Tampa Bay Football History Network - South Florida Bulls Prologue

USF Bulls Prologue

The history books show the first college football game, between Rutgers and Princeton, took place on November 6, 1869. While that first game bore little resemblance to today's game, by the early twentieth century, collegiate football had grown in popularity. The University of South Florida would not join the football landscape until the century drew to a close. USF did not play a football game until 1997, but it could have had forty more seasons under its belt. The first President at the University of South Florida, John S. Allen, considered sports a "corruptive influence" and scraped the original plans to build an on-campus football stadium.

On December 18, 1956, the former site of World War II's Henderson Air Field was selected for Florida's first metropolitan university. Several names were proposed for the new university in north Tampa. The University of Southern Florida was considered, but it could be confused with nearby Florida Southern College in Lakeland. Other names were offered, Gulf Coast University, Citrus State University, Sunshine State University, University of Southwest Florida and University of Florida at Temple Terrace. In October 1957, the name University of South Florida was officially selected. In 1943, the name University of South Florida was approved for medical school in Miami, but it was never built.

While school president John Allen stuck to his guns, and intercollegiate sports was not in the plans, the first USF football game took place in November 1960. It was actually a touch football game between a group of USF freshman who played intramural sports and some fraternity boys from Florida Southern College. Nicknamed the Desert Rats, the USF team lost the scrimmage 33-20.

It was college class rings, not sports, that sparked South Florida to name a mascot. In 1962, a class ring company said they would have to leave one side of the class rings blank, since the school did not have a mascot. While the company representative proposed a sailfish, which was quickly rejected, a contest was held. A range of nicknames were proposed, including Chickens, Roosters and Camels. Some wanted to use Desert Rats, after the old intramural football team. Since Florida is a cattle producing state like Texas, some students wanted something like Texas Longhorns, so the nickname Golden Brahman had supporters. Five finalists, Buccaneer, Golden Brahman, Olympian, Cougar, and Golden Eagle were selected for a campus election.

Buccaneer won the election by three votes with Golden Brahman second. That nickname was not adopted because it was thought a Pensacola junior college was using it, so Golden Brahman was selected instead. When it was discovered that the panhandle school was using a Pirate, not a Buccaneer, a committee decided that Buccaneer would be used. Some students were not pleased with the way the committee handled the mascot selection and a petition forced a runoff between Buccaneer and Golden Brahman. At one point someone suggested a compromise, a peg-legged bull with a patch over one eye. Golden Brahman won the runoff and the mascot was officially revealed on November 17, 1962. In the 1980s, the athletic department changed the nickname to Bulls for promotional reasons.

Eventually, South Florida did get involved in intercollegiate sports. The first event was a soccer victory over Florida Southern in 1965. The Bulls have been playing basketball since 1970 and now play in the Big East Conference. The men's basketball team, which plays its home games at the on-campus Sun Dome, made two appearances in the NCAA tournament during the 1990s. USF's baseball and soccer teams have also enjoyed success in recent years. While the University of South Florida has grown to become one of the largest universities in the country, to be considered a big-time school, football is a must.

There was always talk of bringing football to South Florida. It was brought up when Tampa Stadium was built in 1967 and again when the University of Tampa dropped football in 1974. There were a couple unsuccessful student initiatives in the 1980s. It would not be until the 1990s that more substantive action would be taken.

The first steps towards football at South Florida began in October 1991, when USF President Francis T. Borkowski convened a group to discuss the feasibility of adding a football program. In March 1992, that committee endorsed football and in December 1992 the USF Athletics Council voted to recommend that the university President "Initiate efforts to determine if non-state appropriated resources are present to support intercollegiate football at the University of South Florida." On July 12, 1993, in an attempt to increase the profile of the football effort, former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Lee Roy Selmon was named Associate Athletic Director of External Affairs. By the end of 1993, Betty Castor had become President at the University of South Florida.

By mid-1995, the football effort took off. On June 28, 1995, USF Athletic Director Paul Griffin announced that USF had raised the $5 million self-imposed goal before seeking the Florida Board of Regents approval for the football program. On July 20, the Florida Board of Regents approved a student fee increase to fund the football operating budget and the next month the board conducted its final fact-finding review in consideration of USF Football. At a meeting in Orlando, on September 15, the Board of Regents granted the approval for USF football. The football crazy state of Florida had a new college team, which would begin play at the Division I-AA level in the Fall of 1997. The goal was to begin adding Division I-A opponents by the third or fourth year, and play at the Division I-A level after the turn of the century. The search for a head coach began immediately.

On December 12, 1995, South Florida named Kansas State University defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt as the team's first head coach. Leavitt had been with KSU since 1990 and guided the Wildcats defense to a number one national ranking in 1995. Kansas State had gone to bowl games the last three seasons and posted the first two bowl victories in school history. A native of St. Petersburg, Leavitt went to Dixie Hollins High School and his parents were still living in St. Petersburg. He attended the University of Missouri and did post-graduate work at the University of Iowa. At Missouri, he was a four-year letterman in football and a three-year letterman in baseball. Leavitt was once named defensive back of the year and took the Big Eight batting crown in 1976.

Lee Roy Selmon commented on the selection of Jim Leavitt as USF's first head coach. "Jim Leavitt, in our opinion, best fit the profile for the University's first head football coach. Jim is a competent and confident individual, and is genuinely excited about the opportunity to lead this program." At the press conference announcing his hiring, Leavitt was asked where he would reside upon relocating to the Tampa Bay area. "I'll live in my office" was his response. Leavitt began assembling his staff, which included former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Calvin Magee.

On February 7, 1996, USF announced the school's first recruiting class of eighteen players. Leavitt, who had not started to recruit until January because of commitments with Kansas State, was pleased with the first recruits. "To sign so many, I'm ecstatic" he proclaimed.

The football team would hold several practices during the fall of 1996 in preparation for the 1997 season. USF held its first practice on September 6, 1996. The 77 players on the roster would participate in several evening scrimmages, which were designed to give exposure to the new program and were held at different locations in the area. The first of these scripted scrimmages was held on September 25, 1996 at the USF Soccer Stadium before 4,975 fans. Afterwards, Jim Leavitt said "It was a fun night for everyone." The second scrimmage took place at Clearwater High School on October 9, while the third was at Sarasota High School on October 23.

February 1997 saw USF's recruiting class add seventeen high school seniors and eight Division I transfers. This brought the roster to 81 players. Jim Leavitt talked about the Class of '97. "The talent in this group speaks volumes for the excitement surrounding our program. It's really been amazing to see the enthusiasm so many high school players have regarding our program."

On July 24, 1997, USF introduced the team's new uniforms to a lunchtime crowd in downtown Tampa. The team colors would be a shade of forest green, registered by the manufacture as "South Florida Green," and white with gold trim. A solid gold helmet would have a green Bulls logo. South Florida opened practice on August 11 with a roster comprised of 83 players, all from Florida.

South Florida announced a 46,000 seat configuration at Houlihan's Stadium, but they would have additional end zone seating for students if necessary. Athletic Director Paul Griffin had said if the team sold over 10,000 season tickets he would dance down Dale Mabry Highway. When USF passed the 20,000 mark for season tickets, a new Division I-AA record, Griffin made good on his promise.