"My first year as a student at USF, people were telling me; "I thought you had graduated," Higgins said with a laugh. "And I had just started classes. I guess it just seemed like I had always been there. It was a pretty early start."
The day after an exciting USF win against Old Dominion, Higgins was in church, one pew away from then-USFassistant Tommy Tonelli. Instead of saying "Peace be with you," Higgins turned to Tonelli and said "Good game, coach." Tonelli, impressed with the youngster's interest, offered Higgins a chance to become a USF ballkid.
From that moment, he has been associated with USF athletics, either as a ballkid, team manager or administrator. As a Jesuit High student, Higgins would leave school to work at USF practices. On weekends, he traveled to road games.
Because of his exposure to the game, Higgins once dreamed of becoming a coach. Now he's more interested in a track to athletic director.
"Working at big-time events is really satisfying, particularly when things go will and it's a success," said Higgins, working in tandem with USF's Bobby Paschal, the event's tournament director. "The NCAA has a thick book of procedures, so you really get trained will in doing it the right way. My job is to stay in the background and make sure everything runs smoothly for all the coaches and players. It's good exposure for the area and good exposure for USF."
Higgins said USF's Sun Dome basketball floor will be used at the St. Pete Times Forum. On television, it will look like a USF home game because of the giant Bull-head logo at midcourt.
Last year, as the youngest tournament manager in NCAA history, the NCAA's first- and second-round men's basketball games in Tampa set a tournament record for highest net profit at a non-Dome site. He also helped compose the bid package for the 2007 or 2008 men's NCAA Tournament, in which Tampa is a finalist.
Higgins resigned as USF's assistant director of facilities and event management last week, a position he held for four years. Previously, the USF and Jesuit High graduate was a manager and student assistant for the Bulls' men's basketball program for eight years.
Higgins is the first executive director for the Sports Commission since it joined forces with the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau in January to allow more strength and flexibility in marketing the area.
Rob Higgins, former assistant director of facilities and events at USF, won't have the luxury of easing into his new job as executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission.
Along with the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, he will help put together a bid to bring the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference football championship to Raymond James Stadium in 2005 and 2006. Bids are due June 25 and then the league will narrow the list of potential hosts and conduct site visits in July or August.
The Bucs and Tampa Sports Authority are in full support of the bid that will receive stiff competition from Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Charlotte, N.C., among other out-of-state sites. The estimated economic impact of the ACC finale is between $14.3-million and $22.8-million.
Higgins, 25, who follows Ross Bartow in a reorganized sports commission, is well prepared for a busy time despite his age.
He served as tournament manager for the 2003 NCAA men's basketball games at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, then worked on the bay area's winning bid to land the 2008 NCAA women's Final Four as well as its bid for NCAA Tournament games in 2007 or 2008 and a region final in 2007.
TAMPA - Rob Higgins, who began Thursday as executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, won't have much of a grace period in his new job. The Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau and Tampa Bay Sports Commission, under Higgins' direction, is bidding to host the first two Atlantic Coast Conference football championship games Dec. 3, 2005 and Dec. 2, 2006 at Raymond James Stadium. Bids are due June 25.
``We'll be working day and night to accurately paint the picture of how Tampa can successfully host the ACC's world- class event,'' Higgins said. ``Raymond James Stadium, our hotels and our destination makes for a perfect fit for the ACC's championship.''
Tampa is one of nine cites bidding for the contest. The others: Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Washington, Baltimore, East Rutherford, N.J.; Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, which is a long shot because it already hosts the SEC Championship the same weekend.
An ACC subcommittee of league athletic directors is expected to name three finalists in July or August and conduct site visits before making a decision.
The economic impact of hosting the ACC Championship is estimated between $14.3 million and $22.8 million.
PRIME-TIME GAMES: Miami will make at least four national television appearances in its first football season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, starting with its Labor Day showdown with Florida State at the Orange Bowl (Sept. 6, 8 p.m., ABC).
In a partial list of games slated for national broadcast released Thursday, the Seminoles are scheduled for additional games against Alabama-Birmingham (Sept. 18, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2) and at North Carolina State (Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m., ESPN).
Miami's nationally televised appearances will include at Houston (Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m., ESPN), Louisville (Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m., ESPN) and Virginia Tech (Dec. 4, 1 p.m., ABC).
In addition, Miami and FSU have other scheduled games that will be available as national broadcasts on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 that could be selected at a later date.
