Spring is a season of change. A lot of changes are happening at USF, most of them positive.
Looking Back
The USF softball team has posted on the locker room door, “Expect perfection, accept excellence.” The Toronto Observer writes that the quote accurately describes Astin Donovan, outfielder for the USF softball team who is hitting at .395 average.
The Observer also has a piece on Cassidy Boyle, Bulls’ softball shortstop. Interesting level of interest from north of the border.
The baseball team won their 14th game in a row, yesterday, with a walk-off homerun against Valparaiso. The team is 15-1 overall.
The women’s tennis team beat Liberty, 7-0 on Tuesday, winning four tie breakers in the process.
Looking Forward
The USF athletic department has ended a very quiet search for a new men’s basketball head coach to replace Orlando Antigua, who was fired earl in the season in relation to an academic investigation by the NCAA. Brian Gregory, fired by Georgia Tech last season, has been signed to a six year contract. His record as a head coach at Georgia Tech was just 76-86. His fifth and final year with the program, he coached the team to a 21-15 record, earning a trip to the NIT, where they made it to the quarterfinals. Prior to his stint at Georgia Tech, Gregory was the head coach at Dayton, where his teams had a 172-94 record. In that span, Dayton made two trips to the NCAA tournament, falling in the first round in 2003-04 and the second round in 2008-09. Dayton made three trips to the NIT under Gregory, with all three coming in his final four years with the program. Gregory played basketball for the Naval Academy, making it to the Elite Eight in 1986 on the team that David Robinson played on. After the academy, he was an assistant at Michigan State. USF made this hire quietly, which is in stark contrast to their very public searches for other hires.
Sports Talk Florida writes about being a fan of USF sports. In particular, how that loyalty through the bad years is about to pay off.