w Wlf.oon Wilson products that carry the Authentic Game Equipment symbol are guaranteed to be identical to the equipment used at the highest levels of competitive play by the world's most demanding amateur and professional athletes. * * * * Cont erence USA * * 35EastW ac ke,o, ..-e Sulta650 CONFERENCE Chicago, IL6060 1 Ph 0'1 e312/553-048 3 Baseball Championship Fa,:312/553-0495 USA Commissk>ner·s Fa>: 312/553-0725 May 17-21 • St. Petersburg, . M/chae/L.S//ve •••• Commissioner Florida Power Park Home of Al Lang Field W elcom e to St. Petersburg and the 2000 Conference USA Baseball Championstup Approaching the end of our fifth season, Conterenco USA has eruovoc trem endous Hosted by the success. 'Ml1le 1\ seems thet only yesterday Hie league w11s fo rm ed, Conference USA has quickly estannsuuu itself am ong tile neuon's eluo conferences. University of South Florida memorable and consequent ly, prom ise s a collegiate Our institutions, coaches. stuoent-anue tcs aoo adm inistrators are cornnunec to tnc oeveroprnent and success ol Conference USA, un the competitive field and in the cf.sssroom. Wo also appreciate tne contributions frorn our fans acro ss tnc com plete our f1ttt1 ym r. ue league will cont inue to provide the best Table of Contents stooent.etmetcs Welcome Letters .. action ancl cxcncmcnt trus year <ind our tesctcu Conference USA 2 n•markable ten-ut-, ,11Hl eoumes ol uur auueuc socce sstot -sed'..r.ir1 Conference USA Baseball Coaches 3 Cincinnati 4 011 tx~l1c111 of everyorn• 111volved w1H1 conrcrence USA, I uopc you have a wonderful tim e 111 St. petersborg Houston 5 Louisville 6 smcerew. Memphis 7 UNC Charlotte 8 Michael L Slive Championship Bracket 9 Corrumssroner Championship Scorecard I 0 Championship Scorecard 11 Saint Louis 13 South Florida . .. .. .. 14 Southern Mississippi 15 Tulane 16 UAB 17 Championship Results/ A ward Winners . I 8 UAB •CINCINNATI• OE PAUL• HOUSTON• !OUISVILLE • MAAOUETTE • MEMPHIS UNC CHARLOTTE• SAINT !OUIS • SOUTH FLORIDA• SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI• TULANE Championship Records 19 ARMY• EAST CAROLINA (FOOTBALL MEMBER) University of South Florida 20 Conference USA Officials Commissioner Michael L. Slivc Assoc. Commissioner Brenda Weare Assoc. Commissioner .... Nick Floyd Univeraitr ol Assoc. Commissioner John McNamara Asst. Commissioner Brian Teter -l18F-· Asst. Commissioner Sandra Biller Assl. Commissioner Noreen Morris Creative Services ... Erika Arnstadt Hirschfield Dir. of Info. Services...... Russell Anderson Mayl7,20 00 Dir. or Sports Services Linda Jepsen Business Manager .. Brad Stricklin Wdco mr !o T .. 1p1 B•y attd tn Flor1d1 ~,,,,,rr l'•rl. 1l1c Universily <>fSo,1th Florida is pwud lo ho.,1 !he 20 00 Cm1l(rtncc USA Bto d>illl l'ha111pio~1•ip Asst. Dir. C"ships Kcanah Smith A• t•o tlircclor of Alblclic, ail th1 tl!ff , it i1 •Pf pl1anir• to ,n lcmne llll 1'111, 1111~ participant, 10 the rampa Ray area Asst. Dir. Info. Services Pelc Rhoda W1 hop• th l ia addition lo rn,i"yin1 Cod1r1nc1 lJSA h11 ~h•II. you will ha~• 1k• o~portunily 10 e< f" rie11co 10~1e oft•• ll1trntlimu, bH cbH •1d rH!mmmt, lh1t 111h th• Tampa-~!. ~eter,hur1-('lrar,,r 1tcr 1re1 • un,yur ,u,d C!1J(l)'~hlt plier \o Info. Services Asst. James Jackson live Baseball Coord, Officials. Richard Fctchict An importilnt upc ct oflifr in the T•111p• B•y ue1 l"ur nc•rly 100 ;nr, .,., hccn b11 eb•IL St. l'11n,hur1h,111 lon1 b1u b1ll l111 tury. Tb1 lint n hib1liun 1- • pl1y1d in ~l>wnt"w• St. l'olenburir. wu ia 191-4 b~1wH n lh1 ~t. La1i, Compliancc/C'ships Asst. Stephanie Vlach llro,,.., a11J tho Chic110 C1h, ~a,ior Ln 1•• Bu•h•ll'• rnt>l1 i• 1111 u1a ~an b~ traced b1ck • y•m earlier to 1913 wlicn tll1 CL1b1 mnu d t•tir •pri11 lrninini bo<11e from New I lrln n, lo T••p• lb• followir11 yn r tbt lltn wn• movod !h•ir 1pri11 workout, to SI. PHonbur1 ind thr city hu f>o cn 1h,· Imme ta 1prin1 Credits tr1i1i11 IYU)' )"H r 1i1c1 with lhc en·1ption of 19~I t•ro•ir.b 19~5 ·•ohrn tray,! ,.,.,,. rntricted du rn Wnrld Wu II Al L•n1 S11dn1111 ,.,;,,. n..-. ,d after• fonnu :'It. l'1l1nb1Jr1 nmyor i11 tru111n l1I 1n "llrncli11 b111h1ll 10 the 11r1;11111101110 The 2000 Conference USA Championship years agu. ·n,c facility ope ned in l'lb/> , was rcbuill in 1'17 7, rrn 1uu d F\uwu l'owcr l'ulr:.1l Al Lm1 l'idd i11 1998 and rcceivedancx lc!lsivefa celitlinlQ<)</ Program is a publication of the University of A yn r110, lJS!' h d th• plu 111r11o hoot 1lle NCAA Fin.11 f'm,r ju.,11 fc,w blo,.:lr:.1 aw,iy at Tropic1n1 Fidd We have South Florida sports information office. looked forward 10 llii1 0Y0nt 1t Florid• Po•••er P.-k -..