South Florida Bulls Informations

The South Florida Bulls are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. The university competes in NCAA Division I of the NCAA, and as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The university currently sponsors varsity sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, football, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's track, volleyball, sailing.

Under Jim Leavitt, USF began college football play as a Division I-AA independent in 1997, after having their first team meetings under a tree on campus. The team grew rapidly and moved to Division I-A in 2001, where they remained an independent. In 2003, the Bulls moved to Conference USA, but they would leave for the Big East Conference in 2005. The Big East eventually became the American Athletic Conference in 2013 as part of the major college football realignment. The football team plays its home games in Raymond James Stadium, also the home field of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On November 16, 2002, USF beat #25 Bowling Green State University, its first victory over a ranked opponent. September 24, 2005, USF surprised #9 ranked Louisville for its first victory over a Big East conference foe. As a result, USF received its first-ever votes in the AP college football poll. South Florida received increased press coverage for their upsets of Top 25 ranked teams such as West Virginia (2006, 2007, 2009), Auburn (2007), Kansas (2008) and Florida State (2009).

On September 16, 2007, a week after defeating Auburn, USF was nationally ranked for the first time in the young program's history. The AP poll listed USF at #23, while the USA Today Coaches Poll had the Bulls at #24. This was an NCAA record, as USF achieved its first Top 25 ranking faster than any other Division I-A school in the modern era. Since becoming a bowl-eligible Division I-A member in 2001, the Bulls were ranked after 104 AP Polls during the 4th week of their seventh season. Boise State had the previous record, getting ranked after 115 AP Polls during the 13th week of its seventh year as a bowl-eligible Division I-A member. On October 14, 2007, after the AP, Coaches', and BCS rankings were released, the Bulls were ranked #2, #3, and #2 respectively, the highest ranked the school's football program has ever been. However, on Thursday, October 18, the Bulls lost to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a 30-27 upset in Piscataway, New Jersey. Two more losses followed, knocking the Bulls out of the college rankings. The Bulls rebounded to finish the 2007 season 9–3, ranked #21 in the BCS standings, and earning a spot in the Brut Sun Bowl. The Bulls, however, lost to the Oregon Ducks by a score of 56–21 in that contest.

On September 12, 2008, the Bulls defeated #11 ranked Kansas 37-34 at Raymond James Stadium. USF would win its next two games, getting to 5-0, and being ranked #10 in the AP Poll, before losing to Pittsburgh 26-21. The Bulls would finish the season 7-5, which earned them a spot in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl against the Memphis Tigers, which they would win 41-14.

On September 26, 2009, USF defeated in-state rival, #18 ranked Florida State, 17-7 at Doak Campbell Stadium. On October 4, 2009, the Bulls entered the AP rankings for the first time in the 2009-10 season, coming at #23 after beating Syracuse 34-20. The following week, they lost to the highly favored #8 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats. The Bulls would get back into the AP Poll a few weeks later after a 30-19 victory over #20 West Virginia, however for the second time in three years, Rutgers would defeat a ranked Bulls team, scoring a 31-0 victory on November 12, 2009, and the Bulls would fall from the AP Poll. The Bulls would finish the season 8-5 and earn a spot in the International Bowl against the Northern Illinois Huskies. The Bulls would go on to win 27-3.

Leavitt was fired on January 8, 2010 after an investigation alleged that, during halftime of a game against Louisville, he grabbed a player by the shoulder pads and struck him twice across the face. The investigation also claimed that Leavitt interfered with the investigation by telling several coaches and players to change their stories. Leavitt maintains he never struck the player, but was merely trying to console him, and after a wrongful termination suit against USF, the school eventually settled with Leavitt for $2.75 million.

On January 14, 2010, Skip Holtz was hired away from East Carolina and named the team's second head coach. The Bulls went 8-5 in Holtz's first season, finishing it off with a 31-26 Meineke Car Care Bowl victory over Clemson. USF started the 2011 season on a high note, defeating #16 Notre Dame 23-20 at Notre Dame Stadium.The Bulls reached #16 in the AP Poll after starting the season 4-0, but a 44-17 loss to Pittsburgh would drop them from the rankings. The Bulls would struggle for the rest of season, finishing with a record of 5-7, and failing to qualify for a bowl game for the first time in 7 seasons. The Bulls' 2012 was its worst to date, as the team finished 3-9.

