BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
A lot has changed since I graduated from the University of South Florida in 1986.
Back then, I worked for the Tampa Tribune and that’s how I paid my way through college. I went to as many games as I could with my student identification card that allowed me to go to activities. Those fees were included in my tuition.
The athletic department has grown in ways that I never imagined.
Our Basketball program is where we had our Homecoming Games. The Sun Dome was the venue and I’ve had so many great moments back then. Eighteen months ago, added more memories at the Yuengling Center when USF Men’s Basketball hosted the FAU Owls.
Unlike High School where you attend based on where you live, you can’t choose where you want to go. It’s where your parents set-up shop and proceed from there.
In my situation, I was looking forward to graduating from Southfield Lathrup High School in Michigan because I had aspirations to play Baseball and enjoyed catching. Unfortunately, my folks opted to follow their passion for horses and bought land and graduated from Lakeland High School in Milford, MI, thus since I didn’t have transportation and there would be no Baseball.
Turning a negative into a positive, I got involved in Journalism, a 47 years later, I’m in Sports Media.
But in college, I developed a lot of great relationships throughout the years.
The University of South Florida was a commuter school and was the perfect fit for me. I chose to attend this school and created a lot of great memories. I donate to the Alumni Association and now I’m thankful to cover their sports teams from time to time.
When we attended Senior Day on November 29, this was pretty neat. There were 30 seniors recognized before USF thrashed the Rice Owls 52-3 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
I did attend a homecoming game years ago when I wrote for the Detroit Monitor vs the Cincinnati Bearcats when the program was in its infancy stages.
I’ve seen many USF Bulls games against the FAU Owls as well. They’re both members of the American Conference so I work hard to plan my schedule to see these two schools face one another.
I’ve been covering the Owls since 2007 and my football father is the legendary Howard Schnellenberger. I worked my connections in Detroit and FAU got invited to the Motor City Bowl, which Coach and I would talk about a lot and he gave me an autographed copy of his book when he invited me to his house. We always took pictures together.
There was a different feeling covering the Rice contest. All week long, the only thing I kept hearing about was the USF Head Football Coach potentially leaving for another job. Let’s face the reality, until USF lands in a power conference, this will be a stepping stone job.
Knowing this on my drive to Tampa, I had a great idea that it was time for me to implement since I felt the timing was right.
I decided to come up with a Mt. Rushmore of USF Coaches to celebrate the Sports History since the University has its own Hall of Fame which I hope to see at some point. My next visit to campus will likely be when the new Football Stadium opens in 2027.
So here it is, I’m going to release my Mt. Rushmore of USF Coaches. I encourage feedback as to who you would add or subtract.
1. Lee Rose (Men’s Basketball). This is an absolute no brainer! Coach Rose led two teams to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I basketball tournament with the Charlotte 49’ers in 1977 and the Purdue Boilermakers in 1980. How can a guy not be No.1 when he leaves a Big Ten School to coach a young basketball program! He coached at USF from 1980-1986 and was 106-69 during his tenure at USF. He coached the Bulls to their first postseason appearances in team history, reaching the NIT three times before leaving in 1986 for the NBA. His all-time college record was 388-162. Coach Rose and I were close as we spent time at USF and I followed him to the NBA and interviewed him during his stops in the NBA. His first major pro drafted at USF was Charlie Bradley, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings. Charlie and I are great friends and we still stay in touch on Facebook.
2. Eddie Cardieri (Baseball). This is also a no-brainer! Cardieri, who was Major League Hall of Famer Robin Robert’s top assistant three seasons before assuming control in 1986. He coached the Bulls to tremendous success over the next 21 seasons and compiled a 731-546 (.572) record to become the winningest coach in USF Baseball history, surpassing the next closest coach by more than 460 wins and logging five seasons with 40 plus wins and 16 seasons with 30 or more.
