THE ORACLE
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F L O R I DA
Executive branch hopefuls expand on their platform
By Alyssa Stewart N E W S
E D I T O R
Without the traditional bantering and interjections, Student Government (SG) held a ticket debate with unopposed candidates Britney Deas and Travis McCloskey who covered their platform initiatives and campaign objectives. Craig Latimer, the supervisor of elections for Hillsborough County, moderated the event in the Marshall Student Center (MSC) Ballroom Wednesday night where the ticket underwent a question-and-
answer period. After being asked to describe her “Bull S.H.I.F.T” platform in three words, Deas chose relatable, determined and passionate. One of the biggest points Deas and her running mate, McCloskey, reiterated was how they are not in a position to fill their “own agenda.” “While we are representing SG, we are students as well and we’re at the same level as everyone else,” Deas said. Previous initiatives that the ticket said they wanted to continue was parking trackers in
the parking garages and funding a football stadium. “The previous administration
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As vice president, McCloskey will be responsible for overseeing the three agencies
We want USF to not just be a place, but a home.
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Britney Deas, candidate for student body president
set a great foundation for a football stadium,” McCloskey said. “We don’t have it on our platform right now, but that is something we want to work toward.”
in SG, which are Bulls Radio, Computer Services and SAFE Team. As the current chief financial officer of SG, McCloskey said he is confident with the
connections he is making with his position. “No matter who comes in, I know that I’ll have a good relationship with the people who I worked with beforehand,” McCloskey said. McCloskey said when he was asked by Deas to be her running mate, it was an easy decision. “When she asked me, I said ‘of course,’” McCloskey recalled. The ticket agreed to split the responsibilities, although Deas’ position is held to a higher
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Inclusive and influential: Charlie Strong The USF football coach brings lessons from his humble beginnings to campus.
By Sam Newlon A S S O C I A T E
E D I T O R
The town of Batesville, Arkansas had a population of just over 10,000 in 2010, but when USF football coach Charlie Strong grew up there in the 1960s, it was different. Almost everyone found work at one of the four main production plants. Most were employed by the Tyson chicken farm and the rubber plant on the other side of town. Growing up, Strong worked at his uncle’s service station where he would fill gas tanks and wash windshields. He’d go back home, where he was one of eight children. Strong was the fourth oldest. He had older siblings Cleatrice, Eddie and Billy in that order. His younger siblings were Deborah, Carla, Lee and Ron. They lived in a three-bedroom house with Strong’s mother, DeLois,
This story is part of an ongoing series that highlights campus leaders during Black Heritage Month. and his aunt. Strong’s father, Charles, didn’t live with them because he coached basketball in another town. There was no running hot water. “It was so much togetherness and so much love in that house,” Strong said. “When we were growing up, that’s just the way it was. Because it was such a large family, the girls would eat first, then the guys would eat.” Back then, there were only about 6,000 people in the town. Born only three years after and an hour and a half away from the crisis surrounding the Little Rock Nine, Strong noticed a divide early in his
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life. “During the time that we grew up, it was the 60s in Arkansas,” he said. “You knew it was a ‘have’ and ‘have not’ situation. If you didn’t have it, you made sure you didn’t step to someone who had it. The people who had it were on one end of the town and we were on the other. “We didn’t have much. When you don’t have a lot, you don’t realize that you don’t have a lot. Everyone that you were around had what you had, so you made the best of it.” Strong learned very quickly that
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OPINION 6
Coach Charlie Strong currently leads the USF football team, but his story began in a small Arkansas town. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/ GOUSFBULLS
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The Oracle THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1966
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NEWS
DEBATE
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‘Two-day shipping became two-week shipping’
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Some students are growing frustrated with the on-campus mail service delaying the time of arrival for their packages. By Emma Mott C O R R E S P O N D E N T
As the only ticket for student body president and vice president, Deas and McCloskey plan to keep some initiatives from their predecessors while adding a few of their own. ORACLE PHOTO/ ALYSSA STEWART
regard. “On my job description I have three lines and Britney has like 20,” McCloskey said. “If she feels overwhelmed at any point, then we’re doing it wrong.” McCloskey said delegating the funding is important because he wants students to feel empowered and able to create a niche on campus since most of the organizations are funded by SG. “We want USF to not just be a place, but a home,” Deas said. McCloskey said he is most excited to meet the next USF president after Judy Genshaft retires July 1. “I cannot imagine what trajectory we are on with the next president,” McCloskey said. It’s going to be a different year, but hopefully an amazing year.” The ticket used its five pillars in their platform — success, health, innovation, finance and tradition to show their support for students.
