they won't be able to play a full FBS schedule until 2014. That said, it has to say something for Villanova's continued loyalty to the conference for thirty years that they are here to stay, and deserve to be rewarded with the kind of revenue and national attention they have earned. There may be other teams in the back of Big East officials' minds, like possibly East Carolina (provides a geographical bridge between WVU and USF, pretty good recruiting, and great location), Southern Miss (geographical bridge between USF and TCU, and provides great recruiting ground), or Houston (provides a natural in-state rival for TCU, fantastic recruiting, excellent market, and good location). Not to mention that all of these schools have great fan bases and all have rivalry ties to current Big East teams (Holtz left ECU for USF, Southern Miss has had a long rivalry with Louisville from their C-USA days, and Houston is an in-state team to newcomer TCU). Mostly, though, what I'm trying to say is: Anyone but UCF.