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This university needs to schoolhouse bully Division I schools. Challenge Miami to a baseball game, or extend open arms to the Gators basketball program. The Tampa teams aren’t drawing any crowds, and it is not for lack of our talent.
Let us challenge schools that will bring the fans and then prove that we can beat them. Like the welterweight challenging the heavyweight, nobody holds the underdog responsible for losing while at the same time cheering for the upset.
This spirit is exactly what Tampa is missing and if it requires incessantly emailing, calling or carrier pigeon messaging large D-I schools that are the real allure then so be it.
The logical opposition to this would be not to hope a higher Division school condescends to our tier but rather to raise our level to theirs. While not a bad idea from the competition aspect, financially this decision is irrational.
Right now our athletic department is already under- funded in scholarships. Men’s soccer head coach Adrian Bush commented during his season that Lynn University budgets around three times as much as Tampa in his sport. Yet even with this discrepancy, UT won the Sunshine State Conference tournament and handed Lynn their only three losses of the season.
Tampa held the Fighting Knights, who averaged 3.2 goals a game, to two or fewer in every contest. Unbelievable play that surpasses what the statistics show is not uncommon at Tampa, made largely possible by the school’s location and small size.
Moving into the Division I realm would make us more appealing to incoming freshmen and transfers, causing undergraduate numbers to soar past the small school attraction of athletes. To compensate for the loss of one subtle recruiting tool, the athletic department would be forced to charge admission into games to boost the scholarship fund to keep us competitive.
The last event UT charged entry was the men’s and women’s basketball postseason in March. Five dollars was enough for admission to a full day of basketball and access to the Fan Fest presented by the athletic marketing program and Wendy’s seeking another advertising edge.
Unfortunately for Tampa, five dollars is also the cover amount The Hut charges on Saturdays for nickel beer night and I would be willing to bet a beer (or a nickel) that there were more UT kids at The Hut than supporting their home team.
Ruling out the D-I promotion, I noted the Bumstead article suggests that we lose participation to the local sports teams. It also accuses Tampa’s lack in the football department. The latter I have no doubt hurts us but of the first claim I am still skeptical.
After soccer season next year, when the field is no longer spitting sulfur water on kids walking to Straz, Tampa should make more of an effort to draw that outside action here. Bringing the WNBA teams to play in Martinez is a step in the right direction but the improper execution of this plan is self-evident: it’s the WNBA.
The once successful (now has-been) Tampa Bay Storm hosting practices on the intramural field is close, but if the squad played a real inter-team skirmish in the spring when the soccer field isn’t being used, then the Spartan stands may be filled for the first time in a while. A show such as this may even allow the school to charge a five dollar entry fee, making these tickets exactly five dollars more than those currently provided by the university.
Higher ambitions such as that may be further down the road if it lies in the distance at all. Instead UT should not move to Division I sports, but rather test the waters.
Pestering bigger name schools to challenge our 12 national championships will either arouse suspicion that they are afraid of us or bring them to our campus with free admission to the games.
Fan participation, even for the wrong reason, still fills the stands. Since the natural skill of our athletes and the success of our teams as a whole clearly isn’t enough, this may be one of the few remaining options.
Worst that happens is students learn how talented our teams are.
- Bobby Winsler
TAMPA — There won’t be any more significant news coming out of the University of Tampa athletic department by the year end, so here’s part I of the recap of Spartan sports from The Minaret.
Baseball
The baseball team repeated its 2006 glory with an equally impressive National Championship in June 2007. Just a year after having five players drafted by MLB teams, Tampa posted a 53-10 record and knocked off Columbus State University by a score of 7-2.
But the back-to-back championships weren’t enough for this record-setting club. A total of seven players signed with MLB teams, with six being drafted and C Chris Rosenbaum signing a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It’s a long road for a young MLB player to make it to the “show,” but it’s not out of the question. Jonathan Holt has serious professional talent, and is a stand-up young man as well. He was the Most Outstanding Player at the championships, and should rise quickly through the ranks of the Cleveland Indians program.
In a blast from the Spartan past, C Mike Rabelo was traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Florida Marlins in the Dontrelle Willis deal. Rabelo played three season from 1999-2001. In 2006, he became the first Spartan to advance to the majors since Tino Martinez. Rabelo was drafted in the 14th round of the 2001 MLB draft.
Volleyball
Despite the return of key players Katelen Dixon, Margeaux Sinibaldi and Danielle Macdonald, the Spartan volleyball team fell short in its title defense. Ranked in the top five for a majority of the season, Tampa lost to Washburn University 3-2 after building a 2-0 lead. The Spartans finished 31-3 on the season.
Four Spartans were named to the AVCA All-America team, a record for the program. Erin Clark and Alisha Green joined Dixon and Sinibaldi on the list. Sinibaldi also set the SSC record for career digs this season, and the All-American award was her second.
Women’s Soccer
It looked like it would be a difficult year after losing a number of key members of the 2006 Final Four team, but Tampa bounced back and showed some real heart late in the season to take the Division II national title. Jocelyn Charette (transfer), Malana Winskas (graduation) and Samantha Robinson (graduation) were all main components of the 2006 success, with Charette scoring 21 goals, Robinson adding 28 assists, and Winskas winning her record fourth-consecutive SSC Defensive Player of the Year award.
Oh yeah, and South Region Coach of the Year Bobby Johnston left the school to take an assistant position at his alma mater, James Madison University in Virginia. The coaching spot wasn’t vacant long, as former assistant Gerry Lucey returned to Tampa after a Final Four appearance with West Chester University.
The team scored 20 fewer goals than 2006 (a 28% decline) and gave up two more this season, but they scored when they counted most: the NCAA tournament.
It helped to have Division II Player of the Year Shannon Aitken on the club. Aitken recorded 14 shutouts and saved nearly 80% of all shots that came her way. Not to mention she did the unthinkable in stopping four penalty kicks in two overtime games in the championship tournament. It’s rare for a men’s team to stop PKs, and even more rare for a woman to do it, statistically.
Aitken, Ashley Flateland, Shelby Kuni, Emily Stack and Courtney Evans all made the All-America team. Flateland left the program after the season to attend JMU.
And in the end….
The championships brought the Tampa total to a total of four over the past two years: 2 baseball, 1 volleyball, 1 women’s soccer. Before the 2006 baseball trophy, Tampa had a total of nine National Championships in its 75 year history.
Check back soon for the rest of the wrap-ups, including the women’s basketball team’s run to the conference championship, the men’s soccer team return to success, and some really strange stories from other Spartan sports.
- Peter Arrabal
The women’s soccer team has qualified for the Final Four in Orange Beach, Ala. They will face top-ranked Grand Valley State, the team that knocked them out last year 2-0.
The volleyball team faces seventh-ranked Washburn (Kan.) in the Elite Eight, with a shot to return to the Final Four.
This year’s National Championship tournament is a little different. Last year, the University of West Florida hosted the Fall Sports Championship Festival, where all D-II sports finished at the same time. This year it’s a lot different, with teams traveling to different places to play for the titles.
Check back here, and www.theminaretonline.com for the latest on the Spartan championship chase.
- Peter Arrabal
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