USF will be hard pressed to find another coach like Fleck

I had the opportunity to cover sports at USF for nearly a year and a half, and during that time I met a lot of coaches, players and other people – but none were more interesting than former women’s soccer coach T. Logan Fleck.

It was my job to be objective while covering games, never rooting for a team, but if you knew Fleck, then you knew he was a hard man not to root for.

At the end of games, I would get his thoughts, hoping to wrap it up fast and work on my story, but I would almost always end up talking to him for more than 20 minutes about everything from sit-down restaurants to stand-up comedy.

I wasn’t anyone special. That’s just how he was – he’d give anyone an hour. And with all his other hours, he’d spend time on anything and everything USF.

He would wake up at 5 a.m. to eat breakfast at Rocky’s Grill. He could also be spotted at 10 p.m. drinking cranberry juice at the Bull Ring.

If USF marketed it, he bought it and put it in his office.

He was refreshingly candid. In an era of stuffy, close-to-the-vest Jim Leavitt types, Fleck’s “tell-it-like-it-is” attitude made women’s soccer a desirable beat to cover.

There was nothing off the record, no subject off limits and no question too outlandish. He was a potent quotable and gay in the old sense of the word.

He would tickle your funny bone, but if you took him out of context, you might think him crazy – though he definitely wasn’t.

He ran soccer camps, attended most every USF event he could and, toward the end of his tenure, was involved in an effort to organize fundraising efforts for Alzheimer’s research – to help those afflicted with the same disease his father, Tom Fleck, has.

I don’t know the full details of the decision not to renew Fleck’s contract. There may be circumstances to which I’ll never be privy.

Athletic Director Doug Woolard said in his release – using the royal we – that he is “confident the position will draw interest from a deep pool of talented coaches and we look forward to finding the very best candidate possible.”

There may be a “deep pool” and a more talented coach, but they’ll be hard-pressed to find one who cares as much as Fleck.

Tony Marquis is a former associate editor for the Oracle and is a USF alumnus.

Re: Editorial “SG is wrong: checks and balances are important,” Nov. 14.

In the editorial in question, members of Student Government were illustrated in a very negative and extremist manner – one that does not adequately depict the merits of these individuals.

According to the opinion of the editorial board – which is stated to be “the official opinion” of the Oracle – the SG senate does not appreciate its authority being questioned. This insinuates that the representatives wish to reign supreme without any level of oversight or input from the students that each member swears to faithfully represent.

I think that it is important to mention that this could not be further from the truth. Our “authority” is only as strong as those who give it to us – the students. The members of the governing body both appreciate this truth and do all that we can to preserve it.

Additionally, I am concerned that the press has not taken enough preliminary measures to ensure that the opinion was grounded in facts. It seemed that the actual occurrences of the senate meeting Nov. 8 were consistently misrepresented in the editorial, or perhaps the majority believed that a better story would come from only partially divulging the truth.

The writer made the claim that the bill discussed in senate regarding the reformation of SG Administrative Services (SB 47-101) would give the student body president complete control of the Office of the Comptroller.

This is quite false. In reality, the president would have no more control over the comptroller than he currently does over any of the justices (that he presents to the senate for approval in exactly the same manner.)

The authors and sponsors of this bill recognize the need for a certain level of autonomy by the comptroller and his staff from the rest of SG. The intention of this bill is to establish a heightened level of accountability – a level that would distinguish boundaries between the students and professionals that have blurred over the years.

I definitely agree with the Oracle that checks and balances are important. Unfortunately, I think that the Oracle and SG might disagree with the importance of true representation.

Nathan Davison is the senate president pro tempore of Student Government.