Deas said they are backing “UndocuAlly,” which supports undocumented students and a portal for international students which will provide job and internship security. After being asked about upcoming changes, Deas said timeliness will be prioritized in the 60th administration. “There have been issues with hiring people on time and following statues, so come January we will have a foundation to finish initiatives on time,” Deas said. The ticket said an overarching factor for why they decided to run was to provide transparency for students as well as a way to give back to the USF community. “We do not measure USF by its achievements, but by its potential,” McCloskey said. The first day of voting is Feb. 25 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. outside the MSC and various locations posted on the SG website.
With the delayed arrival of sometimes damaged packages, many students are frustrated with the mail service on campus. UPS, FedEx, DHL and other non-USPS carriers deliver directly to the residential mail centers that correspond to the residents’ housing assignment, according to Andrew Johnson, director of operations and outreach with Housing and Residential Education (HRE). Johnson said the mail that is received is packaged the same day and residents are notified within three hours of when HRE shelves a package for pick up. However, students are still reporting lost packages that are taking months to arrive. Even with reputable brands like Amazon, resident Heather O’Connor wrote in a message that her “Amazon Prime twoday shipping became two-week shipping.” “My contacts were supposed to come in five days but I didn’t get them for two weeks, so I was blind for about a week,” O’Connor said. According to Johnson, the mail center has processed over 17,000 packages in 2019 so far and over 66,000 in the 2018-19 school year. HRE has employed two full-time staff members and approximately 60 student staff members in the two residential mail centers. In order to keep up with growing demand, HRE has taken steps to prevent the delayed packages. In fall 2018,
Students are losing trust in the on-campus mail service after some packages have become delayed and damaged. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE
HRE added a Mail Center Supervisor, as well as four student leadership positions to help when the full-time staff are away from the residential mail centers, according to Johnson. “HRE is consistently working with our various partners to increase the service level to our residents,” Johnson said. “The best thing residents can do to reduce frustration is to wait for the notification from HRE that their package is ready for pickup at their appropriate mail center.” Summit resident Lily Eberhart said she ordered a package the Friday before fall move-in for marching band. She waited a week before contacting the mail service and said they kept “sending her around saying it would show up.”
“Eventually it got close to the first home football game when I needed it so I just ordered another one.” Eberhart said. “About a month later, I got an email saying I had a new package, and it was the item I ordered before classes started — with a shoe print on it.” Though her next mail delivery was not damaged, Eberhart was taken by surprise when she opened the unexpected mail. “(On Feb. 4) I got a letter that wished me a great end to my fall semester, and I was confused until I looked at the envelope and realized the post-mark date was (Nov. 23),” Eberhart said. Eberhart said she is still waiting for a package she ordered on Sept. 16 that has yet
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STRONG
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nothing would be handed to him. He’d have to work hard to move forward. Even so, he found time to play sports. Strong was heavily involved in football, basketball and running track, but baseball held a special place in his heart. Unfortunately, the baseball season was in the summer when he worked. Sometimes, Strong was able to play a season of baseball, though. He was playing baseball in junior high school when he met coach Burks, a white man who took Strong, Strong’s brother and cousin under his wing. Burks would pay entry fees for Strong and his family. He’d drive them to and from games. He saw they needed help and did what he could for them. “It wasn’t so much of him trying to be our father,” Strong said. “It was more of him trying to make sure we were staying on the right track. Make the right decisions … He showed
U N I V E RS I T Y O F S OU T H F L O R I DA
that he wanted a part of our lives.” Now, as a head coach, Strong has an opportunity to help young men similar to the way coach Burks helped him. “I’ve always been under the impression that we, as coaches have a duty to make sure we leave a mark,” Strong said. “When we’re dealing with young people, they have to understand that they can be anything and they can do anything, but they’ve got to be willing to pay a price. That price is hard work.” Strong preaches to his players in team meetings that they can’t be afraid of their dreams or failure. He also teaches the reality that comes with dreams. “No one is ever going to give you anything,” Strong said. “Anything you ever get, you’re going to have to work for.” Strong’s responsibilities with the football team include recruiting, hiring assistant coaches, planning practices and games and running team meetings. The list keeps
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going on. Though not in his job description, Strong feels that he has another responsibility, given his position. “I tell my guys all the time, I have nine assistant coaches,” Strong said. “Their job is X’s and O’s. My job is to make sure I develop that player and make sure he becomes an unbelievable young man. The only way that can happen is that we have to communicate with them and we have to show them that we really care.” Sounds familiar. The USF coach remembers when his former coach from Batesville, Arkansas went out of his way to help Strong and his family. While help was offered, their opportunities were earned. “Never place limits on yourself,” Strong said. “Never say what you can’t do. Because if you are willing to work, someone is always going to help you.”
