Miami nice: Leavitt to announce 'major' series

The much-anticipated Thanksgiving weekend football series between USF and Miami has come to fruition, and Bulls coach Jim Leavitt will announce at 4 p.m. today that the Bulls will play the Hurricanes every year from 2009 to 2013.

USF and Miami were already on contract for three games in that span, so today's additions are games in 2010 and 2011. From 2010 on, the series will be played on Thanksgiving weekend, almost assuredly to a national television audience, a significant deal that puts the Bulls one step closer to the state's "Big Three" programs.

USF and Miami have met once, with the Hurricanes winning 27-7 in the Orange Bowl in 2005. Miami will play the Bulls in Raymond James Stadium in September 2009. The Times had reported earlier this month that Miami was optimistic that within the month they could announce with USF an annual Thanksgiving-week game that would create a state rivalry weekend with the Florida-Florida State game. (Or the Florida State-Florida game, you might say.)

To make the two new games possible, USF had to reshuffle two existing nonconference games, the 2011 game at Florida will now be played in 2015 and a home game with Indiana has been moved to 2016.

Magnum, U.S.F.?

I've had the theme from "Magnum, P.I." stuck in my head for about 24 hours now. Other things you should know about the possibility that former LSU forward Magnum Rolle might transfer to USF:

-- It's still early in the game. His high school coach from the Bahamas, Darrell Sears, gave me the following schools, in order: USF, Louisiana Tech (where LSU assistant Nikita Johnson is now), Delaware, Wyoming, Marshall, Oral Roberts. He clicks over to the other line, comes back, says to add Fresno State to the list. Sears' main knowledge of USF is from former USF assistant Frank Burnell, who signed some of his players while at Daytona Beach Community College and has remained a friend. Still, Rolle knows Stan Heath from a summer he spent playing AAU ball with the Arkansas Wings in Little Rock, so there's an existing familiarity beyond just Heath's Arkansas teams playing LSU four times in the past two seasons. Seems like an odd list of schools, but it's mostly schools where Sears sees someone he trusts. As for the lack of major-college options, take this comment from Sears however you want: "We don't want to hear from big schools. We've seen that before."

-- Don't think of Rolle as a center. He's 6-foot-10 (6-11 by some listings) but he also weighs 215 pounds. So he's an inch taller than another former LSUer, Kentrell Gransberry, but he's 60 pounds lighter. He's either a skinny power forward with range, or a long small forward who can help rebound. His size and athleticism create a lot of mismatches, and with a year to put on some strength and polish his skills, could be a Big East contributor for the Bulls. "I think he could step in there and help them tremendously," said Sears, who has also coached incoming freshman Orane Chin, which could help the Bulls a bit as well.

-- One player fans can likely scratch off the wish list is Augustus Gilchrist, who had signed with Virginia Tech but announced he wouldn't attend there this fall in the wake of the campus shootings tragedy. Former USF coach Seth Greenberg issued a short statement Wednesday, with two important details: he said Gilchrist is going to prep school for a year and has not requested a release. So he's a player USF had recruited under Robert McCullum and a high school teammate of Bulls point guard Chris Howard, but it looks like he isn't going anywhere, at least for the next year.

-- Baseball draft update: Coach Lelo Prado confirmed Wednesday that he does not expect to get signees Denny Almonte and Rey Navarro, who could be drafted in the top two rounds next week. He did say, however, that junior Daniel Thomas, who underwent shoulder surgery this month, is eligible for a medical redshirt, and while Thomas could be the first Bulls player drafted, Prado is optimistic he'll be back for another season at USF. I talked with another signee, Palm Beach Central's A.J. Regilo, and he said teams have told him he'll be picked in the first 10 rounds. If that happens, he said he'll have a tough decision to make. He reiterated that he'd very much like to play at USF: "It's been my dream to play there. It will depend on the money, but I'd need a lot to get rid of that chance."

Prado overhaul: Eight Bulls won't be back

Five days after finishing a 34-26 season, first-year baseball coach Lelo Prado continues to overhaul USF's roster, confirming that eight underclassmen who combined for 104 starts will not be brought back next season.

"Everybody knew from the beginning this was going to be a year where we were figuring things out," said Prado, whose team improved on a 23-35 record and reached the Big East semifinals. "It wouldn't be fair to keep them here if they're not going to be playing. I wish them all the best of luck."

Most notable among those not returning are catchers Braulio Pardo and Brad Karns, who combined for 59 starts and 27 RBIs. Pardo, a sophomore from Gaither, has been granted his release, while Karns, a junior from Okeechobee, will finish his degree at USF but not be on roster. Also gone are junior Jose Le'Roy, who started 26 games but batted .205, and freshman Ryan Soares, whose .263 average was the highest of the players cut loose. Gaither's Greg Coffman, who redshirted this season, also will not return.

Prado also let go three relief pitchers -- junior James Rowe, sophomore Matt Wagner and freshman Daryl Lewis -- who combined for 31 appearances but each had ERAs of 13.50 or higher. Rowe and Wagner will stay at USF to earn their degrees. They join former pitchers Ryan Lau and Davis Bilardello, who combined for 25 appearances before leaving the team during the season. Of the 10 players who won't be back, all but Wagner were recruited to USF by longtime coach Eddie Cardieri, whose contract wasn't renewed last summer.

Just as three of USF's key players this season -- pitcher Danny Otero (Duke) and infielders Walter Diaz (Miami) and Charles Cleveland (FSU) -- were transfers, Prado said his staff will be busy this summer looking into players leaving other programs. Starting next summer, baseball players transferring from one Division I program to another will have to sit out a year, making for expectations of a high turnover of players this summer.

USF-Auburn set for ESPN2 broadcast

USF's Sept. 8 football game at Auburn has been scheduled for national broadcast on ESPN2, marking the Bulls' third appearance on an ESPN network this fall.

Can't say I'm excited about the kickoff time -- 9 p.m. here, 8 p.m. local, which makes for some deadline fun, but hey, at least the games are supposed to be longer this fall than they were last season.

USF also is on ESPN2 for its Sept. 28 home game against West Virginia, and the Bulls have a Thursday night audience on ESPN when they travel to Rutgers on Oct. 18. Check back for more news later today ...

Bulls, Prado could be hit hard by draft

The challenge a college baseball coach faces in recruiting is that if he signs too talented a player, he runs the risk of losing the prospect to baseball's pro draft before he ever gets to campus. Next week's draft could take a big hit on the initial USF recruiting class signed by first-year coach Lelo Prado.

Two of USF's top incoming recruits -- Miami outfielder Denny Almonte and Puerto Rico infielder Rey Navarro -- could be drafted in the first two rounds of the draft. Prado knew this when he signed them and his comments on the class mentioned the possibility of losing them. Even for a top recruiter, it's hard to sway a teenager toward a college scholarship when a top-60 pick has a signing bonus of more than half a million dollars awaiting him. Only two of the top 74 picks (first two rounds) last year opted not to sign with the team that drafted them.

Almonte, originally from the Dominican Republic, is rated as the state's No. 13 prospect (high school or college) and has been projected to be taken as high as the "sandwich round," which is the supplemental selections sandwiched between the first and second rounds. Ernie Padron, his coach at Florida Christian in Miami, said he did not know how high an offer it would take to sign Almonte, but did say he's been busy working out for pro teams.

Navarro, signed out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, is listed by Baseball America as the No. 1 draft prospect in Puerto Rico, someone who could be drafted as high as early in the second round. Another signee from Puerto Rico, left-hander Efrain Nieves, is touted as one of the top two pitching prospects from Puerto Rice in Baseball America, not good enough to crack its top 200 overall prospects but with significant potential to be drafted in the top 10 rounds.

Another USF signee who was expected to be drafted was Gaither left-hander Chris Jones, whose stock dropped this spring because of a broken hand and sprained ankle that forced him to miss part of his senior season. Gaither coach Frank Permuy said he's not sure that Jones will be drafted -- which would be good news for USF -- but he said Jones has yet to qualify academically, making it "doubtful" he'll get to USF this fall. He said Jones is likely headed to a junior college. Another early signee, Miami Springs outfielder Yoandy Barroso has since signed with Miami-Dade College.

