Too Much: TBO-Vitale Has Soft Spot For McCullum

[Brad]

Vitale Has A Soft Spot For USF's McCullum

By RICK HARMON

rharmon@tampatrib.com

LAKEWOOD RANCH - **** Vitale is one of the busiest men in the country. He will announce more than 50 games on ESPN and ESPN2 - not including conference tournaments.

Vitale may be the most recognizable voice in college basketball, but the Manatee County resident still keeps his eyes on the local teams. He had Florida ranked 24th and Florida State 30th in his preseason Top 30.

And he has a soft spot for South Florida coach Robert McCullum.

``My gut feeling is that the toughest coaching job in men's college basketball is at the University of South Florida,'' he said while taking a breakfast break at his favorite morning stop - The Broken Egg in Siesta Key. ``Coach Robert McCullum might want to pray for a miracle for South Florida basketball. I know that might come as a surprise to some, but think about this: Coach McCullum has a tiresome task ahead of him. Look at the competition he's already had to face, going 7-20 [1-15 in Conference USA] last season in his first year at the helm.''

It's not going to be any easier for the Bulls this year as Vitale had Louisville (17th), Cincinnati (21th) and Memphis (23rd) in his preseason Top 30.

``Basketball has not caught on at South Florida yet, and the program hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 1992. That spells trouble for recruiting, which is so important in building a program,'' said Vitale, a former high school, college and NBA coach before joining ESPN in 1979.

Next season, USF will go to the Big East, with Connecticut, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame on its schedule, along with Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette and DePaul (the other C-USA schools moving to the Big East).

``For every blue-chip recruit you get the opportunity to try to sign, you hear the news from Connecticut and Syracuse that they latched on to a McDonald's All-America,'' he said. ``McCullum is in a difficult situation and has to deal with playing in an environment that, truth be told, is average at best.

``Basketball has not caught on at South Florida yet. I only hope that the administrators who analyze and evaluate these coaches, as well as the fans who pass judgment on their abilities, take into consideration how difficult their tasks are. It isn't a level playing field. When Coach McCullum walks into the house of a prospect, do you think he's looked at the same way or has the same shot as Jim Calhoun or Jim Boeheim?''

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[smazza]

it is a great opportunity for coach mac

[bulls96go]

when you get lemons make lemonade!

mac will do well

[beastiebull]

Vitale has a soft spot in between his ears.

[RHBullsFan]

What do you have against Vitale? The guy has done wonders for college basketball.

[beastiebull]

His whole blabbermouth hyperactive schtick was getting old 3 years ago.  It is now beyond annoying.  

Further, he's a uf apologist that lives less than an hour away from USF yet never does anything to give our school any recognition, even when we were pretty competetive in 2001 and 2002.  Did you read his comments above?  He didn't say one thing positive about USF.  He says basketball hasn't "caught on" at South Florida yet.  Geez we used to average around 6500-7000 in the good years.  Basketball has caught on here we just haven't won in awhile.  Recruits do still listen to what this guy says (because they don't know any better) and what he says about usf is not good and does not help us in any way.....

"Hey Dickie V, eat my shorts baaabbbbbyyyyyyyyyy!".