Chris Torello: Michael we are just over a year into your tenure here at USF as Director of Athletics. How would you asses year one for you?
Michael Kelly: Well I am very pleased with how year one went. It was very exciting for me personally and we had a lot of accomplishments both on and off the field. We have a lot of momentum here as we take on Year two.
Chris Torello: You look at the fundraising you’ve been able to do for this indoor practice facility; what was the biggest thing you think you had to do to say ‘hey this is a big part of what we are trying to do?’
Michael Kelly: It just became increasingly present to me how important this project is and for me to be able to articulate that and sharing that vision more with Bulls Nation has helped. We have a ways to go but very encouraged any time you can have a record-setting year in fundraising and that growth is a good indicator of momentum and what we need to do to spring forward.
Chris Torello: So the season ends for football. You’re coming off the field from the Gasparilla Bowl. There were a lot of angry fans what had plenty of questions and they wanted their answers. Take us through your process once the offseason hit to kind of evaluate the team, coaching positions and where this program stood.
Michael Kelly: There are highs and lows in this business and you know that going in. You’ve got to be able to take those high and lows. And I just did what I have known to do in my entire career and that’s to take a step back and stay calm and rational about it and take a look to survey the situation. The conversations that Coach Strong and I had- it was obviously his decision to make the changes he did and I have all the confidence in the world with Coach Strong. He did what he needed to do and I think he made some excellent choices to change to coaching staff. He did a magnificent job of building the staff he has gone ahead with.
Chris Torello: The two-for-one deals – we have talked about this during the summer. There was a lot of noise with these deals. People are saying ‘this isn’t right’ or ‘this is a detriment to the league’…Right up the road, I’ll say his name, Danny White (UCF AD) was making some comments. Do you ever stop to listen to what is being said or do you just lock in and say ‘We’re doing what we need for USF’.
Michael Kelly: Well, always what is best for USF. That is what I am tasked with doing. We have to always do what we think is best for our circumstances and our time. Mostly, nationally and regionally, I heard nothing but positive things about our scheduling and the teams we are going to play and be aggressive with the teams we wanted to play and our players wanted to play, and certainly who our fans wanted to play. And when we did these two-for-ones it was Alabama, it was Miami and were situations where it made sense for us to do these games and to have these teams come to our stadium. Having a chance for these opponents to come here and play in Tampa was a big deal for us.
Chris Torello: I’ll end on this one because last year we talked the word that kept coming out of your mouth was brand. How is the USF brand as we go into this new academic calendar?
Michael Kelly: To me it is getting better all the time. We still need to have the understanding and patience that it is still a young brand. I believe that this Bulls ‘U’ logo is one of the best there is. What it now needs to stand for is excellence – competitive excellence and really excellence in everything that we do. I am excited about it and we have to be patient. It does take time, but we are headed in the right direction and the relevance of the USF brand, the Bull ‘U’ brand has to be a priority and that is what will help guide us not just to short-term success but really to the long-term success that we all envision for USF.