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to show up. Other residents, such as Alekya Attanti, had a similar frustration with late packages. “I waited probably three weeks and it was a textbook, so that sucked,” Attanti said. Another student shared a similar sentiment. “I’ve heard letters take longer for some reason. My mom sent me a letter and it came about 3 weeks later than it should have,” Erick Barnard said. Johnson said the residential mail center receives any letter, magazine or package and processes it the same day with packages. The average shelf time in which HRE notifies the recipient and when the recipient picks up the package is six to eight days. Currently, there are 1,287 packages in
custody that haven’t been picked up. “Once the package is processed via the USF post office, it is then delivered to the appropriate Residential Mail Center,” Johnson said. “HRE typically receives 300 to 400 pieces of USPS items that we classify as packages. Every piece of letter mail, catalogue and package that HRE receives is sorted, logged and shelved before we close each day.” Johnson said he understands the value of the mail students are ordering, however USF serves as a “small portion of the larger delivery system.” “We know that it is birthday cards, medication, textbooks, flowers, furniture, a new cell phone or something else as equally as important and we place the same high value on the package as our residents and families do,” Johnson said.
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OPINION
U N I V E RS I T Y O F S OU T H F L O R I DA
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There is no place for hate speech on our campus ●
By Jared Sellick C O L U M N I S T
It is common for controversial conversations to take place on any college campus in America and for students to walk out of the library at USF and hear language that is specifically designed to get a rise out of people. For many, the right to free speech given to them in our Constitution is used not to convince anyone of anything, but instead to intentionally infuriate people who are rightly outraged by their controversial remarks. Such remarks may be racist, sexist, xenophobic or homophobic. For most people, it is not worth engaging. A screaming match is exactly what these trolls are seeking out. However, Patriot Front, the group that has posted flyers and stickers around when the language is designed to USF, formed after the violent Charlottesville, Virginia riots, have no harass, intimidate and terrorize marginalized communities is place on campus. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE when good-meaning people like “Keep America American” made clear that there had to have a responsibility to speak are designed to deliver their be a distinction between free toxic brand of white supremacy speech and what is harassment. out. “If it is targeted at individuals The Southern Poverty Law in a palatable format. They also featured a call to if it causes disruptions if it is Center identifies the neo-Nazi group, Patriot Front as a white- action to report any suspected continuous or repeated that is undocumented immigrants harassment,” McDonald said. nationalist hate-group. If this organization’s Patriot Front flyers have to Immigration and Customs recently been placed on display Enforcement, a move that presence is persistent on around campus, specifically could intimidate students from campus and they continue to in the areas near the Collins different cultural backgrounds. disperse information designed According to the FBI, 2017 to encourage students to harass Garage and the Student Services Center. The group is most well- saw a 17 percent increase in hate and report other one another, known for their association with crimes nationwide. In a time it should be expected that USF the 2017 Unite the Right Rally where we are seeing an increase takes swift and decisive action in Charlottesville, Virginia that in racial violence, college to get these hateful messages ended with the murder of a campuses need to be vigilant off of our campus. of groups that hold these kinds counter-protester. The group tries to obscure of views. When Dean of Students Jared Sellick is a junior their white supremacist views by shielding themselves with Danielle McDonald was asked majoring in political science. imagery of patriotism that is about what could be done often seen as inoffensive. about the flyers in an interview Phrases used by the organization with The Oracle last week, she
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
It’s all about the Benjamins: a response to misinformation
