Big East battle comes to USF backyard
Published December 22, 2004
<HR noShade SIZE=1><!--BSHSTARTBODY--><!--top-->
TAMPA - Looking for a sign that USF is moving into tough recruiting battles in the Big East? Try I-4.
Heading west on the interstate, near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, drivers will notice a billboard with a group of football players and a curious message: "Season's Greetings from Rutgers Football."
It's a creative recruiting tool for the New Jersey school, which recruits Florida heavily. And that group photo isn't a team picture: It's just the 27 players from Florida who were on Rutgers' 2004 roster, including Jefferson's Robert Baham and Sickles' Dan Biernacki.
"Tampa is a very big market for us, and the billboards have helped with recruiting," said Kevin MacConnell, Rutgers' associate athletic director for external affairs. "It's just about exposure. I think it makes a lot of sense. Kids we're recruiting say, "Oh, my God, my face is going to be up on a billboard.' "
Rutgers (4-7, 1-5 in the Big East in 2004) is a contender for Armwood's Demetrius McCray and Jefferson's Alex Suber and Devin Giles, with McCray and Suber also considering offers from USF.
The promotion is all about recruiting, as the signs went up Dec. 1 and will go down the week after National Signing Day in February. Rutgers is renting five such billboards, including four in the Miami area, where they've run in past winters. The total cost to run five billboards for two months is less than $20,000, MacConnell said.
And, before you ask, Rutgers has cleared the billboards with the NCAA, which MacConnell said has no problems because current athletes are used only to promote their own football program and no recruits are targeted specifically.
Coach Greg Schiano, entering his fifth season at Rutgers, was the defensive coordinator at Miami for two years and recognizes the benefits of recruiting Florida. USF, which begins play in the Big East next fall and will travel to face Rutgers in 2005, is expanding its recruiting territory to include New Jersey. As for marketing there, USF associate athletic director Tom Veit quipped that the climate was an obstacle.
"We were going to buy a billboard in Jersey, but the snow was going to cover it up," he said. "We understand that everyone in Jersey wants to be here in Florida for the holidays."
<!--bottom--><!--BSHENDBODY--><!--bottom--><!--BSHENDBODY--><CENTER><!--[[hr width="90%"]] [[p]][[a href=""/index.shtml]]Home[[/a]][[br]] [[a href=/Business.shtml]]Business[[/a]] | [[a href=/Citrus.shtml]]Citrus[[/a]] | [[a href=/Opinion.shtml]]Commentary[[/a]] | [[a href=/AE.shtml]]Entertainment[[/a]][[br]] [[a href=/Hernando.shtml]]Hernando[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Floridian.shtml]]Floridian[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Obits.shtml]]Obituaries[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Pasco.shtml]]Pasco[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Sports.shtml]]Sports[[/a]][[br]] [[/a]][[a href=/State.shtml]]State[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Tampabay.shtml]]Tampa Bay[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Worldandnation.shtml]]World & Nation[[/a]] [[p]]-->[URL="http://www.sptimes.com/tpc/TC.Copyright.html"]© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times.[/URL] All rights reserved.</CENTER>
A new billboard along I-4 sends a message from new USF foe Rutgers University to Tampa Bay area football players - We want you!
By GREG AUMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published December 22, 2004
<HR noShade SIZE=1><!--BSHSTARTBODY--><!--top-->
TAMPA - Looking for a sign that USF is moving into tough recruiting battles in the Big East? Try I-4.
Heading west on the interstate, near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, drivers will notice a billboard with a group of football players and a curious message: "Season's Greetings from Rutgers Football."
It's a creative recruiting tool for the New Jersey school, which recruits Florida heavily. And that group photo isn't a team picture: It's just the 27 players from Florida who were on Rutgers' 2004 roster, including Jefferson's Robert Baham and Sickles' Dan Biernacki.
"Tampa is a very big market for us, and the billboards have helped with recruiting," said Kevin MacConnell, Rutgers' associate athletic director for external affairs. "It's just about exposure. I think it makes a lot of sense. Kids we're recruiting say, "Oh, my God, my face is going to be up on a billboard.' "
Rutgers (4-7, 1-5 in the Big East in 2004) is a contender for Armwood's Demetrius McCray and Jefferson's Alex Suber and Devin Giles, with McCray and Suber also considering offers from USF.
The promotion is all about recruiting, as the signs went up Dec. 1 and will go down the week after National Signing Day in February. Rutgers is renting five such billboards, including four in the Miami area, where they've run in past winters. The total cost to run five billboards for two months is less than $20,000, MacConnell said.
And, before you ask, Rutgers has cleared the billboards with the NCAA, which MacConnell said has no problems because current athletes are used only to promote their own football program and no recruits are targeted specifically.
Coach Greg Schiano, entering his fifth season at Rutgers, was the defensive coordinator at Miami for two years and recognizes the benefits of recruiting Florida. USF, which begins play in the Big East next fall and will travel to face Rutgers in 2005, is expanding its recruiting territory to include New Jersey. As for marketing there, USF associate athletic director Tom Veit quipped that the climate was an obstacle.
"We were going to buy a billboard in Jersey, but the snow was going to cover it up," he said. "We understand that everyone in Jersey wants to be here in Florida for the holidays."
<!--bottom--><!--BSHENDBODY--><!--bottom--><!--BSHENDBODY--><CENTER><!--[[hr width="90%"]] [[p]][[a href=""/index.shtml]]Home[[/a]][[br]] [[a href=/Business.shtml]]Business[[/a]] | [[a href=/Citrus.shtml]]Citrus[[/a]] | [[a href=/Opinion.shtml]]Commentary[[/a]] | [[a href=/AE.shtml]]Entertainment[[/a]][[br]] [[a href=/Hernando.shtml]]Hernando[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Floridian.shtml]]Floridian[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Obits.shtml]]Obituaries[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Pasco.shtml]]Pasco[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Sports.shtml]]Sports[[/a]][[br]] [[/a]][[a href=/State.shtml]]State[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Tampabay.shtml]]Tampa Bay[[/a]] | [[/a]][[a href=/Worldandnation.shtml]]World & Nation[[/a]] [[p]]-->[URL="http://www.sptimes.com/tpc/TC.Copyright.html"]© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times.[/URL] All rights reserved.</CENTER>
