Welcome Back by USF Oracle

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NEWS

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Despite preeminence boost, USF Push for Islamic center gains attention loses funding from state By Alyssa Stewart A S S I S T A N T

Even with an increase in performance by USF, the school received $7.7 million less from Florida’s Board of Governors in performance-based funding for the 2018-19 academic school year. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

By Josh Fiallo M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

It became official on June Following year-after-year improvements in performance for the past five years, USF joined the ranks of Florida State University (FSU) and the University of Florida (UF) as the state’s third preeminent university. Along with the elite status came prestige, as well as an additional $6.15 million bonus in funding from the state to USF. Despite the cash bonus and an increase in performance from the year prior, however, the university still received over $1.5 million less in funding from the state after the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) chopped USF’s performancebased funding by $7.5 million for

the 2018-19 academic year. Without the extra funding, USF Provost Ralph Wilcox says the university may have to scale back on certain one-time purchases for the school at times, such as purchasing new “holdings” for the library, which would include new books, computers, printers, etc. The loss in funding comes at the same time UF gained $2.5 million more in performancebased funding over the year prior, despite performing two points lower — from a 95 to 93 — on the metrics used by the BOG to judge schools’ performance. In that same time frame, USF improved its score — which is judged out of 100 — from an 84 to 86. The reason behind the funding

discrepancy can be tricky. The simplest reasoning behind it, according to Wilcox, is that UF, despite its performance decrease, has the largest base budget to begin with. He also says it’s because UF is still the states’ top performing university and consistently receives the most funding as a result — receiving $57.6 million to USF’s $37.6 million for the 2018-19 academic year. But still, why would USF lose funding for increasing its performance, which is judged off of 10 student-success metrics, while its fellow state university earned more for a lesser performance? According to Wilcox, it’s

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E D I T O R

The first amendment provides American citizens the right to assemble and religious freedom, however, gathering for prayer on campus can be more challenging for students of Muslim faith than their Jewish and Christian peers. The recurring initiative of building an Islamic Center on campus is said to be taken more seriously by senators for the upcoming term. Discussions for the Islamic Center has raised speculations with legitimacy and funding. The idea of an Islamic Center on campus has been floating around for about ten years now according to Amani Taha, former senate president of the last term. She said this initiative is something that the

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Muslim Student Association (MSA) officer and SG Sen. Murzia Siddiqui, has had communication with current Senate President Sarah Lucker about creating an ad hoc committee within the next couple weeks, with the sole purpose of conducting research for a potential Islamic Center. Siddiqui is working to gain community support and a referendum on the ballot for the midterm election to obtain an opinion from the student body. Taha said funding the initiative with A&S fees would hinder Muslim students from obtaining a center for themselves. An avenue for funding that does not require A&S fees would require MSA, Arab and other Muslim organizations to conduct fundraising for themselves. Afifi said all organizations have the right to request A&S funds from

The Islamic Center is not just a room for prayer. It is a space to

build a community and for Muslims to have a safe place on campus. Murzia Siddiqui, Senator

Muslim students on campus have been trying to mobilize. At the end of last year, Student Government (SG) senate protempore Yousef Afifi said senators talked about kicking the initiative off the ground for the 59th term. In the fall, senators are going to put a group together to gather resources on the matter and use community connections, according to Afifi. Although it has not been finalized, he said the group will consist mostly of legislative members.

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SG because of the criteria, but he also encourages students to initiate funding themselves. A lack of support for the initiative was also present throughout most of the last term according to Afifi. “The initiative was never pushed for last term because we (Senators) were distracted most of the time — probably 95 percent of the term,” Afifi said. “We were dealing with distractions and mitigating a

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because USF, which regularly finishes alone in at least third place of the states’ top-three universities in performance, failed to do so in the last academic year. Since the bottom three public universities in Florida receive no performance-based funding from the state, Wilcox says the money that would otherwise go to those schools who finished in the bottom three on the point scale — Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida and FAMU in 2018 — goes to the top-three performers instead. Coming in a three-way tie with FSU and UWF for third place in performance for the 201718 academic year, USF lost its bonus funding after a tiebreaker between the three institutions granted FSU the undisclosed multi-million dollar amount of funding, while USF received no extra money.

