USF athletic director Mark Harlan’s first hire: Orlando Antigua. He was brought in to bring Bulls basketball back to life.
He learned from some of the greats in the game. Jaime Dixon at Pitt. Hall of Famer John Calipari while at Memphis and Kentucky.
But the former Harlem Globetrotter hasn’t exactly put on much of a show.
Including postseason play, the Bulls are 17-48 in two seasons. Antigua posted back to back single digit win seasons. They went 8-25 last year and 9-23 in 2014-15.
“Not just wins and losses, but the instability of roster has been a major minus,” said Joey Johnston, a longtime USF Bulls beat write for the Tampa Tribune.
There’s been rapid loss of scholarship players due to transfer or violation of team rules. Bartow’s Chris Perry and Roddy Peters fall into the later category.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the USF Men’s basketball team, the program is now under NCAA investigation for possible academic fraud. The school confirmed one of its athletic programs is being investigated, but didn’t elaborate. USF released a statement that in part read they and the NCAA “are working together to investigate and resolve an inquiry into potential violations of NCAA bylaws and university standards….”
Less than 90 minutes after statement one, statement two dropped. Bulls assistant, coach Oliver Antigua resigned.
“In the news cycle that we live in now, that’s what people are going to remember when they hear USF,” said Johnston. “They’re gonna go ‘Wasn’t that that academic fraud school?’”
Older brother and head coach Orlando’s job is in jeopardy. The Bulls program is in Jeopardy.
“He’s the head coach, he’s accountable for his program and right now he’s accountable for this,” said Johnston. “He needs to know what’s going on in his program and obviously it doesn’t look good.”
With Big 12 expansion buzz growing every day, this isn’t exactly part of the pitch Mark Harlan had planned on.
“When you’re putting your best self forward, this is not what you want on your resume,” said Johnston.