USF also faces the prospect of losing draft-eligible underclassmen next week -- according to Baseball America, its top two prospects (ahead of senior pitchers Danny Otero and Chris Delaney) are junior pitcher Daniel Thomas and junior infielder Walter Diaz. They're rated as the No. 48 and 50 prospects in the state -- Thomas missed much of this season with a shoulder injury, but he drew plenty of scouts early in the season and will have a decision to make as to whether to return and try to improve his stock with a healthy senior year. Diaz's bat and speed were key additions and a big part of USF's improvement from last season, and his future will hinge on where he's selected next week.

-- For fans who can afford to travel with USF's basketball teams, recent tournaments have included Las Vegas, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Jose Fernandez's women's team will add nicely to that list, playing in a two-day, eight-team tournament in Cancun, Mexico, on Dec. 17-19. The Bulls will play two games in Cancun, and matchups haven't been determined because the field is incomplete. Six of the seven potential opponents are known, however: Tulsa, Oregon, Southern Miss, Belmont, Illinois-Chicago and Miami are in the field. And while it'd be nice to see the rivalry game, tournament organizers say the Bulls and Hurricanes won't meet. Of the other options, Belmont would be the most intriguing matchup -- the Bruins won the Atlantic Sun and went 25-7 last year, losing in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. None of the other teams finished in the RPI 100, but USF's nonconference schedule is already plenty tough.

-- Remember Kem Nweke? The 309-pound center from suburban Houston who made an official visit to USF but never got a scholarship offer has signed with South Alabama, according to his high school coach, Gary Nichols. USA, of course, is where Stan Heath's successor at Arkansas, John Pelphrey, had coached before taking the Razorbacks job. He'll play for Ronnie Arrow, formerly at TAMU-Corpus Christi.

-- Former Bulls receiver Johnny Peyton, dismissed from the team last year and out of football last fall, has told friends he'll be playing this fall at the University of Dubuque, a Division III program in Iowa. Coach Vincent Brautigam said last week that he's had discussions with Peyton about him playing there, but no decision has been made as to whether he'll play there this fall. Peyton would have two years of eligibility left. Obscure coincidence of the week? Dubuque's defensive coordinator in 1980-81 was a young coach named ... Jim Leavitt.

-- Where are they now, part two: Former Bulls offensive lineman Joey Sipp -- now he's just Joe, and coaching track at Hillsborough High -- was named the Times' track coach of the year in Hillsborough County. Another former football player, Brian Surcy, is now the offensive coordinator at Bloomingdale.

-- Sorry to hear it, but congrats to Scott Kuykendall, USF's sports information director for men's basketball, who has accepted a job as assistant athletic director at Marquette, overseeing their sports information department. Kuykendall has had much to do with the upgrades to USF's official site and its premium Press Pass product. He'll be missed, but we wish him luck back in his native Wisconsin. I once stole the Marquette logo to use on T-shirts when my wife taught on the "Golden Eagles" team at Dowdell Middle School, and now I feel a little better about avoiding litigation for bootlegging their mascot.

WNBA blues: Dickson cut by Comets

Former USF standout Jessica Dickson's first month in the WNBA has been a difficult one, as the rookie was cut by the Houston Comets last week after not playing in the team's season opener.

Dickson, USF's all-time leading scorer, lasted only five days with the Comets after being among the final preseason cuts of the Indiana Fever. She was drafted in the second round by the Sacramento Monarchs, then traded to the Fever for a third-round pick in next year's draft.

"Basically, I'm going to wait until September and then go overseas," said Dickson, back in her hometown of Ocala. "(Returning to the WNBA) could be a possibility, but there's no hard feelings. I know it's a business."

Dickson said fellow seniors Nalini Miller and Tristen Webb are also exploring their options for playing overseas this fall.

Ex-player arrested on cocaine charge at airport

Former guard David Sills, dismissed from USF's basketball team before he played a single game in 2005, was arrested early Sunday morning at Tampa International Airport on an outstanding warrant from a felony charge of trafficking in cocaine, according to police reports.

Sills, 24, who signed with USF after making a name for himself on New York City's famed Rucker Park courts, has been arrested in Tampa three times since he was dismissed by Robert McCullum in November 2005 for behavior and attitude "detrimental to the program." Sunday's arrest involves the most significant charges. He spent three weeks in county jail last spring after failing to appear in court on an earlier arrest, according to jail records.

To be charged with a felony count of trafficking cocaine, a person must be determined to be in possession of more than 28 grams of the substance -- about an ounce. He also was charged with a misdemeanor count of giving a false name to a law enforcement officer -- "Kevin Ramone Acevedo" -- and his arrests Sunday put him in violation of probation agreed to after a previous charge of possession of marijuana.

Sills is not believed to still be a USF student -- he played briefly at a small college in Texas after being dismissed by the Bulls. His address is listed on Sunday's arrest report as being 4202 Fowler Avenue, which is USF's address. He remained in jail Sunday without bond.

(And before you get too angry, this isn't going to be in the paper Monday. There are some things that have relevance to USF readers in a blog like this, but not enough relevance to readers in general to put in the paper.)

Leavitt, Woolard to attend services for Wiren

Among the USF contingent in Oxford, Miss., today as Caroline Wiren is laid to rest are athletic director Doug Woolard and football coach Jim Leavitt, who mourn the loss of the former Sun Dolls coach.

Leavitt is especially close to the Wiren family because he played a small role in Nyle coming to Tampa to play for the Tampa Bay Storm. Leavitt had first found Wiren when he was a defensive assistant at Kansas State, and coach Bill Snyder sent him to recruit a prospect from Wichita. Wiren had shined as a running back in a wingback offense, and Leavitt convinced him to come to Kansas State, where he started at defensive end and would help create the nation's No. 1 defense.

When Wiren finished school, Leavitt put in a good word with Storm coach Tim Marcum, telling him Wiren was the toughest player he'd coached. Wiren's had a long career with the Storm, and being in Tampa allowed him to meet Caroline, who had coached USF's dance team for the last four seasons. I can remember meeting the Wirens two years ago at the Bulls' annual athletics auction. There aren't many people in the Tampa sports community whose loss could be felt so deeply by the Bulls, Storm and Bucs families.

If you have memories of Caroline and want to share, it's a good day to remember her -- you're welcome to share thoughts on the comments here. And as a reminder, if you're interested in contributing to the Caroline Still Wiren Scholarship Fund at USF, send a check to Vicki Mitchell, Associate Athletic Director for Development, at 4202 Fowler Avenue AEA 100, Tampa FL 33620.

Bulls shut out of Big East tourney

Unable to find the bats to match their solid pitching, USF's run at the Big East championships ended Friday with a pair of shutouts against Connecticut, the lowest-seeded team in the tournament field.

USF came in needing one win in two chances against the Huskies to advance to Saturday's championship, but Connecticut scored three runs in the eighth inning of the first game, a 3-0 win. In the second game, USF's Yuri Higgins, making just his fifth start of the season, took a shutout into the seventh, but Connecticut struck for two runs there. That's all they needed in a 2-0 win, as USF was held to four hits, the third time in four games the Bulls had four or less.

In four games in Brooklyn, USF scored just four runs, and Friday's losses hurt the Bulls' chances of landing an at-large berth to the tournament. The Big East isn't likely to get more than three bids, and Louisville, Rutgers and St. John's have better overall records, though USF has a comparable RPI rating.

Connecticut will face second-seeded Rutgers in Saturday's championship game, broadcast at 1 p.m. on ESPNU.

Huskies earn rematch with Bulls tonight

Connecticut, the lowest-seeded team in the Big East championships, has proved a persistent underdog, scoring three runs in the eighth inning Friday to stave off elimination with a 3-0 win against fifth-seeded USF. The Huskies earn a second shot at the Bulls tonight, and the winner of that game advances to Saturday's championship game.