“We were disappointed that we didn’t win out, if you will, on some of that distribution,” Wilcox said. Wilcox says that the method of using the tie breaker to award one school all of the funds was laid out well before the tie came to be, so the school did not object the method. Instead, what was more disappointing to Wilcox and the university was that USF was shut out from additional funding despite being designated as an institution that has surpassed the “excellence school benchmark,” while FSU did not, which gave it an advantage USF did not possess. USF, due to its status as an “excellence school,” cannot reap the benefits of receiving extra points for improvement, but only on how high it performs. Meanwhile, FSU can receive extra points for improving in certain metrics and did so, earning improvement points for increasing its net tuition and fees

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per 120 credit hours for students. The BOG judge schools not just on how well they perform, but also on how much certain schools have improved in key areas — such as six-year graduation rate and median wages of bachelorettes a year after graduation — from one year to the next. The boost was enough to bring FSU — which finished in fourth the year prior — to being tied with USF and UWF. After the tiebreaker, which judged performance and improvement together, FSU received the bonus, bringing its total performancebased funding, not including its preeminence funding from the state, to $51.6 million. USF finished second in the tiebreaker. If schools were judged solely on high performance, Wilcox says, USF would have finished in the top three on its own, eliminating the need for a tiebreaker. “The disappointment for

me was that here you have a university that scored well on the excellence scale (USF) and another university (FSU) who scored well on excellence, but also with a pretty significant point total on at least one of the metrics in improvement,” Wilcox said. “And the excellence school, the school who scored exclusively on the excellent scale (USF), lost out on the tie breaker. That’s what’s disappointing.” Despite the disappointment of losing out, Wilcox stressed that USF is not making excuses for itself. Instead, he says, it is ensuring that in the future there’s no need for a tiebreaker to determine whether the school earns a bonus from the state. The goal for USF this academic year: Earn 89 or 90 points on the metric scale, Wilcox said. “I think it motivated everyone even more,” Wilcox said. “To ensure we don’t get caught in a tiebreaker in the future. Certainly,

we’re not going to be satisfied with anything less than ending up in the top three.” Still, Wilcox stressed how unpredictable the final standings can be due to how the BOG judge schools based not only on performance, but also off of improvement. “We’ve seen here and we’ve seen in the past, rather unexpectedly, universities can pop out of nowhere and score well on improvement even though they don’t come anywhere close to the University of South Florida’s performance and be the beneficiary of significant state investments at the expense of USF,” Wilcox said. “The challenge for us is to keep driving forward and to continue to press upward. Quite clearly, it’s motivated us to roll our sleeves up, to work harder and focus even more on how to improve our performance on these metrics.”

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Additions to The Village unveiled

The new resident halls in The Village include Horizon, Endeavor and Pinnacle as well as a new gourmet-burger resturant, BurgerFi, and a Starbucks. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN By Matthew Cutillo S T A F F

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Significant changes have arrived at The Village, the newest residential community on campus this semester, including three new residence halls and multiple new dining options. Living in The Village can range from $929 to $1,193 a month depending on size of room. The three new residence halls include Horizon, Endeavor and Pinnacle, and will provide housing for about 1,000 students. New dining locations such as BurgerFi and Starbucks have been built to cater to the new population. Ana Hernandez, assistant vice president of Housing & Residential Education, said she anticipates the updates to The Village will be a positive change. “We think that living on campus is part of the full Bull experience,” Hernandez said. “Providing additional opportunities for returning students and first year students to be part of that community is really important for us.”

In order to feed the large influx of new students living in The Village, new dining locations have been built such as BurgerFi, a gourmet burger restaurant, Starbucks and revamped facilities for The Hub such as replacing the Fresh Food Company with Argos Exchange, a new type of resident dining hall. “The dining partners that we have, which is Aramak for the campus, really take a closer look at the volume and flow of how students eat on campus,” Hernandez said. “We’re comfortable that given the population we have on campus, and given the expanded demand from our commuter students, we have plenty of dining that’s available.” During the updates to The Village, some USF students grew concerned that perhaps these new residence halls may inflate the prices of rent across all of campus. Trevor Deciccio, a resident of Holly Apartments, is conflicted about the changes to campus. “I think these new halls are great, but not if they’re going to raise the rent in other places,” Deciccio said.

