USF SPORTS BULLETIN
February 12, 2009


USF's baseball and softball teams gathered at the Pepin Hospitality
Center in Tampa on Thursday night for the Bulls' annual Leadoff
Banquet, with Yankee greats Goose Gossage, Jorge Posada and Tino
Martinez among the celebrity guests for this year's dinner.

"I'm supporting my friends and a great school, a great program," said
Gossage, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last year. "They
asked me if I could come over tonight, and I'm very happy to be here."

Martinez, a volunteer assistant baseball coach for the Bulls and
coach Lelo Prado's brother-in-law, has helped build a strong
relationship between USF and the Yankees. The two schools met in a
spring training exhibition at Legends Field last season, and the
Yankees will host a four-team college baseball tournament in Tampa
with USF, Florida, Florida State and Miami next spring.

"The Yankees have been very good to USF, and we are going to continue
a longterm relationship," Martinez said. "To bring in guys like
Jorge, Goose Gossage, and Derek Jeter in the past for this event,
it's unbelievable to see where we've come."

Martinez will split time between the two teams in the next seven
weeks, working as a special instructor to the Yankees, but with time
to help with afternoon practices and night games at USF. After the
Yankees head north, Martinez said he'll be able to focus on the
Bulls, who have been picked to finish second in the Big East. USF is
hoping for its first NCAA Regional in seven years, and Martinez is
setting his sights higher. "Hopefully I'll be on a plane to Omaha in
June," Martinez said.

Prado and Martinez aren't USF's only connection to the Yankees.
Athletic director Doug Woolard went to college with Mark Newman, the
Yankees' senior vice president of baseball operations, who has
attended USF games as Woolard's guest.

"It's all about relationships," Woolard said. "Bringing Lelo home was
important. You go with him to any place, you see how well he is
respected in this community. I knew that, anticipated that when I
brought him here, and it's probably even exceeded my expectations,
the connectivity he has with the community."


Janet

~LONG LIVE TINO MARTINEZ~