Freshman Matt Quevedo took a shutout into the eighth inning, but he and fellow freshman Shaun Sanford gave up three runs there, and USF could muster only three hits against the Huskies. Yuri Higgins gets the start tonight for USF, making just his fifth start of the season, with a 5-3 record and a 4.93 ERA that is the second-highest among Bulls starters this year. A loss tonight for the Bulls (34-25) would likely end their hopes of landing an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Lelo Prado won't get another shot at his old team at Louisville. The Cardinals were eliminated Friday night in a 3-1 loss to second-seeded Rutgers, the Knights' second win against Louisville in 10 hours. Can the Bulls join Rutgers in Saturday's title game?

Big East clearing a path for Bulls

As USF's baseball team prepares for its semifinal Friday afternoon with eighth-seeded Connecticut, the rest of the conference is giving the Bulls a dream path to the school's first Big East crown.

USF already had the benefit of getting Thursday off, giving them a nine-inning advantage in the Pitching Depletion Department over everyone but Louisville, which also had Thursday off. Then UConn, the lowest seed in the tournament, eliminated top-seeded St. John's, and thanks to Rutgers' 12-10 win Friday morning, the Knights and the Cardinals will have to play again Friday night to decide who advances to Saturday's championship game.

So if USF can beat Connecticut this afternoon -- the Bulls took two of three from the Huskies in their regular-season series -- they'd have a nine-inning advantage on Louisville, and potentially 18 fewer innings of pitching fatigue than Rutgers if the Knights were to advance. With a pitching staff as delicately thin as USF's has been in the past month, it's the kind of break USF absolutely needed to pull off the tournament run they're enjoying this week.

Lagedrost steps down as women's golf coach

Former USF standout Kelly Lagedrost has resigned after one season as the Bulls' women's golf coach so she can pursue her professional golf career full-time.

"I can't do both. I can't give 100 percent to both," said Lagedrost, whose last day is Friday. "I see myself going back into coaching, but I'm just not ready to give up on playing yet."

Lagedrost, 28, missed the cut at LPGA qualifying school and is playing on the Futures Tour, where she's made the cut in all five events she's played but hasn't finished higher than 18th. She stepped in as coach in August when Susan Holt resigned after 14 years at USF to become head coach at Notre Dame.

USF finished third out of seven Big East teams in last month's tournament and earned a trip to the NCAA Regionals, where USF finished 17th. Lagedrost said USF will likely name a successor in the next few weeks.

Forward Cann picks Eckerd

Former Brandon and USF forward Zaronn Cann, whose scholarship wasn't renewed by Bulls coach Stan Heath, said Thursday he will transfer this fall to Division II Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, where he'll have three years of eligibility.

"It came down to the coaching staff and the chance to play right away and win," said Cann, who visited Florida Southern in Lakeland last weekend. "Eckerd has already established their winning, while Florida Southern is more in a rebuilding stage, which was the situation I went into at USF."

Cann, whose two years at USF were severely limited by multiple knee surgeries, totaled 20 points in eight career games with the Bulls. He said he had opportunities to continue playing in Division I, visiting James Madison and talking with coaches at Wisconsin, but did not want to sit out another season after missing so much of his first two seasons. He'll continue taking classes at USF this summer and enroll at Eckerd this fall.

Another gem has Bulls in Big East semis

Strong senior pitching for the second night in a row has USF in strong position in the Big East championships, advancing to Friday's semifinal action after Chris Delaney and Shaun Sanford combined for a three-hitter in a 2-0 win against top-seeded St. John's.

Not only do the fifth-seeded Bulls (34-24) get today off, but they need win only one of two games Friday to make it to Saturday's championship game. Delaney's outing came one day after starter Danny Otero threw a three-hitter in a 2-1 win against Pittsburgh. The two tournament wins greatly help the Bulls' chances of landing an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Delaney took a one-hitter into the seventh inning but got into trouble there, giving up a double and hitting a batter. Sanford got the job done in relief -- after inheriting runners at first and third with one out, he got a pop foul and strikeout to preserve the 1-0 lead. Sanford gave up one hit in 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, striking out four.

USF's first run came from its first batter of the game, as Walter Diaz got on with a bunt single, advanced on a walk to Dexter Butler and scored on a two-out double by Addison Maruszak. Butler was thrown out trying to score from first.

The Bulls haven't won more than one game in a conference tournament since in Conference USA in 2002, the last time USF played in the NCAA Tournament. The last time the Bulls opened a conference tournament with two wins, they were in the Metro, winning the league championship under Eddie Cardieri in their last year in the conference in 1995.

USF will play Friday at 1 against the winner of Thursday's game between St. John's and eighth-seeded Connecticut. That team would have to beat USF twice Friday to keep the Bulls out of Saturday's championship game.

USF recruit headed to Pearl River

USF's incoming recruiting class has its first apparent academic casualty.

Lake Gibson defensive end Claude Davis, who signed with USF in February but has not earned the minimum test scores for NCAA initial eligibility, is expected to start classes next week at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi, where coach Tim Hatten expects him to play this fall.

Davis, who could not be reached for comment, graduates from Lake Gibson this week and can still take entrance exams this summer with the hopes of scoring high enough to qualify academically, but Hatten said he will start summer classes with Pearl River's incoming players next week at USF's request. He could still attend USF this fall if he posted the required scores, but more likely would try to return to USF after earning his associate of arts degree from Pearl River, likely for the 2009 season.

USF signed 27 players in February -- over the NCAA limit of 25 -- so coaches were conceding from the start that some players would not make grades, so their signing was more a posturing to help USF's position when they come out of junior college. USF isn't penalized (in terms of APR scores and such) for recruits who sign but do not qualify academically and never make it to campus.

Coach Jim Leavitt said this spring that he expected "three or four" signees not to qualify, and that's far less than a year ago, when nine failed to qualify and two other signees quit the team before the season started. Three of those players -- defensive end David Fonua and offensive linemen Jeremiah Warren and Kevin McCaskill -- earned qualifying scores, enrolled in January and count toward this year's class.

Otero leads Bulls past Pitt in 2-1 win

Senior Danny Otero pitched a three-hitter and Joey Angelberger scored an unearned run in the ninth inning as fifth-seeded USF upset fourth-seeded Pittsburgh with a 2-1 win in the opening round of the Big East championships in Brooklyn.

Angelberger bunted for a single to open the Bulls ninth, advanced on a Nick Cardieri bunt, took third on a Braulio Pardo groundout, then with two outs, scored when Pittsburgh's second baseman had a throwing error on a ball hit by Walter Diaz. Pittsburgh had stayed in the game despite six errors, thanks to a strong effort from starter Paul Nardozzi, who took a three-hitter into the ninth.

Winning Tuesday was a must for USF to continue reasonable hopes of a Big East crown (or an NCAA at-large berth) -- surviving the loser's bracket in a double-elimination tournament requires a lot more innings than the Bulls likely have available with a limited pitching staff. Otero went the distance Tuesday, and senior Chris Delaney is expected to start Wednesday with all of Lelo Prado's relief options fresh and available. The Bulls will play at 8 p.m. Wednesday against top-seeded St. John's, which also advanced Tuesday with a 2-1 win, against eighth-seeded Connecticut.

USF hoops to play FSU in November

Stan Heath's first season as USF's basketball coach will include the Bulls playing against state rival Florida State for the first time since 2002.

USF has committed to play in an eight-team tournament, tentatively called the Daytona Beach Shootout, which would conclude with USF and FSU meeting in the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach on Nov. 18. USF has not signed a contract for the tournament but is expected to do so within the next two weeks.

The Bulls and Seminoles haven't met since New Year's Day 2002, when FSU pulled out a 78-74 win in the Sun Dome. That ended a run of meeting in five straight seasons, and the current lapse is the longest the two schools have gone without playing since the series started in 1973.

The tournament will start on college campuses, with USF hosting Cleveland State on Nov. 9. All eight schools will convene in Daytona Beach on Nov. 16, with the Bulls expected to play Rhode Island, Florida Atlantic and FSU over a three-day span. The FSU game would fall the day after USF's football team plays host to Louisville in a key Big East game.