“The rent has been on a slow rise the past few years, and it just doesn’t seem fair.” However, Hernandez said the rising rent across the USF campus has nothing to do with the additions to The Village. “The new Village is a private/public partnership, which was funded by an outside entity, our partners CapstoneHarrison Street,” Hernandez said. “The fact that The Village was built is not what is driving any costs up on the campus.” The rising costs are a result of reinvesting resources into the buildings, according to Hernandez. “The newest facility that we have besides The Village is Juniper-Poplar, which was built in 2009,” Hernandez said. The rest of the facilities still need to have that re-investment, so that’s really more the driver of the cost impact.” For the 2018-19 school year, the lowest priced traditional style campus housing has increased from $695 a month to $735. The cheapest

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blowback from certain decisions that were made and misinterpreted.” The initiative will provide Muslim students a judgement-free zone, according to Afifi. MSA has been very involved in the process of creating a place for prayer for Muslim students according to Taha. She said that MSA’s leadership is what got the initiative to be taken seriously. With five prayers a day, Muslim students may be seen praying in the Serenity room in the Marshall Student Center (MSC) — which can only hold 25 people standing in rows — behind bookshelves in the library, or in empty classrooms if the MSC is too far according to Siddiqui. “The Islamic Center is not just a room for prayer,” Siddiqui said. “It is a space to build a community and for Muslims to have a safe place on campus.” Muslim students meet in the MSC

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for Jumu’ah — a congregational prayer that is held after noon every Friday for large prayer. Jumu’ah is located in the biggest room or the amphitheater to hold the 200 students that participate. MSA rents out the room, but the MSC has a policy where booking two rooms at once is not allowed and the ballroom is only available to rent once a semester. The MSC allowed MSA to have an overflow room due to the surplus amount of people. According to Taha, sometimes the prayer is lead through a video due to the capacity. “The overflow room gets the livestream of the sermon, which was better than what was happening previously,” Siddiqui said. “Before the double rooms, we would have people spilling out into the hallways.” Taha said the conversation of an Islamic Center on campus recurred during the SG presidential election of 2017. Both of the tickets, including current president and vice president Moneer Kheireddine and Shaquille

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Many Muslim students claim to have inadequate space to provide religious activities. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN Kent had the idea of creating an Islamic Center on their platform. “It was a really big deal because it is a very controversial topic and a lot of students are actually afraid to touch it, because of the unfortunate climate around Islam nowadays,” Taha said. As a senator, Taha was presented with a list of initiatives that the former relations committee chair,

Saeed Sinan, had drawn up about what students wanted to see within the campus. Taha said she chose the Muslim initiative because as a Muslim student herself, she wanted to help the Islamic community. During her term as Senate President, Taha chose to remain neutral during all initiatives, including this particular initiative, because she wasn’t sure if it would be

presented to the Senate in the form of a resolution. Afifi said strides are being made to develop a friendlier relationship with USF administration based on mutual respect and understanding. He said this year the conversation about the Islamic Center will not be skewed like last term. “To be fair last year, in regards to the relationship between USF administration and student government, it wasn’t always positive,” Afifi said. According to Afifi, if there are Jewish and Christian centers, it is only fair that Muslim students who contribute to the university deserve the same opportunity. “Their (Muslim students) Christian and Jewish counterparts have worship centers on campus that they can freely and openly practice in a closed setting,” Afifi said. “We need to take a shot in trying to provide Muslim students with the same equity.”

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OPINION

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Florida voters deserve better than closed primaries

Florida’s closed-primary system hinders politically nonconforming voters. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE By Aida Vazquez-Soto O P I N I O N

E D I T O R

This week, Florida voters will head to the polls to select their primary nominations for every seat from County Commission to Florida Governor and U.S Senate. But of the near-13 million registered voters, just over 25 percent will not be able to participate. These voters are Florida’s Non-Party Affiliated (NPA) voters, who are locked out by Florida’s closed primary system, which prevents voters who are not registered with a party from voting in that party’s primary. But as political polarization and disaffection with the two-party system rise, the closed-primary system is failing to include an important portion of Florida’s registered voter population. A distinct complaint about the closed primary is its penchant for driving political polarization.

