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Is there such a thing as a Big East coach being hated because he wins too much?

The answer is clearly no when you look at the current group of head coaches. Three of them have never coached in a Big East game. Three are going into their third seasons in the league and are barely above .500. Paul Pasqualoni has a bushel-full of victories, but nearly all of them came at Syracuse two decades ago.

So let us take a dip back into history to find an answer. Here are the all-time winningest coaches in Big East history, by overall percentage. I am using this statistic because many of the biggest winners do not stick around the Big East for long.

• Larry Coker, Miami: 35-3 (.921)
• Dennis Erickson, Miami: 42-6 (.875)
• Brian Kelly, Cincinnati: 34-6 (.850)
• Bobby Petrino, Louisville: 21-4 (.840)
• Butch Davis, Miami: 51-20 (.718)
• Bill Stewart, West Virginia: 28-12 (.700)
• Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia: 60-26 (.698)
• Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech: 108-48-1 (.691)

The conclusion is an easy one: Much more than one hated coach, Miami was a hated team because of all the wins it racked up while playing in the Big East from 1991-2003. That includes two national championships and seven Big East titles, more than any other school. Coker was never vilified or hated. The man is impossibly nice.

Davis' image took much more of a hit at North Carolina because he left the place in scandal, with two major investigations hanging over the program. While at Miami, he was lauded as the man who saved the program from NCAA sanctions. It is hard to hate a coach who won 10 games only once in his career.

Erickson simply took over for Jimmy Johnson and continued what was started.

But the assignment is to find a coach hated for winning. Let's look at some of the other names on the list. Kelly and Petrino were hated much more for the way they left their programs, as documented earlier in this series. Kelly only coached three years in the Big East; Petrino only two in the Big East. I can't imagine their short stays struck fear into the hearts of opponents, despite all the victories.

So let's turn the focus to Rodriguez. He, more than any of the aforementioned coaches, probably fits the bill. In his final three seasons in Morgantown, Rodriguez won two league championships and had three 11-win seasons. His team went undefeated in league play in 2005, one of only two teams to accomplish the feat in the past seven years. He won with swagger and style, and some of the best athletes in Big East history.

But I used the word probably. Because as great as Rodriguez was, his on-field coaching career in the Big East will be defined by what he didn't do in 2007. West Virginia was ranked No. 2 in the country going into the regular-season finale against Pitt in the always heated Backyard Brawl. Win, and the Mountaineers would be playing for the school's first national title. Pitt was already out of the bowl picture, entering the game at 4-7. West Virginia was a 28 1/2-point favorite.

Slam dunk, right? Well, you guys know what happened. Pitt pulled one of the biggest upsets in the series, and Rodriguez went packing to Michigan. The loss will always follow Rodriguez, despite all of his wins in the league. On the day he needed a win most of all, he failed. But that loss did not make him a villain in Morgantown. Leaving did.

That is why it is hard to anoint any Big East coach as somebody hated for winning.

Current Big East coaches' career records in the league:

• Paul Pasqualoni, Syracuse and UConn: 112-63-1
• Doug Marrone, Syracuse: 17-20
• Butch Jones, Cincinnati: 14-11
• Charlie Strong, Louisville: 14-12
• Skip Holtz, USF: 13-12
• Steve Addazio, Temple: 0-0
• Paul Chryst, Pitt: 0-0
• Kyle Flood, Rutgers: 0-0

Spring meetings are wrapping up today, so the Big East chat has been moved to Thursday at 4 p.m. Hope to see you then!

• The demolition of Memorial Stadium at UConn has begun.
• Lindy's college football preview has Louisville in the Orange Bowl.
• Dan Samuelson changed his commitment from Pitt to Nebraska.
• Former Rutgers football player Pat Kivlehan won Big East Player of the Year in baseball.
• Skip Holtz's son will walk on at Texas.
• Junior college commit Wayne Williams talks about why he picked Syracuse.
• Why Bill Bradshaw of Temple should be athletic director of the year.
• John Marinatto made about $600,000 as commissioner in 2010.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- USF coach Skip Holtz delivered some encouraging news during the Big East spring meetings -- starting defensive tackle Cory Grissom is on pace to return for the start of the season.

Grissom broke his ankle during the last week of spring practice, and there were fears the injury could cost him some significant playing time. But after undergoing surgery and beginning rehab, Holtz said Grissom should be medically cleared Aug. 1. If there are no setbacks in his rehab and recovery, he should be able to play Sept. 1 against Chattanooga.