On Feb. 13, The Oracle published an op-ed that is both concerning and troubling to the Jewish community at the University of South Florida. The article, entitled “We can discuss antiSemitism and foreign lobbying at the same time,” downplayed Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) blatant anti-Semitic tweets and their anti-Semitic tropes, while perpetuating the imposition of double standards upon the American Jewish community. There are many factual inaccuracies in the article, including but not limited to, the author incorrectly identifying AIPAC as the American Israeli Public Action Committee instead of its real name, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC is not a PAC. AIPAC is a lobbying group of grassroots activists. AIPAC is an American organization started by, funded by and supported by American citizens, many of whom are not Jewish. AIPAC, as an organization, does not make endorsements. It does not contribute to political campaigns. It does not contribute to political candidates. The simple fact that the author could not be bothered to even research AIPAC’s actual name calls into question the baseline credibility of the piece. The column goes on to mischaracterize the context in which Omar spewed her anti-Semitic comments. Omar did not simply “highlight the influence” of AIPAC, she instead enforced blatant and antiSemitic double standards on American Jews. Omar’s apology fell short, continuing to reaffirm the harmful idea that politicians are fueled by Jewish interests and that foreign lobbying on behalf of Israel controls U.S. politics. Her apology equated AIPAC with groups such as the National Rifle Association and the fossil fuel industry, organizations loathed by the
congresswoman, clearly showing what she thinks of Jewish interests. Throughout this column, the author falsely perpetuates the idea that AIPAC is a malevolent entity because it lobbies members of the U.S. government in efforts to support its mission. Would the author feel the same about the lobby efforts of the American Cancer Society, the American Civil Liberties Union or perhaps the Council of American Islam Relations? It should be noted that the Council on American Islamic Relations is a lobbying organization from which Omar has received financial support. The author’s criticism of Jewish causes is uncalled for. Lobbying and grassroots organizations are the backbone of American politics and are essential to ensuring the voices of the American people are heard. Anyone studying political science should know this. It is appalling to see the author continually place double standards on American Jews and their causes. You cannot say that age-old antiSemitic tropes must be condemned while continuing to perpetuate them. You cannot misrepresent AIPAC’s mission and mandate in attempts to bolster a hollow argument. You cannot criticize one organization for participating in a facet of our democracy just because you disagree with their mission. It is unacceptable to claim to stand against anti-Semitism in one breath, and propagate vile stereotypes in the next. It is unacceptable for this hateful sentiment to be spread on our campus, and for false information and double standards to be perpetuated. As a proud USF Bull, I know these sentiments have no place at USF, and students deserve to receive factual and substantiated information. Jessica Zelitt is a senior majoring in public health and is the president of Bulls for Israel.
Letters to the Editor are published at the discretion of The Oracle’s Editorial Board. Letters should not exceed 400 words and should include a name and title or major. All letters are subject to editing for content, grammar and length. Submit Letters to the Editor to oracleeditor@gmail.com.
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BASEBALL
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Commentary
NCAA hockey at USF? It’s a nice thought.
Continued from PAGE 8
By Brian Hattab A S S I S T A N T
USF is coming off a 6-1 win against No. 5 Florida earlier this week as they travel to take on No. 6 North Carolina. ORACLE PHOTO/ BRIAN HATTAB
play, we’re going to be facing those arms all the time so it’ll give us a nice litmus test.” Offensively, the Tar Heels are led by junior first baseman Michael Busch, who had a breakout 2018 season, leading the team in a number of offensive categories, including runs scored (70), homers (13), RBIs (63) and walks (55). Joining Busch are four other returning position players that helped lead North Carolina to within four wins of a national championship last season. “They’ve got some veterans in there, who have been through the battles. They were in Omaha last year,” Mohl said. “So they’ve got experience. Very similar to our guys — we’ve got experience out in the field. “It’s going to be a battle. We’re going to have to pitch really well and score enough runs to win these games.” On the pitching front for USF, Mohl said junior Collin Sullivan and senior Alec Wisley
will start during the series, with the third game “up in the air.” Sullivan pitched on opening night against Samford, recording 10 strikeouts over six innings while picking up the win. No matter who pitches for USF or North Carolina, they may be in for stop-andgo baseball. The forecast for Chapel Hill calls for rain most of the weekend. “The weather is not good. There’s an 80 percent chance of rain pretty much every day,” Mohl said. “But, you know what? Come the end of the season, we get in the conference tournament, the weather’s always a factor, so we’re going to have to learn how to adjust. Better to do it now then wait until May to do it.” If the weather doesn’t alter things, first pitch is set for 3 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The games will be aired on ACC Network Extra.