Heath has said he'd like to play home-and-home series with two BCS-league teams as part of his nonconference schedule, and the Bulls will play at Wake Forest to finish the series started last year at the St. Pete Times Forum. Barring a late change, the Bulls will not bring a BCS team to Tampa as part of its home nonconference schedule. The most recognizable opponent to visit the Sun Dome looks to be UAB, which went 15-16 last season in its first year under former Indiana coach Mike Davis.

Grothe seeks pre-trial diversion program

USF quarterback Matt Grothe, facing a misdemeanor charge of serving alcohol to an underage person, will apply for a pre-trial intervention program for first-time offenders that could allow the charge to be dropped by the start of football season.

Grothe, 20, the Big East rookie of the year last fall, was arrested in April while while he worked behind the bar at the Bull Ring Sports Bar, accused of selling two beers to an 18-year-old who was working in conjunction with the state's Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. His case was set for arraignment before a county court judge Monday morning.

If his application to the program is approved, Grothe would agree to probationary requirements, which typically amount to 16 hours of community service, payment of court fines, gaining familiarity with the relevant Florida Statutes and going without further incident for a minimum of about three months. Upon completion, the charge would be dropped.

Grothe's Lakeland-based attorney, Tony Dodds, did not return messages left Monday seeking comment. Grother's work at the Bull Ring was neither illegal nor in violation of any NCAA guidelines, and USF coach Jim Leavitt said the arrest will not result in any suspension from games.

HCC's Klimovic heads north

One less name to worry about in the Stan Heath recruiting watch: Hillsborough Community College forward Milos Klimovic, who had expressed an interest in the Bulls and was released from a commitment to Houston, instead signed last week with Binghamton.

Klimovic, 6-foot-7 with solid outside range, had met informally with Heath the same weekend that recruits Kem Nweke and Vernon Carr made official visits. He'd shown an interest in staying in Tampa but USF's interest was never so much that he was given a scholarship offer. Nweke returned home to Texas without an offer and Carr opted to sign with Towson, citing a chance for greater playing time.

It's probably not a coincidence that one of Binghamton's assistant coaches is former USF assistant Julius Allen, who would have been aware of Klimovic from his time in Tampa. Two high school recruits who had been mentioned as possibilities for USF, guard Marcus Britt and forward Michael Sanchez, signed with Heath's old school, Arkansas, last week.

Heath has two scholarships still available this spring and said last week he'd like to use one more this spring and carry the other over to next season, giving him two for his 2007-08 recruiting class. If I had to profile the last target, I'd say it's a junior college combo guard, and Heath's best option is a player getting a release from a top-tier program due to a change in coaching, much the way USF was able to land guard Solomon Bozeman and forward Amu Saaka last spring.

On the coaching front, it's looking more like Darren Sorenson, who's been on Heath's staff in an unspecified capacity for more than a month, will be his third full-time assistant. Sorenson was Heath's director of basketball operations for all five seasons at Arkansas.

Here's why I think that: former Marshall assistant Josh Postorino, the former Clearwater High standout, had been working in Heath's office for much of the past month until he left last week to become director of basketball operations at Clemson, where Will Wade left to take a full-time position on Tommy Amaker's staff at Harvard. To me, if Postorino thought he had a shot at a full-time position in Tampa, he wouldn't be leaving to another state for an operations job, which generally pay about half what a full-time assistant makes. That tells me he was up for Heath's operations job, which would mean Sorensen would make sense as the final full-time assistant, with Dan Hipsher and Reggie Hanson. Hanson hasn't been announced by USF, by the way, but I think that should come with a new fiscal year starting next month. Just a theory, but one that makes sense to me ...

LB Spires done with classes at Pearl River

Linebacker Donte Spires, the former Plant star who has twice signed with USF, has completed classes at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi and is "ready to roll" at USF, Pearl River coach Tim Hatten said last week.

Spires, who could compete for a starting outside linebacker job this fall, is back in Tampa but has not yet enrolled in any summer classes at USF. And he'll have to have enough transferrable credits to be eligible at USF, where he would be a redshirt sophomore this fall. But it's an encouraging update on a key recruit who could contribute right away if everything works out for him.

A few more Pearl River updates: Hatten said former USF signee Leslie Stirrups has been a "model citizen" in completing his first semester of classes. The former Hillsborough High defensive tackle will play at Pearl River this fall, and perhaps in 2008, with plans of returning to USF after getting his associate of arts degree. USF has two other athletes placed at Pearl River: defensive lineman Craig Marshall, who redshirted last fall and will play this season, hoping to return to USF for the 2008 season, and receiver Roger Frazier, a high school teammate of Matt Grothe's at Lake Gibson and a juco All-American in 2005 who will play this fall with hopes of getting to USF in 2008 as well.

I can offer up a new name as the next potential ride on the Pearl River-USF pipeline: linebacker Kion Wilson, a rising sophomore from Jacksonville Raines who has already been offered by the Bulls and has taken a liking to defensive coordinator Wally Burnham, Hatten said. He's also been offered by Mississippi and Mississippi State and will surely land more suitors by fall. You'll find him on some of the recruiting databases as "Keon Williams" -- in their defense, that's how he's listed on Pearl River's 2006 roster. I'm not saying you have to have a kid's first and last name spelled right, but one or the other's always nice to see.

Baseball wins finale, gets Pitt on Tuesday

Lelo Prado's USF baseball team kept St. John's from sole possession of a Big East regular-season championship, knocking off the Red Storm on Saturday with a 5-2 win.

With that, the Bulls have the fifth seed in this week's Big East championships in Brooklyn, with a first-round matchup Tuesday at 5 against fourth-seeded Pittsburgh. It's the highest seed the Bulls have had in a conference tournament since they finished third in Conference USA in 2001. USF took two of three games from Pittsburgh in Tampa in March.

As a result of its loss to USF on Saturday, St. John's had to settle for a share of the league regular-season crown, finishing with the same conference record as Rutgers.

Baseball headed for Prado-Louisville rematch?

Saturday marks the final day of the Big East baseball regular season, and after dropping two games to first-place St. John's, USF still could be seeded anywhere from fifth to seventh in next week's league championships in Brooklyn.

The most likely scenario for the Bulls is a sixth-place finish, which would match them up with third-seeded Louisville, where coach Lelo Prado was before joining the Bulls last summer. USF and Villanova are tied for fifth with a 12-14 record, but Villanova has the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage, having taken two of three games in their regular-season series. If USF can win its finale with St. John's today, the Bulls would be seeded no lower than sixth, and if USF loses and Notre Dame wins, the Bulls would be seeded seventh.

Louisville took two of three games from the Bulls during their regular-season series.

Blackwell has five Bulls on Freedom staff

You'd be hard-pressed to find a high school football team with more USF ties than Freedom High School in Tampa. The Times' Joey Knight checks in from Freedom, where first-year coach Marquel Blackwell, the former USF quarterback, has five former Bulls on his staff, starting with defensive coordinator Julian Johnson, former Dixie Hollins teammate Tchecoy Blount and Julian Johnson. Former Bulls receiver DeAndrew Rubin will join the team after he finishes the season with Arena Football's Orlando Predators, and former Bulls center John Miller, helping out at his alma mater, Belle Glade Glades Central, will be an assistant at Freedom this fall.

-- In case you missed it: We had a short note in Friday's paper, saying that news of a Thanksgiving-week series between USF and Miami could be announced within the next month. A Miami official told the Times that "hopefully" an announcement can be made by then -- the two teams are already on the books for games in 2009, 2012 and 2013, and there's openings on both schedules to allow for November meetings in 2010 and 2011. The series is something Jim Leavitt has wanted for USF for a while and would be something of an undercard to UF-FSU in a big rivalry weekend for the state's top football programs.

