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By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 2001
TAMPA -- In one of its final acts as a governing body, the Florida Board of Regents unanimously approved a measure Thursday allowing South Florida to compete in Division I-A football.
The decision was largely expected, especially since USF is scheduled to begin competition as a Division I independent this fall and will join Conference USA in 2003. But the vote was necessary before USF could make the move.
"As you all know, this is an exciting time for us," president Judy Genshaft said. "The performance that USF has had justifies the Board of Regents' faith in us."
The vote came midway through the board's final meeting, which was held on campus. The Regents were disbanded by the Legislature and will cease to exist on July 1.
Coach Jim Leavitt made a special appearance to thank the Regents for their support, and after the vote, Genshaft lofted miniature green and gold footballs across the room to various members.
"I'm excited," Leavitt said. "We are now Division I-A in football. I want to say thank you so much. This has been my dream. Obviously when I came back home to Florida, my vision always, from my standpoint, was to move this program into Division I-A and into Conference USA. I'm very, very excited about this. Everything has been positive and we're going forward in a very positive way."
Leavitt and Genshaft said they never doubted the Board of Regents would approve the move into I-A, but they felt relieved when it was over.
"Sometimes, you never know," Genshaft said.
Leavitt said the vote just cleared the way for the program to move ahead.
"It's all done and now we can move forward without any road blocks," he said. "It's the first year officially for the Bulls in football. It's like we're starting all over again. It's like the first year again."