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Urso: A Man In His Element

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By SCOTT PURKS

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 25, 2008

TAMPA - Shot from a cannon inside the University of Tampa dugout, Joe Urso flew across the field and landed in the face of the first-base umpire.

More than 300 people looked down from UT's fancy little stadium, cheering Urso on.

Urso's face was a tomato.

He was screaming at the top of his lungs.

The umpire, according to Urso, had blown a call, a call that could have cost Tampa a victory in last Sunday's Division II South Regional final.

"Did you see that?" Urso said Wednesday. "That's what happens when I know something isn't right. That's how I can get."

Fortunately for his health, he doesn't get that way too often.

In the past three years, he barely has had an opportunity.

In 2006 UT went 54-6, and in 2007 the Spartans were 53-10. In both years Urso's squads ran away with national titles. This year, UT is 42-9-1 and playing today in Sauget, Ill., in another national championship tournament with a chance to win an unprecedented third national crown in a row.

Less than 20 minutes after his tirade Sunday, Urso and his players piled on each other at the mound, celebrating another regional title after a 9-8 victory against Catawba (N.C.).

And after the championship trophy was handed over, and a bucket of celebratory ice was dumped on him, Urso made it a point to talk to dozens of well-wishers; and in each case he looked up to them from his 5-foot-6 frame, appearing as if there was no one on the planet he would rather see.

"That's coach," UT first baseman and team captain Jose Jimenez said. "He's as genuine as it gets. You know that he cares so much for you and the program, and that makes you care. You would rather do anything than let him down."

Ultimately, Urso, 37, is a man in his element, in his prime, at a place he wants to be.

All of his experiences have pushed him to this height - to the all-time school-best 360-107-1 record in eight years - to a point where he can do things in his style and be supremely confident about it.

It starts, he said, with him being an overachiever, a player smaller than his competitors, which made him ferocious for hard work and details.

"I knew I was never the best athlete on the field, so I had to do all the little things exceptionally well - bunting, fielding, running the bases, whatever it may be," Urso said. "I think that fact has made me a better coach. I have to cover all the little details. Always have, always will."

Then there's the toughness, which comes partly from that self-determination and partly from some harder-than-nails coaches. They include Plant's Jeff Vardo, who led Urso and the Panthers to a state title in 1988; and Lelo Prado, who with Urso won UT's first national title in 1992, a year Urso was named the national tournament's most valuable player.

Taken in the 49th round of the 1992 draft by the Anaheim Angels, Urso played five years for California's Single-A affiliate Lake Elsinore, where his number, 7, was retired. After that he coached two years with legendary minor-league coach Tom Kotchman in Boise, Idaho, before getting the UT job in 2000.
Urso said he loves those coaches for how they made him better, and then he chuckled at a thought.

"I won't say which one said it, but their motto was, 'I'll get to their head through their feet,'" said Urso, referring to the extraordinary amount of running those teams did when they made a mistake. "It was a style that worked. But that style is not me."

No matter what happens in this week's national tournament, no one can dispute Urso did a magnificent coaching job in 2008, taking a group that returned only four starters and bringing it to the brink of another title.

"When I first got this job I would always go for the best athlete, and not always the best student," Urso said. "Now we go for the complete package. We look for kids with great personalities, work ethics, higher GPAs. We want those kids who are team players, those who will overachieve. We want players we can trust to represent the University of Tampa with pride."

Players such as Joe Urso?

Another chuckle.

"Well," he said, "I guess something like that."

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