"He’s coming along well," Holtz said. "The swelling is going down, and he’s able to get on the bike and do some exercise things. One of the concerns was his weight that when he comes out of this he’s not 340 pounds and now it takes us a month to get back down to playing weight because of how much he would be limited with his exercise with the injury to the ankle. But he’s doing a great job keeping his weight down, he’s able to get on the weight and do some cardio things to keep his weight down. To this point, there have been no setbacks."

The tricky part will be handling Grissom during training camp. USF will take its time with him, to be sure it can get him up to speed with plenty of time to go before the season begins. All that will depend on how he handles getting back into practice.

"We’re going to have to be careful because we’re not going to be able to take him from 0 to 60 Aug. 1," Holtz said. "We’re going to have to slowly get him back in. Maybe we’ll take him through individual work for a week and no team stuff. Then the second week of camp, maybe we’ll let him do some 1-on-1s. Maybe the third week, he can get into inside drills or half line and hopefully when we get into our season, we’ll have been able to gradually get him back into it.

"He may get into it and at one point it, may start to swell and he may have soreness and we’ll have to pull back. Then you go a little slower with it. We’re going to have to see. It’s not the bone we’re worried about. It’s the ligaments and making sure that the ligaments come back strong enough and healthy enough and we don’t push him too early."

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Last May, Bill Stewart joined his colleagues at the Big East spring meetings to tackle league business and catch up with old friends.

One of them, Cincinnati coach Butch Jones, was particularly saddened by the news of Stewart's sudden and tragic passing Monday. When Jones took a job as receivers coach at West Virginia in 2005, Stewart was there as quarterbacks coach. The two grew close in the two seasons Jones spent with the Mountaineers. They then had the opportunity to face each other on opposite sidelines as Big East head coaches.

"Just one year ago, he was sitting in the meetings with us and we were sitting on the beach together talking," Jones recalled Tuesday. "Things like this put things into perspective in all aspects."

Here is the way Jones will remember his good friend:

You think of Bill Stewart the man and how much his wife Karen and his son Blaine meant to him. The best word that describes him is family man. They were everything to him. That was first. Him and I have been through a lot of wars together on the same team and also competed against each other. He was an individual of high integrity. We had that special bond from the positions we coached, and our friendship really grew. He was one of the guys who took me under his wing. He was a mentor to a lot of people. A father figure but extremely competitive. He had a love and passion for the state of West Virginia and that university. He used to talk about the old blue and gold, so I will always think about the passion and the affinity he had for Morgantown and the people in that community.

USF coach Skip Holtz also shared his fondest memory of Stewart.

He’s one of those guys that when you would have a big win, your phone would ring and it would be Bill Stewart. But the thing that makes Bill so classy is when you had that heartbreaking loss, your phone would ring and it would be Bill Stewart. I have great respect for him not just as a football coach but as a man and the way he handled everything. We lost one of the good people in this business, without a doubt. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and the entire West Virginia family because he was a special individual.

The Bulls' coach weighs in on some of the hot topics discussed during the Big East spring meetings.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- There are plenty of questions surrounding the Big East headed into the summer. One, of course, is who will be the next commissioner?

I took a quick sampling from a few Big East coaches to see what they want in the next leader of the league. Here are a few responses:

Skip Holtz, USF: Somebody that’s going to have the vision, the leadership, the communication to do what’s in the best interest of this league moving forward. I’m excited. From a selfish standpoint, you’d like to have somebody with a football background … but I don’t think that’s what’s going to be mandated or required. I’m just looking for somebody with the leadership skills and strength to come in and run this league and do what’s in the best interest of the members involved.

Butch Jones, Cincinnati: Leadership. Vision, and also it’s, to be proactive. We have great institutions within the Big East Conference. We have a great philosophy on and off the field, with the institutions involved and where we are with the TV market, it’s a great product. We’re more competitive now than we have ever been. We made great additions to the league. Moving forward, that’s what you see.

Kyle Flood, Rutgers: I think the most important thing to me and to our football program at Rutgers is whoever ultimately ends up in that job becomes a vocal advocate for our conference. So whatever issues we decide in our conference, you want somebody who is going to have strong opinions based on the consensus of the people in the conference. And then have the ability to work with the other commissioners and work with the bowl representatives and the TV executives to get the best deal done for everybody.

So I don't think Pitt fans are too happy about the Sunseri news. Understatement?