Candidates spend months selling themselves on the most hardline positions they support to appeal to the most active and energetic portions of their bases. For example, Adam Putnam (R), a candidate for governor in Florida, has drawn significant attention to himself for ads painting him as an “NRA sellout” who fiercely supports President Donald Trump. Prior to this, Putnam was widely known as a moderate, who had endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in the 2016 primary election and criticized then-candidate Trump. In the post-Parkland era, this kind of messaging tends to flame division. Moreover, Putnam will likely be faced with the decision to either not discuss guns or flip flop on his position in order to appeal to moderates in the general election, should he win his primary. Closed primaries also have the two-fold effect of disenfranchising

voters who do not find any specific party appealing as well as empowering existing parties. People who are frustrated with the establishment have little power to influence its structures or the candidates who are elected to it if they can’t choose who survives a partisan primary. Florida is famous for being a purple state. Florida’s NPA vote is a major factor in state being a swing state. Neither of Florida’s political parties hold a majority of the registered voters in the state and our NPA vote is important in that. To some extent, it is not unreasonable to say that parties should have autonomy in choosing their nominees. Outside forces could corrupt the selection of a true party representative and also have a disenfranchising effect on the people involved. There is also a fair argument that alternatives, like the jungle primary system used in California, does little to improve partisanship especially in cases where only party’s candidates emerges in the general election. As a nation, but especially as a state that many moderates and independent voters call home, we need to do better. We need to find an alternative to the closed primary that helps Washington and more local politics listen to all voters, not just the ones in their party. Aida Vazquez-Soto is senior majoring in political science and economics.

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A living wage is a human right

By Paige Wisniewski C O L U M N I S T

A properly functioning economy should allow any worker in it the ability to afford basic living necessities. However, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)’s annual report for 2018 reveals the stark reality faced by low-income workers: minimum-wage earners cannot afford to rent in the U.S. An economy where a person can work a full-time job but cannot afford as basic of a necessity as housing is not efficient. According to NLIHC’s report, a person earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would be required to work 122 hours a week for all 52 weeks of the year to afford a two-bedroom home at the national average fair market rent of $1,149. This is the equivalent of working three fulltime jobs. According to a study conducted by Georgetown University in 2015, about 70 percent of college students also work while enrolled in school, with 25 percent being both full-time students and full-time employees. Students living in off-campus housing not only shoulder the burden of college expenses, but rental charges too, while earning less than what is required to cover both. Higher education is already a costly venture. Paying rent should not be. The U.S. economic system fails its lowest earners if they run the risk of homelessness after inputting a 40-hour work week. Raising the minimum wage would be a decent start to curbing this issue, but even a bump to a $15 an hour income would

still fall short of most states’ housing prices. For example, the report states that a Florida worker would currently have to earn $21.50 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental home. As of Jan. 1, the minimum wage in Florida is $8.25 an hour, which is actually a raise from its previous $8.10, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. This elevated pay is insufficient to satisfy housing costs in Florida. Minimum wage as it currently stands is not enough for low-income employees to actually “earn a living.” Significant, systemic change is required to ensure all workers — regardless of tax bracket — are able to live. Even when people attempt to improve their income by pursuing education, these numbers still appear troublesome for college students. With most entry-level professions requiring a bachelor’s degree, it does not seem likely that Florida students would be earning an hourly $21.50 full-time while still enrolled as undergraduates. Poverty is not a personal failure, especially when a person can work a full-time job and still need two others to afford housing. It is a deficiency of the economic system. Not only does minimum wage need a significant raise, but housing costs need to be reduced as well. If housing authorities and businesses made a collaborative effort in reconciling this affordable housing crisis, low-income earners could manage the expenses of living in the U.S. Paige Wisniewski is a senior majoring in interdisciplinary scoial sciences.

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Panhellenic groundbreaking: On Aug. 16, audiences gathered at 2p.m. to celebrate the groundbreaking of the National Panhellenic Council Plaza. The goal of the plaza is to celebrate diversity within greek life and was an initiative of student body president Moneer Kheireddine. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

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Publix construction underway: The anticipated on-campus Publix, remains under construction. The expected date for opening is in the beginning of December, however the official date has not yet been announced. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

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FOCAL POINTS UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Ana Massard shooting Kublai Khan’s performance up close and personal at the 2018 Warped Tour. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/JOEL PILOTTE

Ana Massard captured Kublai Khan performing at the 2018 Warped Tour. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/ANA MASSARD By Samantha Moffett A S S O C I A T E

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Photographer’s dreams come full circle at the final Warped Tour

E D I T O R

Since 1995, hundreds of thousands of metal and punkmusic lovers line up each summer outside of packed amphitheaters to attend The Vans Warped Tour.