S P O R T S
E D I T O R
One of my favorite things to do when I travel is bragging about how popular hockey, specifically the Tampa Bay Lightning, is in Tampa Bay. No. 1 — It’s fun to brag about your hometown to people who aren’t from it and may have never even been. No. 2 — Some people seem genuinely surprised that a sport that involves ice would be popular in Florida, as if our inability to skate on frozen ponds means we wouldn’t like an objectively great sport. Good ownership, there’s no one better than Jeff Vinik, and success on-ice has certainly helped propel the Bolts to becoming one of, if not the most, popular teams in town, surpassing even the Tampa Bay Rays, who play Tampa’s natural sport of baseball, in Twitter followers by 142,000. Due to that popularity, it should also come as no surprise that hockey is popular at Tampa Bay’s hometown public university as well. USF’s club hockey team, the Ice Bulls, has a following of almost 2,500 on Twitter and over 3,000 on Facebook — far more than club baseball or rugby, which have follow counts in the hundreds. The Ice Bulls’ number even dwarfs USF Sailing’s follow count, and that’s an official USF Athletics team. The Ice Bulls’ clear popularity will occasionally bring up a call for ice hockey to be added to USF Athletics as a proper, NCAA-sanctioned sport. It’s a romantic idea, isn’t it? And it’d certainly cement Tampa Bay in the who’s who of the hockey world. Will, or even could, it happen? Well, that’s when the romance turns into whatever the term is for when you’ve been with a significant other for so long you’re just kind of going through the motions. One could even say “it’s complicated” when deciding how to set their relationship status. Where would they play? The USF Ice Bulls presently play at AdventHealth Center Ice in
Wesley Chapel, a pretty reasonable drive from USF. AdventHealth Center Ice, while a new facility, is ultimately not an arena as much as it is an extremely large skating rink that would be under equipped to host a Division I hockey team. And it’s also not on-campus, and quite frankly, there really isn’t any place to play on-campus at the moment. Building a new facility is out of the question — the next stadium built on this campus better be a football stadium or people will revolt. The Yuengling Center’s floor is too small to properly fit a hockey rink. Not by much, but it’s too small as it is now. Even if the floor were big enough, it’d need massive infrastructure upgrades in order to house an ice rink, which seems extremely unlikely for an arena that received a $35.6 million upgrade within the past decade. Downtown Tampa’s Amalie Arena seems to be the only reasonable suggestion, even if it is off-campus. But Amalie Arena is gigantic. Would college hockey draw enough to justify the cost of running the seventh-largest arena by capacity in the NHL? And would it draw enough to avoid feeling cavernous? Who would they play? The AAC doesn’t sponsor ice hockey and the only AAC school to even sponsor it is UConn. In fact, the only FBS conference that also sponsors hockey is the Big Ten, and joining that conference — if it even wanted USF — would just be a geographic misfit for all of USF’s other sports. Granted, most teams join hockeyonly conferences, but even then, geography would make things difficult. The closest Division I program to Tampa is Alabama-Huntsville. The next closest is Miami of Ohio. Miami is a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which features two members in Colorado and a member in North Dakota. Alabama-Huntsville is a member of the Western Collegiate
Hockey Association, which has a member as far west as Alaska. The cost of traveling to certain conference games would be astronomical. What would become of the Ice Bulls? The Ice Bulls have a pretty good thing going right now, at least as far as club sports are concerned. They have a good social media presence, a sizable fanbase and occasionally receive support from actual USF Athletics personnel, be it players or administrators. All that goes away if NCAA hockey comes to town. Attention may not be a quantifiable item, but it definitely is not an unlimited resource. Fans only have so much time to dedicate to a sport, and between an NCAAsanctioned sport and a club sport, the choice is always going to go to the NCAA sport. Think I’m wrong? USF Baseball’s almost 10,000 Twitter followers versus club baseball’s sub-200 follow count would like to have a word with you. The Ice Bulls would suddenly become little brother to the NCAA team. Within a few graduating senior classes, nobody on campus would even think twice about them. The drop off in quality of play between the two would make soccer leagues Major League Soccer and the English Premier League look like the same thing by comparison. And every American soccer fan knows one too many people who won’t watch MLS because of its perceived inferior quality versus the EPL. So what? An NCAA ice hockey team at USF is a nice thought. It’s the perfect compliment to the NHL team just a few miles away from campus. But there are far too many hurdles that need to be jumped just to make the idea feasible, let alone a reality. Enjoy the hockey that you do have, USF.