• Cincinnati linebacker JK Schaffer was tabbed Mr. Bearcat, the first student-athlete in the last 20 years to win the award.
• UConn is the first to offer prep quarterback Richard Lagow of Plano, Texas.
• A look at Kentucky vs. Louisville financially.
• Here is a Pitt preview.
• Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti is flattered, but he isn't thinking about becoming the next Big East commissioner.
• Skip Holtz talks USF football.
• Syracuse received its first commitment for the class of 2013 -- Tyler Provo, brother of Nick Provo.
• The Big West may take in Boise State's other sports.
• UCF is looking ahead to its Big East future.

USF coach Skip Holtz set the conversation on building an on-campus stadium off and rolling last year when he said in a national interview he would be in favor of one if done the right way.

Since then, Bulls fans have waited in anticipation to see if anything would actually happen. Athletic director Doug Woolard was recently asked the same question in an interview with WUSF Public Media after renovations to the basketball arena were completed. This is what he said:

"It's something I know are in some long-range plans. It would be terrific to have a stadium on campus because for six or seven Saturdays in the fall, to have people throughout the whole region to come to our campus and see what it looks like, 50,000 people on Saturdays, it would be great. At the same time, we play at place right now that is pretty spectacular so I would hope that at some point in the future it would occur. But it's an expensive proposition and it would take a commitment and a business plan that would work to make that happen."

USF currently plays at Raymond James Stadium, home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To begin to even think about building an on-campus stadium, note the words "expensive proposition." Because the Bulls already play in such a great stadium, amenities and size wise, I really doubt the Bulls want to do this on the cheap.

They could opt to build an erector-set type stadium for somewhere in the neighborhood of maybe $70 million, but the stadium would be smaller than RayJay and full of metal bleachers. While it's true that a smaller stadium than RayJay is probably more appealing, any future stadium has to be done right, and get the right type of backing.

Particularly when you see the athletic department operated in the red last year, according to USA Today, and got nearly 40 percent of its revenues from subsidies. Outside sources of funding would have to be found, but even then the school would nearly be assured of taking on some sort of debt load. Building a football stadium is much more costly than any of the recent renovations and additions made to the athletic facilities.

It is good that USF is thinking big when it comes to future plans. But they need to be cautious as well, and make sure they have the perfect plan to make their dream a reality.

USF has set a program record in the classroom, the school announced Monday.

Thirty-seven student-athletes posted a grade-point average of 3.0 or better this spring. USF also set a new record for semester GPA, as the team combined for a mark of 2.76. That bettered the previous program record of 2.64, set in the fall 2011.

"It speaks volumes for these players and the way that they have bought in. I'm seeing the culture change," coach Skip Holtz told the Bulls' athletic department website. "Building a championship is a way of life. It's not about just winning a couple of games. It's doing well academically, making good social decisions and being accountable on the field. I feel really good about where we're going right now."

USF is on the cutting edge of some pretty cool social networking.

Skip Holtz became Hip Skip earlier this week when he became the first coach from an automatic qualifying conference to host a Google Hangout with fans. Essentially, Holtz sat in front of a Web cam for 30 minutes and answered questions from USF fans in a pretty relaxed, casual setting.

If there is any coach who is perfectly suited for this type of social networking it is Holtz, one of the most outgoing, gregarious coaches in all of college football. He is easygoing, personable and does not give out the same old tired clichés. He puts thoughts into his answers, and he always does it with a smile.

Needless to say, his Hangout on Google+ was a hit, and USF plans on doing another one closer to the season with either Holtz or perhaps quarterback B.J. Daniels.

So how did USF come up with the idea? Several folks in the athletic department were searching for ways to use social media to their advantage. They initially had an idea to try it out with men's basketball coach Stan Heath around the NCAA tournament. But they didn't have enough time to get the particulars laid out, so they figured they would try with Holtz after spring football ended.

They approached Holtz with the idea and he immediately gave the green light. USF asked fans to submit questions for Holtz, then selected a handful of fans to appear on the chat with Holtz. On Wednesday afternoon around lunch time, Holtz sat in his office and chatted amiably for 30 minutes.

Among the topics he hit:

Holtz reiterated the need for USF to win the Big East. “I would much rather lose one of the nonconference games and represent the Big East in the BCS bowl than have a great nonconference win along the way,” he said.

