TBO article on Coach Fernandez

[sdgukhsdgl]

TAMPA - Named Georgia's women's basketball coach as a 26-year-old in 1979, Andy Landers knows firsthand the difficulties of being a young head coach.

So Landers should be able to relate to the challenges Jose Fernandez encountered in 2000 when at 28, he was named South Florida's coach.

Well, not quite.

``When Jose took over USF, the program was in disarray,'' Landers said. ``It was a tough situation he walked into.''

How tough? The basketball program was rocked by racial discrimination allegations that resulted in 14 lawsuits, the firing of then-coach Jerry Ann Winters and the forced departure of Athletic Director Paul Griffin.

With the never-ending controversy surrounding the program, Fernandez was promoted from assistant to acting head coach - exactly one day before the 2000 season opener.

``Jose seemed to calm the storm and started building right away,'' said Landers, a four-time national coach of the year who has guided Georgia to five Final Fours. ``Sometimes you have to do a major cleanup before you build. Each year he's continued to make strides.''

Now in his fifth season, Fernandez has taken the program out of the shadows of the racism allegations and achieved unprecedented success. After signing three top-40 nationally ranked recruiting classes, Fernandez guided the Bulls to last year's WNIT, the first postseason appearance in school history.

Yet, Fernandez's hard work largely has gone unnoticed by USF officials.

Fernandez, whose reward for a 14-13 record in 2001-02 (only the school's fourth winning season in the past 24 years) was a one-year extension, is among the nation's lowest-paid women's basketball coaches.

Fernandez's $84,000 salary is the nation's 12th-lowest according to a 2004 athletic directors survey obtained by The Tampa Tribune. Of the 117 schools with Division I-A football programs, only six Sun Belt, four Western Athletic Conference and one Mid- American coach make less than Fernandez.

The average salary in the Big East, which USF joins next season, is $160,000, nearly double Fernandez's.

Additionally, Fernandez's contract expires after next season.

``I like it here. It's an athletic program that's growing in a great community,'' said Fernandez, who turned 33 in November. ``My staff and I have really poured our heart and soul in this program and we're starting to get noticed around the country.''

USF athletic director Doug Woolard, who said he doesn't negotiate contracts in-season, said his intention is to sit down with Fernandez after the season.

``Obviously he's doing a nice job,'' Woolard said. ``It appears he's getting the program turned around and headed in the right direction.''

The Bulls have a No. 37 RPI and are 7-3, including a heartbreaking overtime loss at three-time defending national champion UConn.

``Jose will cause problems in this conference,'' Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. ``They're pretty good. They'll win games in this league.''

While coaches can't control league opponents, Fernandez has aggressively pursued nonconference games against the nation's powerhouses.

Besides playing at No. 3 Duke and No. 8 UConn this year, USF recently added a home-and-home series with No. 11 Michigan State starting next year. The Bulls also are nearing home-and-home deals with No. 1 LSU in 2005 and 2006 and No. 9 Tennessee in 2006 and 2007.

Under Fernandez, USF has played six nonconference Top 25 teams, including four ranked among the top eight, in the past three seasons.

By comparison, USF's football program has played only three nonconference ranked opponents since 2000 and the men's basketball program has played only eight in the past 12 years.

Fernandez also is 2-6 against opponents ranked by The Associated Press. USF's football program is 0-4 vs. AP- ranked teams, and the men's basketball program hasn't defeated a ranked opponent in nearly 13 seasons.

``When you're on the road recruiting and you keep running into the same people over and over and over again, it's not surprising the success they're having,'' Landers said. ``Jose has a great work ethic, and it rubs off on his staff. He also has a very good understanding of the game and is very organized and knowledgeable.''

Associate AD Barry Clements, who oversees the women's program, said when Fernandez's one-year deal ended in 2003, a three-year extension ``seemed the right thing to do.''

While football coach Jim Leavitt and men's basketball coach Robert McCullum can tell recruits their contract exceeds the recruits' eligibility, Fernandez doesn't have that luxury.

``Recruits want to be assured that the staff that signs them is going to be the staff that coaches them,'' said Fernandez, 42-51 the past four years. ``Sure, that comes up.''

Clements said the program has made tremendous progress under Fernandez. Before Fernandez's hiring, USF's roster had one Florida recruit. This year's roster features six Floridians and four Georgia players.

The Bulls also signed for next season Sarasota Riverview senior guard Shantia Grace, rated the state's top recruit and nation's 14th-best guard.

``It was at a point we couldn't get any recruits from Florida,'' Clements said. ``Then we got Jessica Dickson [the nation's leading freshman scorer last season] and others. We hadn't proved ourself on the court, but we were doing something never done before in recruiting.

``I knew we were on the right road. As those [recruits] arrived, the program's [perception] changed.''

Clements said he has high expectations, especially when USF enters the Big East.

Despite an average of a few hundred fans the past two years, Clements hopes USF will draw between 3,000 and 5,000 for Big East Conference games.

``I have a vision and a dream where we're headed with the Big East,'' Clements said. ``We have unlimited potential what we can do with this program. Amazingly, we've already shown that by going head-to- head with Connecticut.

``With the Big East, women's basketball has the potential of doing a lot. It's the No. 1 sport nationally [big East teams have won the past five national titles] and we have an opportunity for big-time potential.''