Branding itself as a “punk-rock summer camp,” the traveling music festival has seen some of the biggest bands in the world, including Sublime, Paramore, Fall Out Boy and Green Day. Traveling across the country from June to August, the Warped

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Tour reached the end of its 24 year-long road this summer following an announcement from creator Kevin Lyman, marking the end of an era. While fans herded into amphitheaters and packed into mosh pits under the baking summer sun to see their favorite bands for the final curtain call, the last ever Warped Tour brought an especially unforgettable experience for one USF student. Ana Massard, a senior studying Fine Arts with a concentration in photography, spent her summer on a tour bus traveling with Warped Tour across the U.S., handling merchandise and shooting professional photos of the festival. Since attending her first Warped Tour as a fan in 2010 with a point-and-shoot camera in hand, Massard has come a long way. Once a hobby, Massard grew a career for herself out of photography. “I was front row for the band Bring Me the Horizon and saw all of the photographers come out before the first song and thought that was so cool and that I’d definitely want to do that when I grow up,” said Massard. After getting straight A’s in school, her mom let her get her first professional camera. With Warped Tour sparking Massard’s interest in music photography, she shot her first local music show for her friend’s band as a freshman at USF. “Eventually I built up a portfolio and I started finding

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online blogs that needed photographers so that I could get photo passes to shoot bigger shows,” said Massard. After getting the chance to work the biggest music event of her life thus far, her photography journey has come full circle since her first Warped Tour experience. “Every year I always go to the Florida Warped dates with friends and take some photos, but last year I decided that I wanted to see what the other side of the tour was like,” Massard said. Massard volunteered at the 2017 West Palm Beach Warped Tour, working at Equal Vision Record Label’s tent selling merchandise. Coincidentally, her favorite record label, Pure Noise Records was set up next to them. After talking with some of the Pure Noise staff, one of the workers took note of Massard’s photography talents and said she may be able to find her a spot on the touring staff for the following year. While Massard was excited, she took it with a grain of salt. For the rest of the year, Massard kept Warped Tour in the back of her mind and reached out every couple of months in hopes to find an open photography position. On April Fool’s Day, she received an offer from Pure Noise Records to tour on the last ever Warped Tour the following summer. After realizing that in fact nobody was playing an April Fool’s joke on her, Massard accepted the offer immediately. “Even though I was only on the tour for a year it does feel like

a part of me is leaving, I looked forward to the lineup and tour dates coming out every year.” According to the Vans Warped Tour twitter, in its 24 years on the road, a staggering 11.5 million tickets were sold and over 1,000 bands performed, proving the impact the festival had on the music industry. Initially starting as an alternative-rock festival, Warped Tour grew into one of the most successful punk-rock festivals of all time. From selling CDs for bands who were just starting out, like Blink-182 and Mayday Parade, to selling out venues across the country, bidding farewell to Warped Tour is bittersweet for so many like Massard. Massard said she is looking ahead to where photography will take her while also reflecting on this past summer. “Kevin Lyman and Pure Noise Records took a chance on me and I had the best summer of my life,” Massard said. “I would really like to do a European tour or a full stadium tour eventually, but I’ll take the smaller sized tours for now, it’s all about the experience.” With 24 years of Warped Tour having wrapped up for good, Lyman hinted at a 25-year celebration next year. While the celebration won’t be the full Warped Tour lineup, fans and members of Warped Tour look forward to one more farewell, in whatever form it may come.

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The Village will now be capable of housing 1,000 students. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

VILLAGE

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option for living within The Village is a double room in either Beacon, Endeavor, Horizon or Summit Hall for $929 a month, according to

officially released 2018-2019 hall rates. “We try to prioritize making sure that there are different types of housing that are available on campus, as well as price points so students can share their preference

and what works best for them and what works best for their families,” Hernandez said. As the new residence halls throughout The Village have been built, some students have also shown

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concern over a sense of favoritism and possible neglect of maintenance issues that may occur in older buildings. Anna Weber, a resident of Castor Hall, expressed concern over how evenly distributed repair services may be. “It’s kind of frustrating to hear about these new residence halls being built while there’s still so many issues in older ones,” Weber said. “I’d just like to think that would be dealt with first.” Hernandez said favoritism toward The Village does not exist, and funds are equally distributed throughout all of USF’s residence halls to insure proper upkeep of services. “We are always focused on trying to deliver the best experience we can in any of the facilities that we have here on campus,” Hernandez said. “Part of the vision of The Village was to replace some of the buildings that

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were over 50 years old, that just didn’t have the infrastructure that could support today’s students in a long run.” Hernandez stated that the rebuilding process had already begun, with over 10 million dollars having been invested over the past few years into existing housing buildings on campus beyond the village. With the new updates to the village entirely operational, concerned students living in other housing areas can only trust that the sleek design of The Village will eventually trickle down to their homes as well. “While The Village is a wonderful place to be and is obviously the newest edition to the residential campus community, we want to make sure that people know that we want the full residential experience throughout campus to be high quality,” Hernandez said.