-- Recruiting update: Tino Sunseri, a quarterback from Pittsburgh (Pa.) Central Catholic has committed to Louisville over an offer from USF and others, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune. Check back later this weekend for more updates on USF's increasing recruiting presence out of state and why Jim Leavitt was in Texas making visits this week.

Nice rebound: Dickson signs with Comets

Just two days after being cut by the Indiana Fever, former USF standout Jessica Dickson has landed on her feet, signing Friday with the WNBA's Houston Comets.

Dickson, now with her third WNBA team, will have the chance to play with a WNBA legend in Sheryl Swoopes. The Comets open their season Saturday at Seattle. USF's all-time leading scorer was drafted in the second round by Sacramento and traded to Indiana, which released her Wednesday.

Point guard Loucks has USF on short list

Times preps writer Joe Smith has an update on Clearwater rising senior Luke Loucks, one of the state's top point guard prospects for the 2008 recruiting class. Loucks has USF in his final four schools, admitting that FSU is the team to beat, with Georgia Tech and St. Joseph's also under consideration. Loucks could decide within the next month. Loucks says new USF coach Stan Heath "has been around so much, he's been like my shadow."

Dickson cut by WNBA's Fever

Former USF standout Jessica Dickson, hoping to make the Indiana Fever's roster as a rookie, was among the final two cuts made by the team Wednesday night.

Dickson, acquired by Indiana after being selected in the second round by the Sacramento Monarchs, played only five minutes in the Fever's final preseason game Tuesday and did not attempt a shot. USF's all-time leading scorer now has a chance to latch on with another WNBA team before the league's season starts Saturday. If that doesn't work out, she'll have opportunities to play professionally in Europe.

Center Ajayi signs with Bulls

Making Tuesday's news of an oral commitment official, USF announced the signing Wednesday of Palm Beach Community College center Mobolaji "B.J." Ajayi to a national letter of intent, making him the third member of this year's incoming recruiting class.

Ajayi, 6-foot-9 and 225 pounds, is expected to be USF's top backup to center Kentrell Gransberry, but coach Stan Heath said Ajayi is versatile enough to contribute at the forward position as well.

“Mobolaji adds both size and athleticism to our front line,” Heath said in a statement.  “He is a versatile player who can play either forward position, as well as center. ... Mobolaji is a strong rebounder and has the ability to defend multiple positions. He has also shown the ability to score around the basket and knock down a mid-range jumper."

Ajayi joins guard Dominique Jones and forward Orane Chin, both freshmen, in next year's class. He'll have two years of eligibility at USF after he completes classes this summer at PBCC. His junior college coach hadn't expected the paperwork to be completed today, but because USF received it Wednesday, he signs a binding LOI instead of a non-binding grant-in-aid. Heath said Wednesday that he intends to use one of the two remaining scholarships this spring, carrying the other over to be used in next year's recruiting class.

In other basketball news, former USF coach Robert McCullum said he is not interested in a job as an assistant coach on Leonard Hamilton's staff at Florida State. His name has been reported as a possibility there, and while McCullum and Hamilton are close friends who talk regularly, McCullum said he hasn't talked about the job with Hamilton and doesn't intend to pursue it.

Junior college center, 6-9, commits to Bulls

Stan Heath has found a backup center to help Kentrell Gransberry next season.

With the end of the spring signing period nearing, Heath got an oral commitment Monday from Mobolaji "B.J." Ajayi, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound center from Nigeria who played last season at Palm Beach Community College.

"He had games where he was just unbelievable," said PBCC coach Tony Sheals, a former FSU assistant. "They had a definite need for a big kid, and he's a guy who can defend around the basket and rebound in traffic. His best basketball is still ahead of him."

Ajayi, 20, averaged 8.8 points and 7.4 rebounds at PBCC with eight double-doubles, including two against Hillsborough Community College. Sheals said Ajayi was the school's male student-athlete of the year. "He's a great, great kid," Sheals said. "Unbelievable upside."

Ajayi, who made the all-state junior college team, was also being recruited by Rutgers, Seton Hall and Ball State. He'll have two years of eligibility at USF, though first he has to take more courses this summer to get his associate of arts degree -- Sheals said that isn't because of any grade problems (he has a 3.0, he said) but because not all of his credits transferred over from Crichton College, an NAIA school in Memphis, where he played in 2005-06.

He played under the name "Ajayi Ebenezer" at Crichton (Ebenezer is his middle name), averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and was named to the all-freshman team in the Trans South Athletic Conference.

Ajayi will join 6-foot-7 forward Orane Chin of Miramar as Heath's spring signees, and the Bulls have two more scholarships available, though it's doubtful Heath will use both at this stage, carrying at least one over to next season. The spring signing period officially ends Wednesday and it's unlikely Ajayi will be signed by then, so instead of a binding national letter of intent, he'll sign a grant-in-aid, which carries the same scholarship but is non-binding until he starts classes.

It's official: USF in Big East baseball tourney

Just to remove any doubt from the last post, the Big East's sports information office has confirmed that USF is one of five teams that have clinched a spot in next week's Big East tournament in Brooklyn. The Bulls sit fifth in the standings with three games to play and could finish as high as fourth, but that would yield the same opening-round matchup against Pittsburgh as the fifth seed, just a different dugout.

Even with that clinched, the Bulls have plenty to play for, as coach Lelo Prado is still optimistic his team can land an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. If USF (30-22) can just play .500 ball the rest of the season -- no easy task against the remaining opponents -- the Bulls will finish with their best record in a decade, since going 39-24 in 1997 under Eddie Cardieri.

Big East baseball: Bulls are in

The Big East isn't providing those darling little "x-" prefixes in its official standings, leaving fans to do the math as to which teams have clinched a top-eight finish, and thus, a spot in next week's Big East baseball tournament. That's where your trusty blogger comes in.

I haven't bounced this off anyone at the league office to be absolutely, unfailingly positive about it, but I'm almost sure -- O.J.-guilty sure, I'd even say -- that USF has locked up a ticket to Brooklyn. (That's not a euphemism. I just mean they're in the tournament).

Hear me out on this: USF is currently in fifth place with a 12-12 league record. So for the Bulls to not make it, they definitely have to get swept this weekend by St. John's, and at least eight teams have to get at least 12 league wins. The four teams above USF are easy, and Villanova (11-13) could win at least one game against Rutgers (though the Knights are tied for first) and get past USF on the head-to-head tiebreaker. If Cincinnati (9-14) were to somehow sweep Louisville (17-7), they could finish a half-game ahead of the Bulls, providing USF also gets swept. But that only drops USF to seventh.

For USF to fall to ninth and miss the tournament, both Notre Dame (10-13) and Connecticut (8-13) would have to catch them, and those two teams play each other in their final three games. Notre Dame can win two and catch the Bulls, or Connecticut can sweep and finish ahead on winning percentage (11-13, at .458, beats 12-15, at .444), but both can't happen. So USF's in. And the most likely scenario has them playing an opening-round game against fourth-seeded Pittsburgh, which the Bulls took two of three from in March.

Why can't the Big East do this math? USF is holding off on travel plans until they know they're in. Book the tickets! Or show me a scenario where USF doesn't make it, and then I'll feel very, very bad. Check my work for me, hit me with "makes sense to me" type comments so I don't go down alone if I'm wrong on this. (I'll cover myself by saying that this all banks on the Big East's official standings being correct.)

Hey, more basketball recruiting news: Marcus Britt, a combo guard from Forrest City, Ark., released from his letter of intent at Louisiana Tech, has opted for Stan Heath's old school, Arkansas, over a reported offer from the Bulls. Read all about it here.

Bulls pitcher Delaney actually a senior

USF coach Lelo Prado won't lose many seniors from this year's baseball team, but his returning pitching staff took a hit Monday with news that starter Chris Delaney, identified as a junior all season by the Bulls, is actually in his final year of eligibility.

Delaney first pitched at USF in 2003, then spent one season in junior college and two years away from baseball before returning this season. The catch is that his five-year window of eligibility started in 2003, and that period expires after this season. Delaney's return has been one of the team's best stories, matching ace Danny Otero for the staff lead with eight wins, along with a 4.48 ERA.