On the potential for a playoff and where the Big East stands in the BCS: "I would tell you I am a big fan of the bowl system. College football's hard. You look at the number of surgeries, the aches and the pains, the bowl game is a great reward for these teams. If they can take the top four teams they think should play for the 'national championship' and keep the bowl games, I would be in favor of it."

On Aaron Lynch: The plan is for Lynch to enroll for the second summer session. USF will look to see if there is a way for him to be eligible immediately. If not, he has to sit out a year because of NCAA transfer rules.

It was a great way for Holtz to not only interact with his fans, but to get USF's message out and show that the Bulls are among the most forward-thinking programs when it comes to social media.

Happy Friday, everyone! Let's get some of your questions answered before we hit the weekend.

Chris in Rutgers Nation writes: Hey Andrea, I just read your post on the best rivalry in the Big East. I wonder what your opinion is on the Rutgers-UConn rivalry. I'm from Connecticut but went to RU. I know the deep hatred that not only the schools, but the states have for each other. The games in the past couple of years have gone back and forth, and despite the mediocre years both schools have had, a lot of people get really pumped for that game!

Andrea Adelson: Chris, you and several other readers have pointed out the growing rivalry between the two schools, so I should have at least mentioned that. Especially after what happened last year between Rutgers and UConn. I don't think fans from either school will ever forget that. You are right that the games have been close and unpredictable. But from an outside perspective, it is hard to get a gauge on how much fans from both schools dislike each other.

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Rickey in Lehigh Acres, Fla., writes: Your ultimate road trip should include two games in Week 1. The Friday night game in Philly could be quite interesting. Villanova and Temple don't like each other and I wonder how Villanova feels now that Temple is in the Big East and Nova's football program didn't make the jump. And since it's a Friday game you can still make Kentucky-Louisville on Sunday.

Adelson: There are several weeks where I could make multiple trips because of the mid-week games. But during the season, I usually go to just one game a week if I am on the road. So I am just trying to pick one as well. But you are right, Temple-Nova is definitely an interesting game.

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Ty in Cincinnati writes: Andrea, How do you think getting four players drafted into the NFL is going to help UC in recruiting? I know it isn't a lot but solid picks of two second rounds, one third, and one fourth. Last year, we saw two Bearcats step into NFL lineups and immediately contribute in Jason Kelce with Eagles and Connor Barwin with the Texans. Do you foresee coach (Butch) Jones start to get more quality in volume or are we going to get one or two in a class? I know this recent class was the highest rated since they started rating players. Do you think Jones could start getting a reputation of producing NFL ready players?

Adelson: It is a positive any time you lead your league in players drafted, the way Cincinnati did this year. Obviously it takes a little more than a few draft classes to start building a reputation, but certainly Jones and the Bearcats have a lot going for them. Recruiting has been on the upswing, but more than that, I truly believe coaches are defined by what they do with the talent they have around them. Those star-rating systems mean little in the grand scheme. As you mentioned, Cincinnati has not had highly rated classes, yet still produces NFL talent -- just like Boise State does. Jones can sell the NFL to these players who may not be five-stars. Just because they aren't being recruited by the likes of Michigan and Ohio State doesn't mean they will never get to the NFL. He has the proof.

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Mike C in Louisville writes: Hi Andrea! I'm hoping your comment about USF having more depth at wide receiver than Louisville was meant to spark conversation! :) I think its pretty obvious that Louisville and Teddy Bridgewater will have more playmakers at WR. We have a couple ESPN four-star wide receivers and several three-star as well. I think DeVante Parker (local product) is a man at his position and should have been a four-star as well. Looking at the rosters, USF's receivers are just not as talented as Louisville's. They may have more depth, but having a few more "non" playmakers won't help B.J. Daniels this year. Thanks for the Blogs!

Adelson: I had a feeling some would dispute my assertion. I think this is actually a pretty good debate to have. I truly believe both groups are supremely talented, but they must take the next step this year. Both groups are looking for talented playmakers to step up. Charlie Strong and Skip Holtz have said as much. Interestingly, two of the better players the teams have -- Eli Rogers for Louisville and Sterling Griffin for USF -- find themselves with the second team on the respective depth charts. Nobody has touted Scott Radcliff to me, yet there he is with the first team. Radcliff had one heck of a spring. But I don't think he's one of the three- or four-star players you mentioned. I think Parker is great. But I also think Andre Davis for USF has as much talent -- he also was a four-star. So was Chris Dunkley, the transfer from Florida who's now eligible. This has given me an idea. Stay tuned for a tale of the tape on the Louisville and USF receivers next week.