·illl equal 111ticip1tio11. Pln 1c Ju nut llnit1l1 to cont1cl mo or 1 mc•btr of u.e llSF Dcp., rH nl or tr1tercollt1i1t1 Athletic, ,tiff if,..., c• be or 111i1tu c1 in., )" way Written and edited by USF associate SID Fred Huff. Designed by USF assistant SID Paul Dodson. Special thanks to C-USA di• ~~ rector of information services Russell Ander• Director of Athletics son and baseball sports information direc• tors at C-USA member schools: Chris Pika at UAB, Jeremy Hartigan at Cincinnati, John Sullivan at Houston, Sean Moth at Louisville, Jason Black at Memphis, Brent Stastny at UNC Charlotte, Diana Koval at Saint Louis, Mike Williams at Southern Miss and Krisden Wunsch at Tulane. Front cover photogra• l•fen:•11.. 1 .,,. Aflll•tln • Univm i,y of South Florida• 4l0l E.tst Fowl,r Avenue• PEDll4 • Tampa, FL 33620-8600 (S! J)97~-Zll5•f'AX {~lli'J74-4028 phy by Thomas Wagner. Front cover design by Jack Davis, Champaign, Ill. Printing by Rinaldi Printing, Tampa, Fla. -1- • The formation of Conference USA bama Bowl and a third team to the Hu• was considered by many in the world manitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. UAB of intercollegiate sports a bold move. began football competition in 1999. During a significant period of major Last season, Tulane won the confer• conference realignment and proposed ence title outright and defeated BYU in restructuring of the NCAA, a brand new CONFERENCE the AXA/Equitable Liberty Bowl to fin• league made its debut, ready to make ish a perfect 12-0 and No. 7 in the na• its own mark on intercollegiate athlet• tion. Southern Miss received the ics. USA league's bid to the Humanitarian Bowl Four years later, Conference USA in Boise, Idaho, while Louisville repre• has accomplished what few other Di• sented C-USA in the Motor City Bowl. vision I-A leagues have in that amount The league has a five-year football tele• of time. Capitalizing on the strengths vision contract with Fox Sports Net, of its 14 distinguished and diverse uni• which includes a conference game of the week, along with appearances on versities, the league has built a strong letes of the Year and the Institutional foundation. Conference USA has Academic Excellence Award. ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and CBS. emerged a league of its own. The millennium brings a new look C-USA History Success On the Court to the league as South Florida will be• Conference USA has consistently come a football member in 2003 and The conference unveiled its name, rated as one of the top basketball Texas Christian University will join the logo and commissioner on April 24, leagues in the country. In its first four league in all sports beginning in 2001- 1995 in Chicago. Mike Slive was named seasons, C-USA men's basketball has 02. C-USA member institutions span 13 the first commissioner of Conference produced 25 postseason teams (15 states across the United States, more USA. Eleven of the institutions began NCAA and 10 NIT), including two teams than any other Division I-A conference athletic participation in 1995, while that reached the final eight of the NCAA and are located in 12 major television Houston joined competition in the fall Tournament and one that advanced to markets. Conference USA is one of of 1996. Conference USA added East the final four of the NIT. The confer• seven equity conferences that has di• Carolina (September, 1996) and the ence also enjoys a significant participa• rect representation in the NCAA gover• United States Military Academy (March, tion by its fans, demonstrated by its nance structure. The conference en• 1997) as football members. ECU be• record high attendance in 1998-99, joys prominent national television ex• gan league competition in 1997; Army drawing more than 1.6 million fans and posure, NCAA automatic qualifications in 1998 and UAB in 1999. TCU will be• placing the league fourth in the nation and major bowl tie-ins. Conference gin league play in 2001 and USF in 2003. in attendance. The conference just USA is also committed to academic Conference USA sponsors 18 completed the fourth year of a six-year excellence. sports - baseball, basketball, cross basketball television agreement with country, football, golf, soccer, tennis, ESPN Regional Television (formerly Success On and Off the Field and track and field (indoor and out• Creative Sports) and ESPN Inc. Over the past four seasons, Con• door) for men and basketball, cross Conference USA women's sports ference USA performers have achieved country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, have also enjoyed success the past four success in competition, placing the track and field (indoor and outdoor), seasons.