USF's other four seniors are Otero (who attended commencement ceremonies Saturday at Duke, where he went until this semester), reliever Yuri Higgins, and hitters Nick Cardieri and Ty Taborelli. All five seniors are expected to be honored at their final home game, Saturday against St. John's.

Counting players who have left the team this season, the Bulls will lose pitchers who combine for 23 of their 30 team wins this year. USF should get back starter Daniel Thomas, who has missed most of this season with injury.

Mitchell sets USF 400-meter record

Freshman receiver Carlton Mitchell, running with USF's track and field team, broke the school record in the 400 meters this weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta.

Mitchell ran the 400 in 47.28 seconds, easily beating the record of 47.94 seconds, set by Gary Bradley in 1997. How's this for a fast field: Mitchell's time was the best in USF history, but only good enough for 16th in the Georgia Tech field. Just a week earlier, Mitchell had posted the second-fastest 400-meter time in USF history, running a 48.64 at the Big East outdoor track championships; again, that mark wasn't even fast enough to qualify for the conference finals, ranking 13th. Mitchell was also part of USF's 4x400-meter relay at the Big East meet, which finished seventh.

It's worth noting that before Mitchell's record times this year, another current football player, sophmore walk-on receiver Antwon Hanks, had the fourth-best time in USF history, a 49.83 he ran last year. Check out complete results from the Georgia Tech meet here -- and before you get excited, the unattached Evander Holyfield who ran a 48.31 in the 400 is ... the legendary boxer's son, Evander Jr., who runs track at Auburn.

-- One potentially interesting development in basketball: Augustus Gilchrist, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Maryland who had signed with Virginia Tech, told the Washington Post he will not honor his national letter of intent in the aftermath of the tragic shootings in Blacksburg.

The Post reports that Gilchrist has not requested a release from Virginia Tech, so coaches cannot contact him, but it's worth noting that Gilchrist is listed as having an offer from USF (almost assuredly from former coach Robert McCullum) on his player page in the database at Rivals.com. He attended Friendly High in Fort Washington, Md., the same school that USF point guard Chris Howard led to two state championships. I'm not saying USF would even be interested, but if Gilchrist were back on the market, he's rated as the 101st-best prospect in the nation, at a key position as USF continues to try to bolster its frontcourt.

Leavitt showing confidence with offers

We told you earlier this week how St. Petersburg Northeast linebacker Armando Sanchez got -- and accepted -- his first BCS-conference scholarship offer from USF. Sanchez had only one year as a starter at Northeast, and with no other BCS offers, it was an impressive showing by Leavitt to reach out early and essentially commit to an athlete so an athlete could commit to him.

That's even more the case with USF's most recent commitment, Wharton tight end Andreas Shields. I talked with Shields on Friday night, and he has solid size at 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, and enough athleticism to play basketball for Wharton's state-ranked squad. But as experience goes, he's barely played varsity football. He moved to Tampa from Hawaii (his father is retired Army) just before his sophomore year, played JV at Wharton, playing sparingly on varsity in the final four games of the season. Right before the first game of his junior year, he dislocated a kneecap, an injury that didn't require surgery but kept him sidelined the entire season.

USF's coaches saw him at last year's spring football game (where he caught a touchdown) and watched him again at practice this week before making the offer. Shields has no other offers from any colleges, so he's an example of USF trusting its instincts and not waiting until a recruit has a stack of offers to jump on board. Shields said he's been a USF fan since he moved to Tampa and it's been the school he wanted to play for, so when he got the offer Wednesday, he had made his decision. He's only 17, so he's still growing, and obviously will have a chance to put on more weight in the 16 months between now and when he starts his first two-a-days.

BASKETBALL UPDATE: Another candidate for Stan Heath's staff is opting to stay with his current employer, as Chris Cheeks, an assistant under Bobby Lutz at Charlotte and a solid recruiter, sent Lutz a text-message Friday night saying he'd taken his name out of consideration for the USF job, according to the Charlotte Observer's Jim Utter.

I did have the chance to talk Friday with Reggie Hanson, the former Kentucky player and assistant who has accepted Heath's offer to join his staff. Hanson is a 6-foot-7 former center who was Kentucky's team MVP in 1990 and 1991, a coach who has spent the past six seasons as an assistant under Tubby Smith.

Hanson said he worked primarily with frontcourt players at Kentucky and expected to do the same at USF, where he'll be able to develop center Kentrell Gransberry. Hanson had great range for his size, noting that even though he was a center his last two years at Kentucky, he took as many threes as anyone on the team. Hanson said he has experience recruiting in the state of Florida, going after big names such as Rashad Anderson (UConn), Darius Washington (Memphis) and Taurean Green (Florida). He didn't get any of those guys, of course, but has connections with some of the state's top programs that will help him as a recruiter under Heath.

One name I'll drop in the recruiting game -- and this is largely a long shot for the Bulls -- is Michael Sanchez, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound center prospect from Springdale, Arkansas. A month ago, he had decided to go to prep school, but has changed his mind and is one of the nation's top available recruits. He has a strong final four -- just visited Wake Forest, with Kentucky working on him and Arkansas and Colorado under consideration. But his coach at Springdale's Har-ber High, Eric Burnett, said Heath has spoken with Sanchez's parents since taking the USF job. He said Heath has a relationship with Sanchez from his time at Arkansas and said he thought USF would be a school Sanchez would consider, but not enough to put in that top four right now.

One final note on USF's softball team: top-seeded DePaul falling to Notre Dame in the Big East semifinals puts a serious hit on the Bulls' chances of making the NCAA field. Coach Ken Eriksen had told his players they were on the outside looking in going into the Big East tournament, and that now looks like more than just motivation. The Big East was thought to be a one-bid league in some projections, and DePaul will take an at-large berth now, but even if Louisville wins in Saturday's final, the Bulls would need a break to get in as a third Big East team.

Baseball snaps skid against Seton Hall

USF's baseball team, teetering toward the potential of missing the Big East tournament, took a big step Friday toward making that a non-issue, snapping a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 win at Seton Hall.

That win, coupled with West Virginia's loss to Connecticut, has USF (11-11 in Big East) up by three games on the ninth-place Mountaineers (7-13) with five games to play. The Bulls also have the head-to-head tiebreaker edge on West Virginia, so it would nearly take USF losing out and West Virginia winning out for the Bulls to miss the conference tournament.

Bulls senior Danny Otero picked up his eighth win and fourth complete game of the season against the Pirates.

Semi-tough: USF out at Big East softball

Second-seeded USF was eliminated from the Big East tournament on Friday afternoon, falling 5-1 to Louisville in the semifinals.

The Bulls (44-22) kept close, trailing 2-1 entering the final inning, but reliever Kristen Gordon gave up two home runs to Louisville to put the game out of reach. Cardinals pitcher Kristen Wadwell settled down after a rough first inning, holding the Bulls to one unearned run.

The Bulls now must wait to find out if they've done enough to land an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament. USF entered the tournament with an RPI of 72, and the Bulls will pull for top-seeded DePaul to win the league crown, increasing the chances of the conference landing more at-large spots. Louisville entered the tournament with an RPI of 67, even though their 35-23 record isn't as good as USF's.

Here's one man's projection of the NCAA field -- when published, it had the Big East getting just its automatic bid. The same thread has a bubble watch that has USF as one of the top four teams to miss the cut, so by this projection, the Bulls will have to hope as many of the one-bid leagues can have their top seeds win. The selection announcement is Sunday at 3 p.m.

Dickson staying alive with WNBA's Fever

The start of the WNBA season is only eight days away, and former USF standout Jessica Dickson is battling for the final roster spots as a rookie with the Indiana Fever.

Dickson, shown here in a photo from the team's official site at the Fever's media day Friday, is hoping to be one of 11 players named to the team's active roster. According to a blog on the Fever's site, she's likely one of four players competing for the final two spots on the roster.

