Sometimes we have to be reminded of what we take for granted. The holiday season always seems like an appropriate enough time. A little perspective, then, on the University of South Florida. Believe it or not, there’s a lot going on at USF that has absolutely nothing to do with the hyper-emotional, overbearing football coach [...]
Nobody seemed pleased – more like placated – last week as Pat Bean managed to cling to the job she has held for the last six years as Hillsborough County Administrator. The one that involves more than 5,000 employees and a $3 billion budget. The one that increasingly requires sophisticated, out-of-the-box, regional thinking. The one [...]
Well done, Plant High Panthers. Almost no one thought the two-time state 4A football champs would win a third state title this year when the school moved up to 5A. That’s the same rarified class as national powerhouse Lakeland High and the top-ranked team in the COUNTRY – Ft. Lauderdale’s St. Thomas Aquinas High. But [...]
First, the good news. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida ranks as the third “happiest” state in the country. Right after Louisiana and Hawaii and right before Tennessee and Arizona. New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut and New York were the bottom five and presumably not at all happy about it. The [...]
Once again the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is preparing for more inductees. Once again controversy will be revisited. It’s the nature of halls of fame. Everybody is not equally worthy. Perhaps asterisks need to be affixed or shrine space reduced for the non-iconic. Otherwise you get, as with the Rock and Roll Hall [...]
*FSU football coach Jimbo Fisher just inked a five-year, $9 million contract that is packed with performance incentives covering more than a dozen categories. The bonuses speak volumes about priorities. They range from $250,000 if the underachieving ‘Noles, trying to win back a disgruntled fan base, bring home a BCS title to $25,000 if the [...]
“Since the (Straz) Center was the first major cultural project, if it had not happened or had not succeeded, one could question whether these subsequent (major downtown) projects would have happened at all.” Judy Lisi, president and CEO, Straz Center for the Performing Arts. “That’s how it works as a program. The one class leaves [...]
Advanced Placement — or “AP” as it’s usually called — is now a hot-button topic in local and state pedagogic circles. AP comes from a very good place. Why not properly challenge — and accommodate — your very best students by providing an opportunity for them to take college-caliber courses? They can get a GPA [...]
Fortunately, FSU handled the successor-to-President T.K. Wetherell issue much more adroitly than it did the successor-to-Head Coach Bobby Bowden matter. The latter included an awkward, “coach-in-waiting” scenario and an agonizing icon watch while the football program morphed into embarrassing mediocrity. Belatedly, the no-longer-waiting Jimbo Fisher is now firing and hiring and recruiting to send the [...]
Much is being made — and rightly so — of the accusation that USF football coach Jim Leavitt hit one of his players. That was the story that ran on AOL Fanhouse.com. The incident is alleged to have happened during halftime of the Louisville game last month. The matter is under review by the university. [...]