BCS Adds Another Game, But It's Not A Playoff
NEW YORK - The Bowl Championship Series added a game without adding a bowl but is no closer to a playoff than before.
The BCS will play five games at the current four sites starting in the 2006 season, with the bowl that hosts the national championship game also holding an earlier postseason game.
A committee of school presidents unanimously approved the double-hosting model presented to them by the BCS conference commissioners, Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer said Thursday.
Under the new model, the championship game will still rotate between the Sugar, Fiesta, Orange and Rose bowls, but it will be played about a week after the other four games. The name of the championship game has yet to be determined.
Frohnmayer said the university presidents rejected the so- called plus-one model, which would have matched the top two teams after the four BCS bowls, because it would be a step toward creating a playoff system. He said there was ``adamant opposition'' among presidents for moving the BCS in that direction.
Rob Higgins brought a new sense of energy and ambition to the Tampa Bay Sports Commission when he was appointed its executive director in June 2004.
But it was during the past year that the youthful Higgins, 27, really came into his own. Under his leadership, visitor room nights for local athletic events assisted by the sports commission surged to 68,892 in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, up sharply from about 28,000 in fiscal 2004.
"He brought a very entrepreneurial skill set to his position," says sports commission chairman and Tampa Bay Lightning president Ron Campbell. "He went out and got the business."
Two events in particular bore Higgins' imprint.
One was the Tampa commission's successful bid for the 2012 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey championships, or "Frozen Four." It was a bold move, given that the tournament has never been held in the Southeast.
Then there were Higgins' efforts to schedule a football game between the University of South Florida and Florida A&M University at Raymond James Stadium. The FAMU football team hadn't played in Tampa since its 1996 Florida Classic game with Bethune-Cookman College after alleged shabby treatment by local businesses of visiting students and alumni of the historically black colleges.
The Sept. 10 game drew about 42,300 fans, a USF record at Ray Jay. Higgins and his staff also worked with USF and FAMU to organize a long weekend of events leading up to the game, including a gala scholarship dinner.
``The Jaguars are a nice little team,'' they would say. ``But with no post presence, their collection of guards won't have a chance against the bigger teams.'' Try telling that to Jensen Beach and its frontcourt trio of 6-footers, which Holy Names defeated 54-43 in Saturday's region final.
``A lot of people underestimated us; especially when we lost some games early on,'' said Higgins, who has compiled a 45-9 record at AHN. ``We're a good team focused on getting great.'' After starting the season 10-4, Holy Names has won 15 of its past 16 games. The Jaguars' little-team- that-could journey continues today when they play Orlando Bishop Moore in a Class 3A state semifinal game at 4 p.m. in Lakeland.
``We're ecstatic to be in the final four,'' Higgins said. ``The reason this little scrappy team is in the position it's in is because all our players are buying into their roles.'' The majority of Holy Names' production on both ends of the floor comes from the Messina twins, Gianna (18.5 ppg, 8 rpg) and Catriana (15.2 ppg, 5.6 apg), Kristina Darby (13.6 ppg, 6 rpg) and Dana Esposito (9.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg). Those searching for a good omen for the Jaguars (25-5) need to look no farther than the final Class 3A state poll, released in mid-February. Three teams tied for the No. 8 spot with 18 votes apiece - Holy Names, Jensen Beach and Bishop Moore. The Hornets (24-6), who were runners-up in their district, defeated three district champions on their way to the final four.
``They're a great team,'' Higgins said. ``We're going to have to play as well, if not better than we have been for us to have a chance.'' Though Bishop Moore also possesses three 6-footers, its backcourt dictates its offense. At 5-foot-9, guard Rachael Malatesta leads the Hornets in scoring (12.3 ppg) and 5-4 guard Kaitlyn Weller is tops in assists (4 apg) and third in scoring (8 ppg). Chelsy Ruecker, a 5-9 forward, leads the team in rebounds (6.5 rpg) and is second in scoring (8.7 ppg). Holy Names is no stranger to the final four, having made four consecutive appearances from 1995-98 under former coach Craig Keeler. The Jaguars won the state championship in '96 and finished as runners-up in '95 and '97.
``We've talked about the rich basketball tradition here and how we want to help restore it,'' Higgins said. ``This is definitely a good start and a step in the right direction.''
But eight, or rather five, appears to be enough. They'll find out more today when they take the Lakeland Center's court wearing Academy of the Holy Names jerseys for a Class 3A semifinal.