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Sports

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

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Men’s Soccer

Women’s Soccer

USF goalkeeper Christian Knight was voted the AAC preseason goalkeeper of the year by the AAC’s coaches. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLEGOUSFBULLS.COM

USF won its first ever conference championship in 2017. SPECIAL

Season preview: Bulls look to USF will attempt to retrun to usual form in 2018 defend title in 2018

By Josh Fiallo M A N A G I N G

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It’s a revenge tour of sorts for USF men’s soccer in 2018. USF started conference play in 2017 with three straight wins, shooting to the top of the conference table. Those wins, however, would be the last of the season for the Bulls, who closed out its remaining conference schedule with two draws and two losses, dropping it from qualifying for the AAC Tournament for the first time since it joined the conference in 2013. Now, the goal for USF in 2018 is clear, starting with it’s first regular season game on Friday at No. 7 Michigan

State: Make it back into the AAC and NCAA Tournaments where it’s been a mainstay for the past decade. “Every year our team has so much talent from top to bottom,” said goalkeeper Christian Knight. “Last year we had a ton of talent, too, we just had bad timing and went dry at the wrong time.” Knight will be a key player if the Bulls hope to regain its place in the NCAA Tournament, which they’ve qualified for eight times the past 10 seasons. He was voted the AAC preseason goalkeeper of the year by the AAC’s coaches and is coming off a season where he led the conference in saves per game. If the style of soccer played

by USF last season and in its first preseason game remain the same, Knight will be more than just a shot stopper for the Bulls, also being called upon to regularly play the ball out of the back, distributing to the team’s fullbacks as USF aims to dominate possession. “The team, the way USF plays, we like to keep the ball, keep possession,” Knight said. “Usually teams back off and let us do that because we’re good at it. It all starts by maintaining possession out of the back through me all the way to the top, always making smart passes.” While Knight will be the Bulls’ force in the back, midfielder and native-

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TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS.COM

By Brian Hattab S T A F F

W R I T E R

It’s hard to top a championship season, but that’s just what the Bulls will attempt to do in 2018. USF is coming off one of the best seasons in program history, outscoring its opponents 36-21 en route to a 13-4-2 record, which included its first ever AAC Tournament championship and its secondever appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Bulls return 20 players, including nine starters, from the 2017 conference championship team. Thanks

to that experience, coach Denise Schilte-Brown said she feels good about her team heading into this season. “I think it’s great,” SchilteBrown said about her team’s experience. “It definitely feels more of a veteran team, in terms of when you’re trying to get training points across. We’re letting it move a little bit faster and then the freshmen are picking it up because the upperclassmen understand it ... You can speed up your tactics a little bit.” USF received votes in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll and was picked second in the AAC

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German Adrian Billhardt, who was also named to a preseason all conference team by AAC coaches, will likely control play in the middle of the park. He missed the Bulls’ first preseason game, a 4-1 win over Eastern Florida State College, with a toe injury, but played in the Bulls’ latest preseason exhibition, a 3-1 win over the University of Tampa on Saturday night. Billhardt scored five goals and had six assists in 15 games last season, both of which were team highs. He’s one of 16 returning players in 2018 and one of 14 returners who started at least one game in 2017. The Bulls’ welcomed in nine new freshman in 2018 to help supplement the loss of eight seniors from the season prior.

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Billhardt, Knight and the rest of the Bulls will open their regular season with two road games against MSU and No. 21 Michigan in the next week before returning back to Tampa for their home opener against Virginia Tech on Friday, Aug. 31. USF was picked to finish fourth in the AAC preseason coaches poll, which would be just enough of a finish to place it in the AAC Tournament as its lowest seed. In Coach Bob Butehorn’s second season as coach, however, just barely qualifying for the tournament won’t be enough. “I think we learned from that season a lot,” Billhardt said. “We tried to not have the same mistakes as last year. We just have to keep up the good work and I trust coach is doing the right thing to do to get us back where we belong, in the postseason.”

