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Bulls Beat: 'Tourist Guides' Laud El Paso

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 22, 2007

TAMPA - If the University of South Florida receives a bid to play in the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl, the Bulls already have a couple of tourist guides to get around El Paso.

Safeties coach Troy Douglas coached two seasons at the University of Texas-El Paso, while offensive coordinator Greg Gregory coached in the Sun Bowl. Both said the No. 1 thing that stood out about the bowl was the hospitality.

"Really good people, great food," said Douglas, who was a UTEP assistant in 1995 and 1996. "It's a fun town, it's neat."

Douglas remembers one of his favorite restaurants that also doubled as a car wash - H&H Cafe and Car Wash.

"They had the best breakfast in town," Douglas said. "I'd get my car washed and eat breakfast."

Gregory was an assistant at Army on the 1988 Sun Bowl team that lost to Alabama 29-28.

"It was 20 years ago, but we had a great time down there, they treated us great," Gregory said. "We went to a bullfight one night."

Gregory said that in the 1988 Sun Bowl, Army rushed for 350 yards, but "didn't throw for a single yard. Alabama LB Derrick Thomas blocked two field goals."

El Paso is near the Mexican border and Juarez, a popular venue for bowl visitors, is within walking distance.

"If you go across the border, they're going to be ready to deal," Douglas said. "If they say something is 10 bucks, say you'll pay four and they'll give it to you for four."

John Folmer, the chairman of the Sun Bowl's selection committee, said fans will not be treated better anywhere else than at the Sun Bowl.

"First of all, they'll never see hospitality like this anywhere but El Paso," Folmer said. "This is our only deal. The Sun Bowl volunteers take their vacations around this. The culture is completely different, and people come out here and can't believe it.

"I don't think there are friendlier people anywhere than in El Paso."

To get the Sun Bowl bid, the Bulls must beat Pittsburgh and need West Virginia to beat UConn on Saturday. Big East officials said the league's official bowl announcements may not come until Dec. 2.

USF senior associate AD Bill McGillis said ticket applications for all of USF's bowl possibilities were mailed out Wednesday to season ticket-holders.

BULLS INK FOUR: The women's basketball team signed Lake Gibson twins Andrell and Andrea Smith, Tawatha Tucker, of Raeford, N.C., and Jasmine Wynne, of Jacksonville University Christian.

USF's early recruiting class is ranked 18th nationally by Blue Star Basketball Report and 21st by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.

"I think we have filled a need with this recruiting class that we have been looking for by bringing in three kids that can all play out on the perimeter," USF coach Jose Fernandez said.

The Bulls also have received a verbal commitment from Odessa College sophomore F Ladesha Stoudamire, a former Winter Haven star. Stoudamire is the sister of NBA star Amare Stoudamire.

BACK IN NCAAS: The men's soccer team hosts Colgate on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It's the Bulls' second NCAA appearance in the past three seasons under Coach George Kiefer.

Seven players remain from the 2005 team that was eliminated in the second round by Virginia.

"The 2005 season was good experience for us," junior F Jordan Seabrook said. "It just let us get a taste of what we can do. The guys who were there remember that elimination and how bad of a feeling it was and how we could have taken that game and really made a lot of noise in that tournament."

If the Bulls win, they visit Akron in a second-round contest on Wednesday.

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