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Rugby
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An inside look at part of the USF Rugby Club
By Steven Gerardy C O R R E S P O N D E N T
The USF men’s Rugby Club is ranked No. 1 in Florida after defeating the University of Florida 96-0 on Feb. 10. But what does it take to be a member of a top-ranked sports club? “What makes a good rugby player is being able to overcome the physical limitation that you have by having mental strength,” said club President Murray Alford. “What I mean by that is, when it comes down to it, are you able to dig deep enough and is you’re headstrong enough to be able to come out on top.” Passion, integrity, solidarity, discipline and respect are the core values of the men’s Rugby Club and, according to Alford, there is more than just the physical aspects of the game. To play for the USF men’s rugby club a player should possess all those attributes and more. One of the smaller members
USF’s club rugby team beat Florida 96-0 earlier this month and will travel to play against Florida State this weekend. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/THOMAS PRETTYMAN
of the team is captain Jordan Haggard. According to Alford, Haggard shows that the size of a
man’s heart is what matters most. “When you see Jordan, he looks like a small little kid,” Alford said.
“He is a guy that is maybe 5 feet 8 inches on a good day and 135 pounds. He is not a big guy at all … he is just that guy where you look at him and you think, yeah right, I am going to run this guy over and the next thing you know you are on your a**, and then you think: ‘How did I get here?’” While the captain of the team, as it pertains to rugby, is on the smaller end of the physical spectrum, the Bulls are not without the big, bruising athletes that can change the course of a match with physicality and intimidation. “We have a guy by the name of Rafael Rodriguez but we call him Rafa or Sasquatch,” Alford said. “If it is down to the last seconds of the game and we need that try to win, I am dishing the ball out to that guy … he just has this mentality of, ‘listen, if you are going to line up across from me you better be the baddest of the bad because I am coming at you with everything I’ve got.’” Rodriguez is not the only
physical specimen on the team. Alford, who is from Zimbabwe, is 6 feet 4 inches, 210 pounds. He’s looking to take his talents to the next level in Atlanta, where he can play professionally. In Florida, there are two rugby conferences. USF is part of the Northern Conference along with Florida State University, University of North Florida and University of Florida. Earning a top-two seed in the conference is necessary for postseason play. “The top two teams advance to the semifinals, so the No. 1 seed from the North [Conference] will play the No. 2 seed from the South [Conference] and the No. 1 seed from the South will play the No. 2 seed from the North,” Alford said. “The winner is given an automatic bid to go to the national championship tournament in North Carolina.” USF will travel to Florida State University to play its rival in Tallahassee this weekend.
Baseball
USF will face another early challenge against No. 6 North Carolina
By Brian Hattab A S S I S T A N T
S P O R T S
E D I T O R
When USF baseball takes the field this weekend for a three-game series against No. 6 North Carolina, it will be doing something it doesn’t do often — leave Florida for nonconference games. The trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, marks USF’s first non-conference series outside of the state of Florida since 2015 and just the second
time in the last 10 years. “I think it’s good to get on the road early so we get that experience before we get into conference play,” coach Billy Mohl said. “So I’m looking forward to it.” The series against the Tar Heels continues a stretch of eight straight games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2018 to open the season, with North Carolina advancing as far as the College
World Series last season. “We’d always like to have one marquee series before we get into conference play to show those guys what it’s like once you get into conference play,” Mohl said. “I think this is one of the better schedules we’ve put together … it’s challenging — that way, when we get to conference, it’s just another game.” North Carolina’s weekend rotation is led by three juniors
— Gianluca Dalatri, Austin Bergner and Tyler Baum. The trio combined for a 13-6 record with 189 strikeouts in 2018. All three faced USF when the Bulls and Tar Heels opened the 2018 season in Tampa, though with mixed results. Dalatri only lasted 3.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits, while Bergner and Baum picked up the wins in North Carolina’s Saturday and Sunday wins in that series.
Regardless of results in last year’s series, Mohl said North Carolina’s starters are high quality and the opposition will help him gauge where his team stands as conference play approaches. “It’s three potential firstrounders [in the MLB Draft] that we’re going to face,” Moh said. “But it’s great because once we get into conference
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