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Jim C in New Jersey writes: After reading your article about BCS bowls being incorporated in this new potential playoff system my question is, what bowl do you think they would potentially try and promote to a BCS game if they were to try and go that route. Champ Sports because its the most "prestigious" one we're tied into? Pinstripe because it's in NYC? Or would they maybe try and tie us into the Cotton Bowl? It was almost considered as a replacement for the Fiesta Bowl when they got in hot water and we do have teams in Texas now. None of the above? Basically, where COULD they go with this to try and be included?

Adelson: That is a great question, Jim. I don't think any of the Big East bowl tie-ins are going to be promoted to the "BCS" level. I don't even know if they are going to make another "BCS" game. They may just have a place like Jerry World host a semifinal or a final without tabbing it a BCS game. The bottom line is I'm not sure the Big East will end up with a tie-in to a BCS game after all of the issues facing this four-team playoff are resolved. There isn't one now, and AQ status is going away. So I'm not sure why one would be added all of a sudden.

The Big East opener between Rutgers and USF has officially been moved to Thursday night, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.

The move, announced Friday, was widely expected -- as the game was listed as "subject to change" when the schedule was finally announced last month. Getting the league opener for both teams on prime time obviously gives both more national exposure, though there are pros and cons for both.

USF, for example, plays at Nevada the week before. Traveling out West is never easy, and now the Bulls will have a short week to prepare for their league opener against a team that has owned the series. This also is the first time USF has opened Big East play within the first three weeks of the season. And let's not forget Thursday nights are generally unkind to the Bulls.

When I visited USF last month, I asked coach Skip Holtz about opening league play so early, and he was not exactly thrilled.

"In an ideal world, I’d rather play nonconference games to get your guys experience," he said. "By the time we get to conference play, in the fifth or sixth game of the year, you feel really good. The players have got a half season under their belt. That’s what I feel the nonconference games are for."

USF scheduled Nevada late in the process, as part of the chaos that forced league teams to scramble and add another game when TCU left for the Big 12 without serving a waiting period. When the Bulls added Nevada, they had no idea what their league schedule would look like.

"I don’t like it, but I don’t have a veto vote," Holtz said. "I would have not agreed to play at Nevada the second week in the year had I known we were playing Rutgers the third game. But that’s how it came out. It will be a great challenge. I know our players will be excited about Rutgers."

As for Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights host Howard the week before the USF game and then face Arkansas the following week. They may have more of an advantage because they shouldn't have as strenuous a test going into the USF game. But this is also the first Big East game for new coach Kyle Flood, and expectations are high for Rutgers to compete for a league championship.

Opening on the road against a veteran team also expected to contend is a tough task, especially with a huge road test against Arkansas looming.

Temple offensive coordinator Ryan Day sat in his office on a recent afternoon and tried to explain a growing trend.

"Does left right red pink purple flamingo corner X mean anything to you?" he asked. "It sounds just the way Chinese would probably sound to you, right?"

Yes. Most times new coordinators come into a program that has a head coach already in place, they bring their own scheme, and their own terminology. But three schools in the Big East have gone about things a bit differently this spring. Rather than have an entire offensive or defensive unit learn new terminology -- otherwise known a new language -- it is the coordinator that is adjusting to what is already in place.

That makes the transition much easier on the players. Instead of 40 or 50 people learning a new way to speak, only one person does. And because the coordinators already have a base knowledge of the scheme, it is simply a matter of learning new words and not new alignments.

Day is one of the three Big East coordinators learning the scheme already in place. Rutgers offensive coordinator Dave Brock and USF defensive coordinator Chris Cosh have done the same, as more collegiate head coaches have decided to go this route. Shawn Watson at Louisville and John Jancek at Cincinnati go into the season as full-time coordinators, but they already had positions at their respective schools.

"When Coach [Steve] Addazio called to ask me if I would be interested in the job, he asked if I would learn what was already in place here," said Day, who was hired from Boston College. "I said that was no problem for me. I didn't have very long to get adjusted, but it was much easier on me."

Addazio served as offensive coordinator at Florida, so he has a specific idea about what type of offense he wants to run. Plus, he is going into his second year as the head coach, so he did not want his players to have to learn new terminology for the second straight season. His vision to have a team that can play both smash-mouth and spread, and that is what he wants carried out. Day served as offensive graduate assistant at Florida in 2005, under Addazio, so he already was familiar with the scheme.

