The assignment from my congenial editor here at Green, Gold, and Bold was to step back in time to the last time the USF Bulls:
- Won a conference championship in football (never, at least not yet).
- Played in the national championship game (ditto).
- Made the Final Four in basketball (double ditto).
- Won their conference basketball tournament (YAY!!!)
The idea is to compare and contrast the world situation from then to now. It’s nice to jump in the Way Back Machine every now and then. It gives one a sense of perspective.
Now, we didn’t have to go back in time too far to find when the USF women’s basketball team won its conference tournament. That was in 2021 when the Bulls knocked off UCF 64-54 to win their first American Athletic Conference tournament title.
Not much has changed since, but we wanted to acknowledge that Coach Jose Fernandez has built himself a dandy program. And, something else of note: He just led the FIBA Under-18 Women's AmeriCup team to the championship in Colombia. They beat Canada 80-69 for the gold medal.
We also should acknowledge that the softball team coached by the venerable Ken Erickson went to the Women’s College World Series in 2012. And before that, Hildred Deese coached the team to consecutive ASA national titles in 1983 and ’84.
But in keeping with the spirit of the assignment, we focus on the USF men’s basketball program.
When we say that the USF men’s basketball team’s remarkable run in the 2023-24 season was something the Tampa Bay community had never seen, we’re not exaggerating. The Bulls won the regular-season title in the American Athletic Conference, which was a first in the program’s 53-year history.
Before that, you have to go back to 1990, when USF, coached by Bobby Paschal, beat UNC Charlotte 81-74 in the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference tournament to see when the Bulls cut down the nets for the first time. That gave them a berth in the 64-team field. That was 21 years before the “First Four” play-in concept was adopted.
That celebration was 34 years ago.
What was the world like then?
My son Ben, who covers University of Florida athletics for Fansided’s Hail Florida Hail site, was four years old.
The national average for a gallon of gas was $1.15.
George H.W. Bush was the President.
The U.S. was at war with Iraq over the annexation of Kuwait.
Tom Brady was a year away from entering high school at Junipero Serra in San Mateo, Calif.
USF football coach Alex Golesh was six years old.
USF men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim was nine years old.
USF wouldn’t play its first football in program history for another seven years.
Dow Jones closed above 2,900 for the first time ever.
The World Wide Web was around but wouldn’t be available to the general public until 1993.
Ray Perkins was the head coach of the Buccaneers until he was fired 13 games into the season. Richard Williamson replaced him.
Tampa’s population was 280,015. By 2022, it was 398,173, and the suburbs have exploded in size.
Neither the Tampa Bay Lightning nor the Tampa Bay Devil Rays existed. The Lightning didn’t begin play until 1992, while the D-Rays didn’t arrive until 1998.
Oh, and that 1990 USF men’s basketball team?
The team's reward for winning the Sun Belt was a trip to Long Beach, Calif., as a No. 14 seed against second-seeded Arizona. USF lost 79-67, but it was fun while it lasted.