Cardieri led USF Baseball to eight conference titles across three conferences. The Bulls won five regular season and two conference championships and made nine NCAA Regional Appearances, the most for any coach in program history.
He was inducted into the USF Athletics Hall of Fame.
We’re great friends and I’ve added him to My Media Network as a Baseball Analyst. He’s an outstanding job for us. More importantly, he’s an unbelievable human being!
3. Jim Leavitt (Football). When I was on campus last weekend, I did a video at Gate A showing where the new on campus stadium is and it was neat to the construction in progress. We also saw the new athletics center on the outside adjacent to the stadium.
But there is one man who is responsible for this stadium. Leavitt defines what loyalty is in every sense of the word and I truly hope he gets a statue somewhere in this stadium!
Jim Leavitt was hired as the first coach of the USF Bulls in 1997. He worked at Kansas State from 1990-1995 as an assistant coach in different capacities. He had the dubious task from starting this program from scratch and the football team’s offices were in trailers. But that didn’t stop Jim as he found a way to work through the early obstacles of building the program.
The first time I met Jim was when I covered a Homecoming Game vs the Cincinnati Bearcats as a writer for the Detroit Monitor. I mentioned this earlier in the story.
USF won the game and afterwards, I approached Jim about doing an interview on the field. He was hesitant but after I told him that being an alumnus, my goal was to promote my alma-mater and used my loud demeanor to get the message across! I had to be loud because of the amount of noise on the field. He definitely agreed to the interview.
We talked about numerous things and it was a great experience. When the interview was over, we hugged for a few minutes he knew that my heart was in the right place. I’m proud to know Jim Leavitt!
His overall record at USF was 95-57. Unfortunately, Jim is too high strung at times and is an in your face type of person. That demeanor ultimately led to his controversial dismissal at USF. I do believe he is mis understood. Nevertheless, after USF, he never got another head coaching job again. His flamboyant personality wouldn’t be a good fit with today’s student athlete.
Leavitt, was inducted into the USF Hall of Game this past fall. Unfortunately, his high strung personality bit him again as the administration elected not to be present at the ceremony as a result of a recent legal issue. He was cleared of any wrongdoing, therefore both sides wanted to let the other inductees speak about their accomplishments. Both Leavitt and the administration made the right decision.
But when you look at the overall picture, without Jim Leavitt, USF wouldn’t be where it’s at today. He was extremely loyal and with the job he did, there is no doubt he could have used USF as a stepping stone job, earned more money as many coaches do these days. His loyalty counts for something!
Our paths would cross again as he was a defensive coordinator for FAU in 2020. He deserves to be on My Mt. Rushmore!
4. Alex Golesh (Football). This guy inherited one of the biggest rebuilding jobs on the planet as he succeeded Jeff Scott, who was 4-26 as head coach. Scott worked with legendary Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney and one would think that his background could translate into success in Tampa. It didn’t and as a result, he was employed with South Florida from 2020-2022.
Enter Alex Golesh, who came to USF from the University of Tennessee after being an assistant coach. Golesh was the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach and he had no head coaching experience. What Golesh does have is an electric personality and great mind.
After the Jeff Scott debacle, the success was evident in the first season as Golesh was 7-6. He followed that season up with another 7-6 mark then battered Syracuse University by humiliating the Orange 45-0 in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Golesh’s third season was a breakout, culminating with a 9-3 record—-USF’s first nine win campaign since 2017 and their best overall mark in eight years. The team ranked third nationally in total offense and fifth in scoring, returning to the AP Top 25, (peaking at No.18) for the first time in seven years. Key early victories included a dominant 34-7 over No. 25 Boise State in Week 1 and an 18-15, road win against No.23 Florida in week two were both signature triumphs that propelled USF to 6-1 start, and secured USF to bowl eligibility for the third straight year.
Golesh’s offensive brilliance saw USF score 50 points in five games.