Dickson missed an exhibition game Saturday so she could attend graduation ceremonies at USF, and got her first start Thursday in an exhibition against the Los Angeles Sparks. She had a rough night from the field, going 1-for-9 in 18 minutes, but got four rebounds, which is four more than 6-foot-7 first-rounder Alison Bales had in her 23 minutes.

She opened camp as one of four rookies with the Fever, acquired from the Sacramento Monarchs for a future third-round pick. The Fever have already waived second-round pick Lyndsey Medders and third-round pick Ashley Key, leaving Dickson and Bales as the only rookies left. The Fever finish their preseason Tuesday at Chicago, and a strong showing there could help Dickson make the final cut.

New Carr smell: Towson celebrates

Towson coach Pat Kennedy announced the signing of junior college point guard Vernon Carr on Thursday, taking particular pride in having gotten him over an offer from USF.

"Any time we can outrecruit a Big East school, that's substantial," Kennedy told the Baltimore Examiner for a story that ran Friday.

Expect more news from USF basketball today, but in the meantime, you can check out Towson's official release on Carr. They picked up the same "one of the toughest guys in Detroit" quotes we linked to a few days back from UTEP's original signing announcement, but they don't mention that the high praise is more than three years old.

Tomorrowland, today

I picked the wrong night to go with the family over to Disney. We've got the seasonal passes and the blackout dates are coming, so we went over later afternoon, hit the Animal and Magic kingdoms, enjoyed the unusually short lines and got home at like 12:15. Of course, Stan Heath's hired a coach.

I'm a big proponent of the idea that if you can't report something yourself and somebody you can trust is reporting it, humble up and give them the attribution. So by 12:30, I'd filed quick notes -- think they sneaked (not snuck) in under our last deadline -- saying that the Lexington Herald-Leader was reporting that former Kentucky assistant Reggie Hanson had joined Heath's staff at USF, and that USFnation.com's Josh Newberg, breaking news of a commitment for the second night in a row, had reported that Wharton tight end Andreas Shields was the Bulls' third commit for 2008.

I'd first heard Hanson's name about three weeks ago, had been able then to get a message to him through UK's basketball office, and I get a call from the dreaded "Private" phone number. Hanson was hesitant to say much then and didn't want to give me a number where I could reach him. That, combined with him not latching on elsewhere, kept him in the back of my head in terms of candidates. I'd left a message Thursday with another unsigned Tubby assistant, Scott Rigot (and it's rih-zhoh, not like spigot, or lego), who had put his name in as a candidate for the main USF job before Heath got it, to check up on him and Hanson. Reggie's a strong hire, having played at Kentucky and coached under Smith for six seasons. "There's a lot of work to do," he told the Herald-Leader. "I don't mind working."

On the recruiting front, Newberg's on a tear. And three commits for the Bulls nine months before signing day is not typical USF -- Jim Leavitt's going out on some limbs and offering kids that don't have much in the way of offers, hoping the early loyalty will keep them from backing out after a strong senior year and committing elsewhere. Definitely more of a gamble than we're used to seeing, but the last two were both local kids and Leavitt takes a lot of pride in keeping the connections with area programs strong and active.

OK, there's no tired like Disney tired, even if it's just a half day over there, so I'm calling it a night. Keep the questions and comments coming, with posts here and e-mails to auman@sptimes.com, and remind me Friday to go old-school with a Scott McCready update from NFL Europa. (And are we playing football on other planets' moons now? What next? "AF3: Ganymede"?

Softball survives, advances in Big East tourney

USF's softball team got a scare from seventh-seeded Pittsburgh but advanced to the Big East tournament semifinals with a 2-1 nine-inning win on Thursday.

USF starter Cristi Ecks took a one-hitter into the seventh, but left with two on and no outs. Freshman Kristen Gordon relieved Ecks and gave up a game-tying RBI groundout, facing runners at second and third with one out. Gordon got out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts swinging.

USF got out of another mess in the eighth, as Pitt got its first two runners on. USF got an unusual double play with a strikeout by Gordon, followed by Pitt's lead runner getting caught trying to steal third. Gordon forced a pop foul to first base to end the rally.

The winning run came in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Kit Dunbar that scored freshman Lauren Rodriguez, who singled to lead off the inning. USF advances to face third-seeded Louisville at  4 p.m. on Friday.

No hire, but I'll end the suspense ...

Just as quickly as I'd gotten a lead on a potential assistant coach for Stan Heath's staff, it turned out to be a dead end. Glad to see some guesswork on the comments as to that former USF basketball player who had met with Heath about joining his staff. You might not even remember the name, as he played sparingly in his three seasons with the Bulls, scoring a total of 40 points ...

His name is Chad Dollar, and he was a backup point guard on USF's NCAA and NIT teams in the early 1990s. He's been a college coach for 12 seasons, mostly midmajors like Murray State and Southern Miss and most recently joining Rod Barnes' new staff at Georgia State in his native Atlanta last month. Dollar's specialty is as a recruiting coordinator, a position Heath is still looking for since Oronde Taliaferro, his RC at Arkansas, is now at Oklahoma.

Dollar said he had multiple conversations with Heath and met with him in Tampa last week, but said Thursday that the two had agreed that the timing wasn't right for Dollar to return to USF. Dollar's happy to be at GSU and back in Atlanta, where his father Don was a longtime coach at Atlanta's Douglass High and one of the winningest prep coaches in Georgia history.

With both assistants and recruits, Heath has shown a lot of patience in not making any hurried decisions. He's been on campus more than a month now and still has two openings on his staff and as many as three scholarships available. What we're seeing is that there are interested parties, both in established coaches and available recruits, but Heath is taking his time on both ends.

Softball makes pitch for Big East crown

Want to get in a link to a story in Thursday's paper, previewing USF in the Big East softball tournament at Notre Dame. The Bulls have incredible pitching depth, with four aces who rank among the Big East's six lowest ERAs. Sophomore Cristi Ecks currently leads the nation with a 0.60 ERA, but juniors Bree Spence and Courtney Mosch and freshman phenom Kristen Gordon aren't far behind. The second-seeded Bulls could have a finals showdown Saturday against DePaul, which has two aces of its own and swept USF with a pair of 2-0 two-hitters in Chicago last month.

Four USF softball players took home All-Big East honors Wednesday night. Senior Danielle Urbanik, leading the Bulls in batting average, home runs and RBIs, earned first-team honors, as did leadoff batter Britta Giddens. Junior Kit Dunbar and Ecks earned second-team honors.

Just to update last night's commitment from St. Pete Northeast linebacker Armando Sanchez -- Northeast coach Jay Austin tells me this morning that USF has also offered defensive lineman Javonta "Shaq" Boyd, and he expects an offer soon for running back Jeff Brinson. Sanchez is a good case of USF trying to get ahead of the curve as a prospect's first offer from a BCS conference, but he was drawing interest from top academic programs like Duke and Stanford as well. Sanchez said Wednesday night he may take some visits this fall, just for the experience of it, but said he's definitely bound for USF.

One more link: here's the Wichita Eagle story on Ejike Hart signing with Gregg Marshall and the Shockers.

St. Pete linebacker commits to Bulls

St. Petersburg Northeast's Armando Sanchez has only been a starting linebacker for one season, but he's already shown enough to impress USF coaches. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound rising senior got a scholarship offer from Bulls offensive coordinator Greg Gregory on Tuesday night and accepted it on the spot, becoming USF's second commitment toward the 2008 recruiting class.

"It's close to home, and I really like the coaching staff," Sanchez said Wednesday. "I think Coach (Jim) Leavitt knows what he wants for the program and I like how devoted he is to his players."

Sanchez, who had scholarship offers from Florida Atlantic and Illinois State, earned second-team all-county honors from the Times last fall, leading the Vikings with 122 tackles. He also plays quarterback for Northeast, but said he'll be a linebacker at USF. He joins Ocala tight end Jeff Hawkins as the first members of next year's recruiting class.

