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USF's new logo isn't pointless

TAMPA - After eight years, "Iron" Bull has gone the way of Bucco Bruce.

South Florida unveiled its long-awaited new logo Tuesday, a large, iconic "U" shaped to form a silhouette of a Bull head with symmetrical curving horns. The familiar green and gold colors remain, though the green is slightly darker and the gold actually used to be more of a yellow.

The new logo will adorn the football helmets and the new line of athletic uniforms to be unveiled Aug. 6. USF, through Collegiate Licensing Company (which also handles the SEC and Florida State), will launch its merchandise that day. "The response has been as positive as we could have hoped," associate athletic director Tom Veit said. "Replacing logos is tough. Logos are like art - people see it as they want to see it.

"We're expecting a substantial increase in merchandising revenue."

Veit said about a year after "Iron" Bull was released sales slowed significantly and stores stopped carrying USF merchandise. Thus, when the football team launched and ascended to Division I-A in 2001, raising fan interest, USF apparel was hard to find. Merchandising revenue has been less than $100,000 annually the past several years.

"Now, beginning Aug. 6, people can walk into stores and buy it," Veit said. "They won't have to go look for it, it will be there. The key for us is to increase it over the long haul - a sustained long-term increase."

Athletic director Lee Roy Selmon said the timing is ideal. It coincides with the football team's inaugural C-USA season and the construction of the multimillion dollar athletic facility.

"I'm extremely excited. I really think people are going to like this," Selmon said.

Three secondary logos also were unveiled: "USF" and "Bulls" with the letter "U" in each taking the form of the primary "U" logo, plus an alternate logo, a crest with a side view of a Bull head and USF across the top. The extra logos add marketing flexibility.

The new logo is emblematic of a shift to be identified mainly as USF instead of South Florida. None of the logos, which were designed by the Silverman Group, has the words South Florida. It is a move several schools have made, including Conference USA rival UAB (Alabama-Birmingham).

"The iconic U mark is the university brand," Veit said.

Early returns from a poll on a USF fans Web site roughly had a 6-1 ratio of those who liked the new logo to those who didn't.

"That's a landslide," Veit said.

Florida State junior nose tackle Travis Johnson is heading for a trial the week of Aug.11 that will affect his life, let alone his promising football career.

Johnson, 21, faces a sexual battery charge, a second-degree felony that carries a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison. Selection for the six-person jury is scheduled for Aug. 8.

"We believe that when we present the evidence, particularly when the witnesses testify, Travis not only will be found not guilty but he will be exonerated," said Johnson's Tallahassee-based attorney, John Kenny.

According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records, Johnson had no prior criminal history.

The 6-5, 281-pound Johnson started eight games last season and had 50 tackles and 21/2 sacks. School rules prohibit him from playing until the matter is resolved.

ACC: As expected, the conference submitted a proposal to reduce the minimum number of teams required for a football title game from 12 to 10. The proposal faces several hurdles, with a resolution not expected until April.

GEORGIA: Hundreds of growling fans rallied at the state capitol in Atlanta to deliver 60,000 signatures calling for the school president to be fired.

The fans dressed in red and black and chanted "Damn sorry Dog!" about Michael Adams, the president who announced in June he would force beloved athletics director Vince Dooley to retire next year. The 70-year-old Dooley had hoped to stay four more years at the school he led to a national football championship in 1980.

BASKETBALL: Kentucky Wesleyan agreed to forfeit all men's victories from last season after the NCAA found the team played two ineligible transfers. ... Florida International named Jesus Labrada and Michael Burden as assistants and promoted student assistant Courtney Young to administrative assistant.

- Times staff writer Brian Landman, Times researcher John Martin and Times wires contributed to this report.