On December 8, 2012, USF announced that Willie Taggart, who previously coached at Western Kentucky, would be the third Head Coach in USF football history. The Bulls struggled in Taggart's first year, posting a 2-10 record, however, the team improved slightly in his second year, finishing 4-8. Taggart finished his third season at USF 8-5 with a loss in the Miami Beach Bowl to Western Kentucky.

The birth of the college basketball program at the University of South Florida was in 1971. The first game was a 74–73 victory over Stetson University at Curtis Hixon Hall in downtown Tampa. The season ended with eight wins and 17 losses. Since 1980, home games have been played at the USF Sun Dome.

The men's head coach Orlando Antigua was named USF head coach on April 1, 2014. Antigua has eight years of experience coaching at the collegiate level, and has been to the NCAA tournament eleven times as a player or coach. South Florida fired coach Orlando Antigua. He was 23-55 since joining the school for the 2014-15 season.

USF Director of Athletics Mark Harlan announced the appointment of Brian Gregory as the 10th head coach of the USF men's basketball program on March 14, 2017.

Gregory, who has previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011–16) and Dayton (2003–11) and spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, brings nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT championship, to Tampa.

The women's head coach is Jose Fernandez. Fernandez arrived in Tampa in April 2000, as a women's basketball assistant coach and was officially named head coach on December 14, 2000. As head coach at USF, he has guided the Bulls to five-straight postseason tournaments and to the cusp of bringing his program into the upper echelon of the Big East Conference. Under his tutelage, USF advanced to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament during the 2005-06 season, and to 10 postseason tournaments in 11 years after the Bulls had recorded just three winning seasons, all 14-13 records, in the 25 years prior. Fernandez also guided USF to four 20-win campaigns — 21-11 in 2004-05, 21-12 in 2006-07, 27-10 in 2008-09, 22-11 in 2012-13 and 23-13 in 2013-14; in his career. On April 4, 2009, Fernandez led the team to their first-ever post season championship with a 75-71 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the WNIT. Fernandez also won USF's first women's basketball NCAA Tournament game, beating Texas Tech in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

The head baseball coach is Billy Mohl. The team plays at USF Baseball Stadium on campus.

From 2006–2014, Lelo Prado was the program's head coach. He was a native of Cuba who grew up in Tampa before embarking on a successful college coaching career that includes back-to-back NCAA Division II National Championships in his hometown. He returned to Tampa on June 16, 2006, to become the fifth coach in the USF baseball program's history. In his first two years with the Bulls, Prado produced consecutive Big East Tournament appearances, picking up a pair of wins in the post-season tournament both years.

The men's golf coach is Steve Bradley, the former men's golf assistant coach from Florida State University. The team has won 16 conference championships:

The women's golf coach is Marci Kornegay. Kornegay was named head coach of the women's golf program in June 2007. She came to USF from the University of South Carolina, where she was an assistant coach from July 2004 until her appointment at USF. Kornegay was a nominee for the 2006-07 NGCA Assistant Golf Coach of the Year.

A nationally recognized women's sailing program at USF is coached by Allison Jolly the gold medalist in the first olympic women's sailing event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

George Kiefer, the 2005 NCAA South Region Coach of the Year is a native of Bay Shore, NY. Kiefer was named USF’s head coach on June 21, 2002, becoming the program’s sixth coach in its 40-year history. Since arriving in Tampa, Kiefer has compiled a 64-38-13 (.613) record in six years at USF, leading the Bulls to four seasons of 10-or-more wins and a 37-9-7 (.764) record at home. Under Kiefer, USF has faced 29 nationally ranked opponents, registering a 14-11-4 record versus the nation’s elite.

Complete article available at this page.