But the big question is will USF pay a big-time Big East salary to its Big East coach?

MY RANT:

IF USF does not keep Fernandez around it is going to be a huge loss, he has completely turned this program around and definitely deserves a huge raise.  

Also, it kind of makes you scratch your head that the womens bball program can schedule games with the top programs around the country and we cant even get bottom of the barrel I-A teams here in football

[bulls96go]

pay the man or lose him.

[Brad]

pay the man or lose him.

::sick::

< Warning - I didn't read the whole story - just the caption of TBO:  Photo by: Jason Behnken

Fernandez's salary of $84,000 is a little more than half of what women's basketball coaches in the Big East Conference make on average. USF joins the Big East next season.  and a quick skim of the article>

Lose him.  The fact that we are in a new conference through no work of Mr. Fernandez makes it a ridiculous ultimatum.  If you're going to pay anyone, pay the folks that drove the bus to the BE...LRS and others throughout the Athletic administration - not the coaches.  

Thsi is ludicrous.  I ask you this...would any BE school pay $160K for Jose?  Very very doubtful..  Bulloney.

This is crap..He's at $84K and 33 years old?  He must be happy - he's not leaving.  Nice time for a salary story...he's finally winning.

Let's revisit at the end of this season - or better yet next season..  Win in the BE and then let's talk salary.

I mean, really, if the gate receipts at the dome or the corrale - or wherever they play is about $400 a game, how do you realistically double a guys salary because of a conference change?  Explain it to me.

What kind of nut writes this?

But the big question is will USF pay a big-time Big East salary to its Big East coach?

IF USF does not keep Fernandez around it is going to be a huge loss, he has completely turned this program around and definitely deserves a huge raise.  

Also, it kind of makes you scratch your head that the womens bball program can schedule games with the top programs around the country and we cant even get bottom of the barrel I-A teams here in football  

Oops... just looked at it... That really could not be Brett...must be an understudy penning his first piece under the name of the widely respected and admired Brett McMurphy.

;D

[Cubanbull]

The fact that he is among the lowest paid coaches in ALL of 1A not just BE makes it a point. He has done a great job recruiting and improving the program if the team continues to play the way it has he deserves a raise.

[sdgukhsdgl]

What kind of nut writes this?

Oops... just looked at it... That really could not be Brett...must be an understudy penning his first piece under the name of the widely respected and admired Brett McMurphy.

;D

made it clearer now....  

[Guest guest]

OK. So he's among the lowest-paid coaches in D-I college women's basketball. But where does his team rank in home attendance? Probably pretty close to the bottom there too. And isn't his record at USF still like 30 games below .500? He is turning things around, yeah, but this story has a huge slant to it.

[Markeymark]

The larger question is where do all of USF coach's salaries stack up in terms of our Big East bretheren? It's quite clear that any underpaid coach who is successful at USF will have an easy time jumping ship at some point. If the athletic department as a whole is underfunded in comparison with other schools in our conference, then there's not a whole lot anyone can do except to raise more money for the coffers.

[Bullpride08]

Easy fellas you're trampling all over Title IX.  I believe I read once that less than like 5% of all women's hoops teams in 1-A make a profit- that saying like 8 or 9 teams in all 1-A make a profit- so you have UT, Uconn, ND, Rutgers, maybe UNC, and a few others.  BUT, remember also those schools are paying their coaches in the mid-level six figure salaries.   Just because USF isn't making money or selling tickets for women's hoops doesn't mean we're alone in that situation, however it doesn't make for a reason to pay those coaches nothing- based on Fair Equality Laws created by the Government like Title IX.

Jose took over an awful situation, and was essentially learning on the job.  However, I agree that USF gave him a chance that otherwise might have taken another 5 more years for him to achieve.  His first few seasons he was long on recruiting short on achievement and results.

Last year was an impressive turn of fortunes, and it set the tone for this year, but hardly a reason to run out and give the guy a doubling of his salary- we still finished with a losing record.  

This year is a different story, it seems Jose may have turned the corner as a coach, recruiter, and his team.  We are destroying inferior competition (in past years we would have won those games by 12 not 42), our three losses are to the #3 ranked team, #7 ranked team, and #28 ranked team with a combined overall record of 22-1.  

To me this is Jose's make or break year.  I think we're going to have a big year, but he's got to get them to do it on the court.  Next year with BE teams coming through, and playing in a conference that promotes women's hoops will help attendance and basketball revenue, so this is the year to make a move.  He seems to have the team, they're getting results, and they should finish strong.  The remaining home stand should finish them around 10-3 by January before the real tests, and conference games kick in.

To me, if Jose gets us to finish in the top 5 of the conference, gets us at least 19+ wins, and we get another post season invite then this guy deserves a hefty raise, and long-term extension.  Easily double his salary, give him access to apparel deals, and increase his budget.  But at that point it will prove to be the right move- before this season there was a few things to get excited about but he needed this type of season to put him over the top.

If he does what's expected he'll get his money and contract at the end of the season one way or another.

[Guest turkey shizzler]

ditto s_bien. perfectly stated.

[USFMikeB]

What exactly is a turkey shizzler?  That has weird connotations all over it...