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Coaches’ Poll. Additionally, juniors Evelyne Viens and Andrea Hauksdottir were named to the AAC Preseason A l l - C o n f e re n c e Te a m . Schilte-Brown isn’t letting the preseason accolades go to her team’s collective head, though. “It’s one of those things where you’d be happy to be picked last,” Schilte-Brown said. “You finish first or second and everybody in the conference is dying to beat you. So, for me, I don’t put much stock into it. I like it for our fans … but on the flip side of us, it’s not something we put any stock into.” One of the more notable departures was goalkeeper Kat Elliott. Elliott started all 19 games for the Bulls in 2017, recording five shutouts and a career-high 83 saves. Elliott

made a critical save in penalty kicks in the AAC Tournament against UCF that helped lead to USF’s AAC championship. Freshman Sydney Martinez and sophomore Ricquelle Farquharson enter the season as the two goalkeepers on the USF roster. Farquharson backed up Elliott in 2017, appearing in four games and made four saves, while Martinez was the team captain for her varsity team at Effingham County High School in Springfield, Georgia. “Both (Farquharson and Martinez) are doing well,” Schilte-Brown said. “They’re both courageous. Their attempt to play with a team that is at the level that we’re at, I think, is brave. They’re going to make mistakes and we all know that, so I don’t think we’re all going to panic when they make a little mistake. And I expect mistakes early, but I

think both of them are going to be good down the road.” The Bulls began their season with a 2-1 overtime win against Towson on Thursday and fell to Auburn 2-1 on Sunday. Sophomore Fanny Pelletier-Laroche was the hero against Towson, recording her first career goal in overtime to lift the Bulls to a come-frombehind victory in the season opener. “(A win like this) gives us hope,” Pelletier-Laroche said after the Towson victory. “It gives us energy to keep moving forward. Our hashtag this year is #RiseUp. This game, we didn’t do what we could have done, so we just have to rise up again.” USF continues its season Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 15 Baylor at Corbett Stadium.

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Volleyball

Still no clear-cut favorite to An early look into lead USF’s offense in 2018 USF’s 2018 campaign

USF Volleyball will begin its season on.Friday against San Jose State. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/GOUSFBULLS.COM USF has been led by Quinton Flowers at quarterback every game for the past three seasons. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

By Sam Newlon a S P O R T S

E D I T O R

There are three candidates who could take over as quarterback for USF this season. That’s all the Bulls coaching staff has said as Saturday’s latest scrimmage. B re t t Ke a n , Chris Oladokun and Blake Barnett are currently battling in a three-way position battle to take over former quarterback Quinton Flowers’ spot from last season. Of f e n s ive coo rd inato r Sterlin Gilbert hasn’t given any indication as to which of the three will get the nod to start against Elon on Sep. 1. Each time he’s been asked to this point, it has always been the same answer: all three are still in the mix. Kean, a junior, has the most experience with USF

and many believe he will be the starter for at least a few drives in the Bulls’ opener. Kean has thrown for 193 yards on 37 pass attempts. Oladokun, a sophomore, is the youngest of the three and has recorded just one completion for 12 yards in games. Barnett is a graduate transfer who previously played quarterback at Alabama and Arizona State. He has thrown for 259 yards on 26 career attempts. Barnett was ranked as the top pocket passing quarterback coming out of high school, but he has shown burst of mobility in preseason practice. All three have been taking an almost even split of snaps in practices. There has not yet been any depth chart released. Even if one is handed out before the USF opens against Elon, fans may

have to wait until the first possession to see who will start on Sep.1. USF Softball Coach Ken Eriksen Leads Team USA to Gold, 2020 Olympics USF Softball has had the same coach for 22 years. For the past eight summers, the Bulls have had to share their coach with Team USA. Ken Eriksen has had dualcoaching duties for almost the past decade — and it could be even longer after this summer. Eriksen led the US Women’s National Softball team to a world championship in Japan when they won 7-6 in 10 innings last week. The prize was a gold medal and a guaranteed spot in the 2020 Olympics. This will be the first

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By Jeremy Johnson C O R R E S P O N D E N T

The 2017 season was one of rebuilding for USF Volleyball. After finishing third in their conference last season with a 12-18 record, the Bulls are aiming to lead the race this year, especially with new additions to the roster and staff. “It has been a long time since a banner was hung in this gym,” coach Courtney Draper said. “2002 was the last time that a banner was hung. So for us that is always the ultimate goal, the goal is always the NCAA tournament.” Draper is entering her seventh season as the Bulls’ coach. She says she is optimistic the teams chemistry has continued to improve through offseason training and the addition of a coach from a high school who as dominated volleyball locally. The man, Caleb Sibert, comes to USF from Clearwater High School, where he had a career record of 141-62. He joined USF earlier this year.

