Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer
Greg Auman has been at the Tampa Bay Times since 1999 and has covered the University of South Florida's athletic department since 2004.
Phone: (813) 226-3346
Email: auman@tampabay.com
Blog: USF Sports Bulletin
Twitter: @GregAuman
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USF bounced from Big East with 2-1 loss to Rutgers
05/24/13 BlogCLEARWATER, Fla. -- For USF baseball coach Lelo Prado, Friday's 2-1 loss to Rutgers, eliminating the Bulls from the Big East tournament, was a microcosm of the final stretch of USF's season.
"The door's open. You've got to take advantage of it. You've got to finish the job," Prado said. "We haven't been able to finish the last two years when the door was wide-open. ... We've got to get to that point where we go through that door and finish the job. We can't be satisfied with this. I keep saying it. You just can't."...
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USF eliminated from Big East tournament
05/24/13CollegeCLEARWATER — For USF baseball coach Lelo Prado, Friday night's 2-1 loss to Rutgers, eliminating the Bulls from the Big East tournament, was a microcosm of the final stretch of USF's season.
"The door's open. You've got to take advantage of it. You've got to finish the job," Prado said. "We haven't been able to finish the last two years when the door was wide open. … We've got to get to that point where we go through that door and finish the job. We can't be satisfied with this. I keep saying it. You just can't."...
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Bulls lose 7-0 lead, fall 8-7 in Big East tourney
05/23/13 BlogCLEARWATER -- USF jumped out to a 7-0 lead on Connecticut, then gave up six runs in the fifth and saw the Huskies rally for an 8-7 win on a walkoff wild pitch in the Big East tournament Thursday night at Bright House Field.
USF (36-21) now has to beat Rutgers on Friday, then beat the Huskies twice on Saturday to earn a spot in Sunday's conference championship game. UConn (32-26), the eighth seed in the tournament, swept by USF in the regular season, gets today off and needs just one win Saturday to make the finals.... -
Q&A with new USF QB Steven Bench
05/23/13 BlogBusy day in Clearwater leading up to tonight's 8 p.m. (or so) Big East baseball tournament game between USF and UConn, but on the drive in we had the chance to speak with USF's newest QB -- Penn State transfer Steven Bench, who announced Thursday morning that he had chosen the Bulls over N.C. State and Mississippi State.
Due to the NCAA sanctions at Penn State, Bench can transfer and play immediately without sitting out a year -- he'll have three years of eligibility with the Bulls and will compete with Bobby Eveld and Matt Floyd for the starting job this fall. Here's what the 6-foot-2, 210-pound passer had to say on a variety of topics:...
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Ex-Penn State QB Bench transferring to USF
05/23/13CollegeTAMPA — There is a new challenger for USF's starting quarterback job in the fall.
Steven Bench, formerly of Penn State, announced Thursday that he's transferring to USF, and he is immediately eligible to play.
"I feel like it's the best place for me to go. The way they treated me down there on my visit was unbelievable," said Bench, who also visited N.C. State and Mississippi State. ...
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Penn State QB Bench chooses Bulls, will compete this fall
05/23/13 BlogThere is a prominent new challenger for USF's starting quarterback job this fall, as former Penn State quarterback Steven Bench announced Thursday that he will transfer to join the Bulls and be immediately eligible to play.
"I feel like it's the best place for me to go. The way they treated me down there on my visit was unbelievable," he said. "You could tell they went out of their way to make me feel wanted. They needed a quarterback, but they made me feel like they needed me to be their quarterback and that goes a long way."...
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USF falls to UConn in Big East baseball tourney
05/23/13CollegeCLEARWATER — USF jumped out to a 7-0 lead, then gave up six runs in the fifth and saw Connecticut finish the rally for an 8-7 win on a walkoff wild pitch at the Big East baseball tournament Thursday at Bright House Field.
USF (36-21) must beat Rutgers today in the double-elimination tournament and the Huskies twice on Saturday to earn a spot in Sunday's final. UConn, swept by the Bulls in the regular season, gets today off and needs just one win Saturday to make the final....
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Herget, Bulls beat Rutgers 5-2 in Big East tourney
05/23/13 BlogCLEARWATER -- The day after he was named Big East Rookie of the Year, USF freshman Jimmy Herget pitched into the eighth inning, leading the Bulls to a 5-2 win against Rutgers in the opening round of the Big East tournament at Bright House Field.