QB Bynum Brown had a breakout out year with Golesh’s up-tempo offense. He became the first USF QB to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season (joining Jayden Daniel’s as one of only two FBS players to do so), and finished first in the AAC and 7th in FBS in total yards per-game (318.8).
Golesh’s overall record in three campaigns was 23-15! That’s why he’s on this list. One of the questions I asked him during the post-game media session was are you pleased with the fact that the program is in better shape than you found it? The entire interview and all of the others are included in this story.
As much as I enjoyed my time up in Tampa last weekend, there was one incident that led to a bad taste in my mouth with a USF PR Person.
I will not divulge his name.
But when I see him, he will apologize to me because he didn’t know my intentions for taking a certain action!
He doesn’t know me as much as I thought he did.
But, he’ll know more about me soon enough!
If he doesn’t apologize, there will be consequences about future coverage among other things!
Don’t alienate an alumnus who donates money and supports the program in other ways.
With all the information regarding Golesh’s future, this media session with the coach lasted 21:08 seemed like a swan song. Instead of talking about a convincing victory over Rice, all the talk was about whether the coach was coming or going. This was a topic on Tuesday’s edition of Inside The Pigskin on Tuesday Night. Check it out.
Knowing all of this on my four hour trek on I-75 North, I made a decision on the way up to find a way to get a photo with Golesh.
There was no opportunity to get one after the Syracuse win in Boca Raton, FL and after the Miami Hurricanes ran USF out of Hard Rock Stadium with a 49-12 thrashing, that wouldn’t have worked.
With that said, I made the bold decision with this on my mind, I needed to get this photo to insert in this story, to get a photo with Golesh after he spoke at the podium. I wish I could have found a way to get the photo.
All this situation did was raise my blood pressure and stress level. But it is what it is.
I can appreciate the fact that timing may not have been the greatest as the PR guy stated. To his credit, his emotions were in the heat of the moment, thus I accept that.
But where I’m, outraged with this guy is what he told me that I like drawing attention to myself.
He’s dead wrong and I’ll let him know to his face to make sure he never questions my integrity again!
Mark my word! My instincts drive me to make decisions!
I have “No Ego” at all!
All I do is lead by example and look to make people better around me!
I don’t need to draw attention to myself for a coach that 12 hours later proceeded to land the head coaching job at Auburn University!
My goal is to represent My Media Outlet which I own and have built from scratch which is getting bigger by the day with the editorial and broadcast departments.
Our You Tube Channel is closing in on 1 Million Views and we’re looking for a big year in 2026!
I don’t have to draw attention to myself!
I’ve been fortunate to interview so many great personalities across all of sports. I wonder if this guy has ever heard of Muhammad Ali, Tommy Lasorda, George Steinbrenner, Richard Petty, Isiah Thomas, Howard Schnellenberger, Don Shula, Chuck Daly, and many others that are in My Book “Lessons From The Microphone” and I have every intention of writing the second one in 2026.
I don’t need this or any other coach to draw attention myself.
I’ve lasted in this industry 47 years and I’m looking to reach 50 years. I might scale things back to work on other projects and partially retire to do some more traveling.
These days, I mentor all the people that come to me and think of others first!
I’ve heard some boneheaded statements, but drawing attention to myself Takes The Cake!
This PR Guy will realize it when we meet again! I promise you that!
These days, I choose the projects that I want to take on and don’t mind spending money if they benefit the platform as a whole!
To be able to write a Mt. Rushmore Story about My Alma-Mater is truly special and I’m deeply proud of connection to the university!
Early in the story, I talked about not choosing my high school. I chose USF!
Time will tell what the future holds about how much we promote this university.
But the individuals that made the list are well deserving of the recognition!
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter/X @TribuneSouth.
To see his broadcast, you can subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel at no charge and hit the notifications button to see the latest.
Also, Scott wrote a book called “Lessons From The Microphone” which can be purchased on Amazon/Kindle and Barnes and Noble. The Audio book is coming up soon.