Oh, and kudos to USFnation.com's Josh Newberg to having this story first -- with a kid in my own backyard, I was fortunate to be able to confirm it myself in time for Thursday's paper. The Bulls might not be done at Northeast -- other rising seniors interested in USF there include safety Antwan Carson, defensive tackle Javonta Boyd and tailback/cornerback Jeff Brinson.

Basketball recruiting update: Vernon Carr's coach at Pensacola Junior College, Paul Swanson, said while playing time was a key factor in Carr's decision to attend Towson over an offer from USF, he said it's important that Pat Kennedy has been pushing him on Towson for months, while Stan Heath has just jumped on him for USF in the last few weeks, and that it's hard to overcome that kind of head start.

Another name mentioned as a possibility for USF is Sean Carter, a 6-foot-9 forward from Fayetteville, N.C., and while Carter is considering the Bulls, his coach at Laurinburg Prep, Marc Hsu, told me Wednesday night that USF's "interest has dwindled from when they initially saw Sean and liked him." Carter took an unofficial visit to West Virginia on Tuesday and the Mountaineers are his current leader, but he's also considering Virginia Tech, DePaul and St. John's, according to Hsu. V-Tech and DePaul have offered scholarships and are trying to line up visits ...

One last tease before I'm out: I picked up a new name in the mix for the two assistant coaching jobs on Heath's staff. I'm not in a position to release any names yet, but curiously, it's a former USF player. No, it's not Reggie Kohn, but beyond that, I'll just let the rampant speculation go from there ...

HCC's Hart signs with Wichita State

Ejike Hart, the Hillsborough Community College forward who was a target of USF's recruiting efforts under Robert McCullum, signed with Wichita State on Wednesday.

Hart, a 6-foot-8 sophomore from Liberia, was one of the first recruits that USF coach Stan Heath met with after taking the Bulls job, but he was not a priority in the Bulls' recruiting efforts. After visiting Winthrop last weekend, he decided to stick with new Shockers coach Gregg Marshall, who had recruited him when he was at Winthrop.

Another HCC prospect, forward Milos Klimovic, met informally with Heath at USF on Friday, two days after he was released from his letter of intent at Houston. Klimovic does not have an offer from USF but is on their radar and could be an option if other forward targets don't work out for the Bulls.

Point guard picks Towson over USF, mom says

It sounds like the promise of more playing time has Pensacola Junior College point guard Vernon Carr opting to sign with Towson instead of USF. Carr's mother, Pat, said Wednesday that her son has decided to play at the smaller school, hoping to make the most of his final two years of eligibility.

"(Towson coach Pat Kennedy) spoke with him about stepping in and running the show," she said. "At South Florida, he was told he would have to earn a spot in the starting lineup. It's very important to him to know what he's getting into, and when one coach says "I need you, I want you to run my team," that means a lot."

Carr himself could not be reached for comment, but his mother said his decision was made Tuesday after reflecting on a weekend visit to USF. Kennedy, the former FSU and DePaul coach, went 15-17 last year, with an 8-10 record in the Colonial Athletic Association. And while Towson's assist leader last season, guard C.C. Williams, will be a senior this fall, another starting guard, Gary Neal, graduated, leaving a more obvious opportunity for playing time than USF, which returns its top three guards and has two others joining the team.

-- One more update: Former USF associate women's basketball coach Harry Elifson, who interviewed for an opening at Miami last month, has accepted a job as an assistant at Morehead State. Elifson starts Monday on the staff of new coach Mike Bradbury, a longtime assistant at Xavier and Cincinnati. Miami hadn't filled its position yet, but Elifson said he liked the opportunity he was offered to work with a coach he's recruited against over the years.

Cann looking at Eckerd, Florida Southern

Former USF forward Zaronn Cann, whose scholarship was not renewed by Bulls coach Stan Heath, has talked with Division II Eckerd College and Florida Southern about transferring to play the next three years.

Cann, the former Brandon standout whose two seasons at USF were limited by two knee surgeries, said he took an unofficial visit to James Madison last week. If he were to transfer to another Division I program, he'd have to sit out a year before he could play, and since he played sparingly in eight games in two seasons with the Bulls, it's understandable why he might choose a local D-II option that allows him to play this fall.

-- Kem Nweke, the 6-foot-10 center prospect from suburban Houston who made an official visit to USF last week, went home to Texas without a scholarship offer. "It' didn't go well at all," his father Vince said Tuesday, pointing to the lack of a scholarship as the main source of frustration. Kem also had his flight home delayed, then cancelled, so he had to stay an extra night in a Tampa hotel on his own dime, his father said, then had his cell phone stolen in the airport Sunday. "Everything that could go wrong, went wrong," Vince said. It's probably a good sign for Bulls fans that Heath isn't rushing anything, even with three scholarships open and the spring signing period ending next week.

-- From what I heard, Pensacola Junior College point guard Vernon Carr was making a decision Tuesday night, and USF's chances look good. The Bulls' toughest competition looks to be Towson. How's this for a small world: I talked Tuesday with Carr's high school coach from Detroit Redford, Derrick McDowell, now an assistant at Eastern Michigan. Get this: he was an assistant coach at Wayne State in the early 90s, and he left, he was replaced there by ... Stan Heath. And McDowell's college roommate when he played at Stetson? That'd be ... former USF assistant Frank Burnell.

Anyway, I've heard a lot of positive things about Carr in the last day or two, but check this out from McDowell: "Vernon  was probably the most well-round player I had (at Redford), in talent, academics, personality, working hard and just being a teammate. He was by far the best. Vernon is one that just exemplifies all the skills you need as a player: very intelligent, very competitive, very coachable." I asked him if he thought Carr could play at the Big East level, and he said "I think he can compete in the Big East. He might not be their best player, but Vernon would be very credible for what they're trying to do there, in terms of setting a foundation under Coach Heath."

-- Football news! I can confirm a new preferred walk-on for the fall. Plant senior Mike Walsh will be on USF's roster this fall as a long-snapper, according to Plant coach Robert Weiner. Walsh was Plant's starting center last fall, best known for jumping on a Robert Marve fumble in the closing seconds of Plant's state championship game victory. He's just 6 feet, 190 pounds, so he won't be a center at USF, but Weiner likes his chances at snapping. "He's a Division I long snapper, and I believe he'll earn the job at USF in a year or two and then a scholarship," he said.

Speaking of Plant, Weiner said USF was at his spring practice Saturday, and the Bulls are targeting four rising seniors at Plant: offensive lineman Rhonne (pronounced "Ron") Sanderson, defensive lineman Tyler Evans, receiver Derek Winter and running back Lovell Jackson. All four like USF, he said, but are also getting more offers every day. Plant had a slew of kids at USF's spring game, so remember these names for next spring ...

Lastly, I ran into Carlton Hill at USF's athletic facility on Monday. He'll be starting back at USF for summer classes this month after a year away, and he's looking forward to being back on the team this fall, understanding that he'll likely redshirt this season, barring injuries at quarterback. It's good to see Hill focusing on his academics first -- he'll have two years of eligibility after a redshirt year.

(Just a tip for you junior bloggers out there, especially those lucky enough to use Typepad.com like we do at the Times: before you click on "save" to post your blog online, copy and paste your entry, so if by chance the post doesn't go through, say, for the second time in three days, you don't have to retype the whole freaking thing again at 1 a.m. ... okay, control-A, control-C ... )

Dubovitsky to sign with Kansas State

Chipola College sophomore Victor Dubovitsky, a 6-foot-7 recruit sought by coach Stan Heath to bolster USF's forward position, will sign with Kansas State today, according to numerous newspaper and online reports.

USF had brought in Chipola coach Greg Heiar last week, but Heiar turned down an offer to join Heath's staff as an assistant. Dubovitsky had signed with Texas A&M, but was granted a release after coach Billy Gillispie left to coach at Kentucky. With Dubovitsky out of the picture, the Bulls continue to seek the right matches for Heath's first Bulls team, with as many as three scholarships available this spring.

The Bulls could have news soon on Vernon Carr, a point guard from Pensacola Junior College who visited USF's campus this weekend. Check back for updates later this afternoon. ...