At Rutgers, Flood was elevated from offensive line coach to head coach. He lost nearly every assistant under Schiano, including offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti. He purposely went after a coordinator who would come in and keep the same pro-style scheme.

"Dave and I talked about that before he took the job," Flood said. "I know how good a person Dave Brock is, how good a recruiter he is and how good a football coach he is and I wanted him to be comfortable doing that. It’s very similar to the language used at North Carolina."

Brock served as an assistant with the Tar Heels in 2006 under Cignetti, who was offensive coordinator at the time. So it makes sense the language is similar.

"As coaches, after you’ve worked in a couple systems, what you find is the word might be different, but the way things are organized is pretty standard," Flood explained. "It’s not as difficult for the coach to learn it as it would be to teach the offense an entirely new system."

Meanwhile, Cosh is the third different defensive coordinator in the last four seasons at USF. The Bulls run a similar 4-3 scheme to what Cosh ran at Kansas State last season. Cosh and coach Skip Holtz also have a long history together, and he was happy to come in and keep what was in place.

"The alignments and things like that are similar to what I had at Kansas State, so what I try to do is mesh my structure with their words so the learning curve was not as great for the kids," Cosh said. "I've been around. I can adapt and so that will help us build a little faster than getting over the language.

"The word and alignments helps the kids line up, now it's our job to coach the techniques, dynamics and reads within that. It's helped me and I think it's helped the kids, too, in the transition."

Fill in the blank: ___ will be the first Big East player taken in the NFL draft.

• Mel Kiper talks about why he likes Cincinnati defensive tackle Derek Wolfe.
• Michigan has every intention of playing UConn at the Rent in 2013, unless the Huskies decide to move the game to a bigger venue. Excellent profile on former UConn defensive tackle Kendall Reyes and his roots in New Hampshire.
• Former Louisville coach John L. Smith is headed to Arkansas.
• Pitt has picked up a commitment on defense.
• Rutgers receiver Miles Shuler tries to find his role.
• There are options for Syracuse at running back.
• USF coach Skip Holtz is over the moon with the signing of Aaron Lynch. Greg Auman of The Tampa Bay Times has a great breakdown of where you can spot USF players during Jon Gruden's QB Camp Show, airing on ESPN.
• NFL Draft Bible gives you its list of the Top 850 players available for the draft.

USF coach Skip Holtz has picked up quite a few transfers since he arrived in Tampa.

But the biggest one of all came Monday, when the school announced that Notre Dame defensive end Aaron Lynch would play for the Bulls.

Lynch was a Freshman All-American last season, leading the Irish with 5.5 sacks and 14 quarterback hurries, while racking up 33 tackles, seven tackles for loss and a forced fumble in 12 games. He started six of those. The pull of his native Florida has led him back to the school that gave him his first scholarship offer out of Cape Coral, about 2 1/2 hours south of the USF campus.

Unless Lynch is granted some type of hardship waiver, he will be forced to sit out the 2012 season and be eligible for 2013. Now allow yourself to imagine the possibility of seeing Lynch and Ryne Giddins line up at defensive end for the Bulls, a team that has done an excellent job at producing NFL talent along the defensive line.

Giddins is going into his junior year in 2012 and really began to come on strong in the second half of last season. In his first three games, Giddins had six tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and no sacks. He ended the season with career highs in both categories -- 5.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss -- as the Bulls ended up second in the Big East with 39 sacks. Giddins was selected to the Big East second team for his efforts.

He continued with a stellar spring, notching three sacks in the recent spring game. There is no question Giddins is one of the top defensive ends returning in the Big East and will be counted on to anchor the defensive line. Lynch, at 6-foot-6 and 270 pounds, is clearly just as skilled at getting after the quarterback, relying on his athleticism the way Giddins does. Should Giddins stick around for his senior season, opponents will be faced with quite the dilemma -- who gets double teamed?

Lynch was one of the highest rated high school prospects in 2011. His talent is through the roof, but he has been called "mercurial" by some and "tough to coach." Perhaps that is because he was homesick while at Notre Dame. He is said to have a girlfriend in the Tampa area. Whatever the reason for his split from Notre Dame, this should be viewed as a fresh start. USF must do its best to harness Lynch's full potential, to make him more coachable than he was before.

Then the Bulls could have quite the dynamic duo on their defensive line.