“(Sibert’s) awesome, he was with us as a volunteer with us during the Spring and we felt that he is the right fit for us,” Draper said. “That is the luxury of having (Sibert), because there are a lot of similarities in the way we train and the way we think about the game.” Returning for the Bulls is redshirt senior Clara Payne, who, as of last season, leads the team in points, blocks and hitting percentage. Also returning are seniors Briana Stowell, Maria McLamb and Reagan Davey. Despite bounds of experience, incoming freshman libero CC Clausen has stood out among the team’s 5 newcomers. “I think (Clausen) is doing really well, she is really acclimating with the team and she came from a really good club in Texas,” senior Brianna Stowell said. “She works hard everyday and she is going to do really well I think.” Clausen attended College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas, which is about 30 minutes

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time since 2008 that the United States has been in the Olympics. Softball was dropped from the event in 2012 and 2016, but makes its return in 2020. Eriksen was an assistant coach for Team USA in 2004 when they won its last Olympic Gold medal. His Olympic experience paired with the past eight years as the team’s skipper make him the frontrunner to coach the 2020 Olympic team. Marlon Mack Poised to Start for Colts Former Bulls standout Marlon Mack has taken a back seat to veterans Frank Gore and Robert Turbin his rookie season.

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Gore has since been traded to Miami and Turbin will serve a four-game suspension to start the season, leaving the Indianapolis Colts’ backfield wide open. “I think Mack has a chance to be a special guy this year,” Colts owner Jim Irsay told the Indianapolis Star. “Depends on how many times you want to feed him the ball, 16-20 touches on the ground (a game) and I could see him approaching 1,500 yards (for the season). I really could. He is just better than you think he is every time you watch him.” Mack rushed for 358 yards and three touchdowns last season. He also caught 21 passes for 225 yards and another touchdown.

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outside of Houston.There, she set career records for number of digs with 1,763, before graduating. Clausen was also the schools defensive MVP and selected to the All-District team all four years of high school. “I really want to win the conference and hopefully make tournament too,” Clausen said. “I want to beat Houston every time, because that is my home town.” USF was also able to sign four players to the team in November, including Lauren LaBeck, Nicole Legg, Peyton Thompson and Lindsey Pliapol. LaBeck graduated from Grayslake Central High School, about 40 miles north of Chicago, where she produced a school record of 1,795 career assists and set a single-season record of 784 assists, 53 service aces and 49 kills. Legg, of Union, KY, received varsity letters for all four years at

Larry A. Ryle High. She finished her career with 1,109 kills, 151 blocks, 44 aces and was on the Under Armour watch list from 2015-2017. Thompson, who also received a varsity letter for four years straight, attended Spartanburg Christian Academy and finished her high school career with 2,015 kills, 259 blocks, 262 digs and 203 service aces. Pliapol was a varsity letter athlete for four years in a row at Spruce Creek High in Port Orange. Pliapol concluded her High School career with 1,025 kills, 190 blocks, 968 digs, 173 aces and earned the AVCA Under Armour All-American Award all four years. Pliapol was also Spectrum Sports Player of the Year her junior year and was named team captain her senior year. In addition to the freshmen, USF also added junior transfer Jac’Cara Walker. Walker spent her first two years at Marshall University and totaled 712 kills, 369 digs, 54 blocks and 55 aces. Walker has already made a big

impact on the team. “I think (Walker) is going to fit in really well, she has a really heavy arm and is really smart on the court,” Stowell said. “She has a lot of great shots whenever we need to side out, so I definitely think she’s going to be beneficial to the team.” USF’s first game is Aug 24 at home against San Jose State University, but some players are already looking forward to conference play. “I’m looking forward to playing Cincinnati, because we beat them in five last year at their place,” Stowell said. “So I think they are definitely going to come at us with a lot of fire, but I think that we definitely have a good chance to beat them again.” For Draper though, it all comes back to getting another banner to look at. “We talk about it everyday, to hang a banner in The Corral.” Draper said.

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