South Florida Bulls sailing

South Florida Bulls sailing
Founded	1997
University	University of South Florida
Athletic director	Michael Kelly
Head coach	Allison Jolly (17th season)
Conference	SAISA
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida
Venue	Haney Landing Sailing Center
Nickname	Bulls
Colors	Green and Gold[1]
National championships
Match Racing: 2009 Offshore Large Boats: 2016, 2017
Conference championships
1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2023

The South Florida Bulls sailing team represents the University of South Florida in the sport of sailing. The team competes in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association within the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association.^[2] The Bulls are coached by Allison Jolly, a member of the National Sailing Hall of Fame and gold medalist in the first Olympic women's sailing event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.^[3] She has coached the team since 2004.^[3] The team's home venue is within Tampa Bay, at the Donald A. Haney Landing Sailing Center on the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus. It is the university's only varsity sport based on the St. Petersburg campus.^[4]

The sailing program has won three ICSA National Championships: Sloop in 2009 and Offshore Large Boats in 2016 and 2017.^[5][6][7] Their three national championships are the most of any USF team. In addition to these, the Bulls have won 12 conference championships.

History

Like many varsity sailing teams across the nation, the USF sailing team began as a club team at the USF St. Petersburg campus.^[8] The club team was born in 1993, with USF St. Petersburg College of Education professor Dr. W. Steve Lang serving as the head coach.^[9] The team achieved varsity status in fall 1997, with Lang remaining as the head coach.^[10] They won their conference title and qualified for the Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association (now Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association) Team Racing National Championship during their first year of existence, and finished as the 11th-best team in the country.^[10][11] They returned to the National Championships in the following season as well.^[12] Lang resigned as coach in 2000 to focus on his work as a professor at the university.^[9] As of 2022, Lang still teaches at USF.^[9]

Stephanie Doyle replaced Steve Lang as head coach in 2000.^[13] The Bulls won conference titles in 2002, 2003, and 2004 under her leadership.^[14]

After Doyle's departure in 2004, USF hired Olympic gold medalist and St. Petersburg native Allison Jolly as the third coach in program history.^[3] Jolly has led the Bulls to three national championships (sloop in 2009 and offshore large boats in 2016 and 2017),^[5][6][7] two national runner-up finishes (singlehanded in 2009 and 2011),^[15][16] eight conference championships, 14 appearances in ICSA nationals, and two appearances representing the United States in the Student Yachting World Cup.^[3]

Honors

National championships

USF has won three sailing national titles:

Year	Competition
2009[5]	Sloop
2016[6]	Offshore Large Boats
2017[7]	Offshore Large Boats

National runners-up

The Bulls have finished as national runners-up twice:

Year	Competition
2009[15]	Singlehanded
2011[16]	Singlehanded

References

1. USF Color Palettes | University Communications. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
2. "University of South Florida | Fall 2008". ICSA Real-Time Regatta Results. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
3. "Allison Jolly - Women's Sailing Coach". USF Athletics. Archived from the original on 2021-11-12. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
4. "Women's Sailing". USF Athletics. Retrieved 2020-08-30.
5. "ICSA | Inter-collegiate Sailing Association". collegesailing.org. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
6. "USF Bulls win Kennedy Cup ICSA Big Boat National Championship >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News". Scuttlebutt Sailing News. 2016-11-07. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
7. "Kennedy Cup | Fall 2017". ICSA Real-Time Regatta Results. Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
8. "Ed Baird". digital.lib.usf.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-11-12. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
9. "William Lang | Faculty Profiles | College of Education | USF". USF College of Education faculty. 2021-11-12. Archived from the original on 2021-11-12. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
10. "USF starts with smooth sailing". Tampa Bay Times. 1998-06-10. Archived from the original on 2021-11-12. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
11. "USF earns trip to Spring Nationals". Tampa Bay Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
12. "Things aren't perfect for USF, but compared to past woes these days are... // Smooth Sailing". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
13. "Sailors' Delight". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
14. "USF says goodbye to sailing pioneer". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
15. "SAISA Men's Singlehanded | Fall 2009". ICSA Real-Time Regatta Results. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
16. "ICSA Men's Singlehandeds | Fall 2011". ICSA Real-Time Regatta Results. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2020-11-17.

External links

Team website