The subject of a departing coach can be a difficult subject to discuss from the viewpoint of those being left behind, without seeming like sour grapes. As such, most of the post-USF Willie Taggart related news has been ignored by the Graze. Taggart has made some less than classy moves since his departure, including the heavy recruiting of USF commits in an already historically weak class of his own creation. Then, there is the news of former USF and now Oregon strength and conditioning coach, Irele Oderinde, being put on unpaid leave following the hospitalization of three offensive linemen due to overexertion. Over the weekend, another former USF coach hired by Oregon, David Reaves, was fired as co-offensive coordinator after just a week on the job due to being arrested and charged with DUI. Taggart’s departure combined with the Charlie Strong hire has been a public relations bonanza for USF. For USF fans it is getting hard to miss him, now.
Looking Back
The #23 USF women’s basketball team dropped a game to #9 Louisville on Sunday, 66-52. It’s just the third loss of the season for the Bulls, who last lost to #1 UConn in historically bad fashion. USF will visit SMU on Wednesday night.
The men’s basketball team has lost their seventh straight conference game in a row, losing to Tulsa, 79-67 on Saturday. UConn will be at the Sun Dome on Wednesday, looking to extend that streak.
Looking Forward
A new lease agreement is in the works between USF and the Tampa Sports Authority. One of the new details of the agreement is a 24 month termination clause. That is a sure sign that they are moving forward with on-campus stadium plans.
Other Stuff
One of the long running discussions on this and many other sports blogs is the value of recruiting rating systems and the websites who offer subscriptions for following such. While there is no doubt that recruiting top talent is easiest way to have on field success, there will always be doubts when human judges are involved. Take, for example, Quinton Flowers, a three star recruit at several positions, none of which were quarterback. At that position, he was rated a generous two stars by agencies who rated him there, at all. Flowers has gone on to break many program records and will likely be a Heisman contender, next season. Barring examples like this, the vast majority of the time, the consensus five star guys are the game’s elite players, most likely to join the NFL. 247 Sports has recently named a new number one recruit, Jaelan Phillips, who was recently a no-star guy.