On a day where the tournament's top two seeds lost their opening games, the fourth-seeded Bulls advanced to play eighth-seeded Connecticut at 8 p.m. for a spot in Saturday's semifinals. USF swept Connecticut on the road in the regular season, winning two one-run games and another in the 15th inning. Rutgers plays in an elimination game against top-seeded Louisville at 5. Third-seeded Pittsburgh and seventh-seeded Notre Dame also won in Thursday's opening-round games, beating St. John's and Seton Hall....
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Heath adds longtime NBA assistant Wells to staff
05/22/13 BlogUSF men's basketball coach Stan Heath has filled the first of three openings on his staff, adding longtime NBA assistant Mike Wells as an assistant coach.
Wells, 42, spent the last two seasons as an assistant on Paul Hewitt's staff at George Mason, but he spent 17 seasons in the NBA, working with two NBA champions in the 1995 Houston Rockets and 2007 San Antonio Spurs. He spent 10 seasons in Houston, moving up from assistant video coordinator to assistant coach, then spent time with the Lakers, Spurs and Wizards....
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USF downs Rutgers in Big East tourney opener
05/22/13CollegesCLEARWATER — The day after he was named Big East rookie of the year, USF freshman Jimmy Herget pitched into the eighth inning, leading the Bulls to a 5-2 win against Rutgers in the opening round of the conference baseball tournament at Bright House Field.
The game started at 10:23 Wednesday night due to a rain delay earlier in the day and ended after 1 a.m.
On a day where the top two seeds lost their opening games in the double-elimination tournament, the fourth-seeded Bulls advanced to play eighth-seeded Connecticut at 8 tonight for a spot in Saturday's semifinals. USF swept UConn on the road in the regular season, winning two one-run games and another in the 15th inning....
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American may create new bowl in south Florida
05/21/13 BlogPONTE VEDRA BEACH -- As the American Athletic Conference looks at a new bowl lineup after the 2013 season, commissioner Mike Aresco said Tuesday that the conference will consider creating its own bowl game, potentially in south Florida.
"We think that's doable. We think the finances can work," Aresco said. "We think ESPN's done a heck of a job with some of the bowls they've created, and we think it's time we did something like that. We like the idea of it."...
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Alfonso an unlikely star for USF baseball
05/21/13CollegesTAMPA — It was late in a disappointing USF season opener, the Bulls were trailing Louisville 10-0 and nobody was hitting the ball, so Lelo Prado looked to the end of his bench and gave Nik Alfonso his first college at-bat as a pinch-hitter.
Alfonso, a redshirt freshman walk-on infielder from Tampa Catholic, came through with an RBI single in what ended up a 10-1 loss. The next day, batting ninth, he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs in a Bulls win. Three months later, he has started 49 of 55 games, and as the Bulls open play in the Big East tournament in Clearwater, he's .001 off the team lead with a .413 on-base percentage, a consistent presence out of the No. 9 hole....
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Tampa out of running for American hoops tournaments
05/21/13 BlogPONTE VEDRA BEACH -- Tampa has pulled out of consideration for the 2014 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament due to a scheduling conflict with hockey at Tampa Bay Times Forum, USF President Judy Genshaft said Tuesday.
it's also believed that the new conference's women's basketball tournament will stay in Connecticut, perhaps moving from Hartford to the Mohegan Sun casino. Memphis has emerged as a front-runner for the men's event, with the university's incoming interim president telling the Commercial Appeal he is "very, very optimistic" about the event going to FedEx Forum, home of the NBA's Grizzlies....
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AAC to consider creating bowl game
05/21/13SportsPONTE VEDRA BEACH — As the American Athletic Conference looks at a new bowl lineup after the 2013 season, commissioner Mike Aresco said Tuesday that the conference will consider creating its own bowl game, potentially in South Florida.
"We think that's doable. We think the finances can work," Aresco said. "We think ESPN's done a heck of a job with some of the bowls they've created, and we think it's time we did something like that. We like the idea of it."...
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USF's new conference has plan for exit fee distribution
05/20/13CollegesPONTE VEDRA BEACH — Financial terms weren't released, but Mike Aresco, commissioner of the Big East and soon-to-be American Athletic Conference, said the league's member schools have ironed out a plan to split the conference's lucrative pot of exit and entrance fees, reportedly worth as much as $110 million.
Early reports had the three "incumbent" schools — USF, Cincinnati and Connecticut — receiving as much as $30 million each from that reserve, but the compromised figure is likely less substantial. With key football members leaving for other leagues and seven non-football members leaving (and taking the league's name with them), the remaining football members had a windfall to split with the new arrivals....