"What you see," Academy coach Casey Higgins said, "is what you get." What you will see is eight girls no taller than 5-foot-7 and about as big around as a basketball. What the Jaguars' opponent, Orlando Bishop Moore, will get is a swarming defense that runs the floor any time it gets a steal, which has been often in the playoffs.
"Just the way we like it," Academy guard Kristina Darby said. "We may not be tall or wide but we're fast and aggressive." The Jaguars also feel like they have nothing to lose. Before the season, the goal was simply to win their district, which they failed to emerge out of last season.
"Getting knocked out in districts bothered us a lot through the whole year," Darby said. "So we weren't thinking about much more than winning districts." Which they lost, falling 54-39 in the final to St. Petersburg Catholic, a team they had handily beaten twice in the regular season.
"I can't explain that," Higgins said. "All I can say is that we didn't play well. We were flat and didn't shoot well." Since the final though, things could not have been better. The Jaguars (25-5) hit the road as the district runnerup and traveled almost four hours to Lake Placid, where they won 60-51. Next was a five-hour trip to Boca Raton Pope John Paul II, the state's second-ranked team. Academy, behind 17 points each from Darby, and twins Gianna and Catriana Messina, won 61-54. And finally, after earning a home game, the Jaguars beat Jensen Beach 54-43 in front of a packed house.
"This couldn't have been much more fun for everybody," Higgins said. "The girls have thoroughly enjoyed it and now I think they're going to have a lot of fun going to the final four." Winning, Higgins said, will require an almost perfect effort from her team.
"We need to set the tone in the first four minutes," Higgins said. "We need to get (Bishop Moore) thinking. It will be tough but we'll come in there and get after it and see what happens." The good news for the Jags is all five starters - Darby, the Messinas, Dana Esposito and Katey Mulfinger - excel on defense. Offensively, the attack is diverse with four scoring in double figures.
"I also don't think we're nervous, which should help," Darby said. "We didn't have playing in the final four in our perspective. So I think the word to describe us is excited, not nervous." And get this: The entire team is composed of underclassmen.
"No matter what," Higgins said. "Our future looks pretty bright."
It's not that Higgins wouldn't be sympathetic to her player's plight; it's just that Higgins is a walking example of a basketball junkie whose commitment to the game is unquestioned.
Ten days after giving birth to her second child - in what could be considered a drive-through delivery - Higgins is back with the Jaguars, preparing them for this week's Class 3A-District 11 tournament.
Landon Cole, a 7-pound, 9-ounce boy, was born Jan. 20 at 11:08 p.m. and joins 20-month-old sister Laney Reese as the newest member of the Higgins' Holy Names cheer squad. Six-week maternity leave? Higgins never considered it.
"I just needed one week off," she said. "Basketball has always been a big part of me. I feel it's important to come back now. I owe it to the girls. They have been so supportive and attentive throughout the whole thing.
"It's not just a basketball program at Holy Names, it's a basketball family. There's no way I wasn't coming back for district." Higgins' husband Rob, who is executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and also serves as a Jaguars assistant, knew Casey couldn't stay away.
"If it were up to Casey, she would have been back the next day," he said. "She is a resilient and dedicated coach who pours herself into her team. I could not be prouder of the incredible job Casey does balancing the responsibilities of being a mother, wife, teacher and coach. It's remarkable how she manages to give 100 percent to every area of her life." Higgins, who coached a game the night before she gave birth, missed three games during her absence. Junior varsity coach Laurie Pacholke filled in for her for one game and Rob coached the other two. But just because Casey wasn't at the games doesn't mean she didn't know what was happening. "I was calling Laurie and Rob constantly for updates," she said. "And if they didn't answer, I would call our scorekeeper or [the players'] parents." Higgins' return will be extra motivation for the second-seeded Jaguars, who've had disappointing showings in the past two district tournaments. As the No. 1 seed in 2004, their season abruptly ended with a semifinal loss to Tampa Catholic. Last year, again as the top seed, Holy Names lost to St. Pete Catholic in the final.
"With her coming back so soon, we definitely want to win it for her," junior guard Gianna Messina said. "She did amazingly well this season while being pregnant. And after she had the baby she didn't want to miss any time, but physically that wasn't possible." Added twin sister Catriana: "Her coming back shows how dedicated she is to us. She's sacrificing for us, so that motivates us to play harder for her."