TAMPA — A former University of South Florida basketball player was shot Thursday by a deputy U.S. marshal serving a drug-related warrant.
David Christopher Sills, 26, was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital after the 11:30 a.m. incident, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Jim Madden said.
Sills was shot in the torso, but his injuries were not life-threatening, Madden said. He was booked into the Orient Road Jail about 4 p.m. Friday, after being treated at St. Joseph’s. He is being held without bail.
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A police report at the time indicated that he shoved a USF parking patroller who was placing a boot on his car in the parking lot adjacent to the Bulls’ basketball arena. Officers said they found marijuana in his impounded car.
A former junior point guard for the USF Bulls, Sills was dismissed from the team in 2005, with then-coach Robert McCullum citing Sills’ poor attitude and behavior. Sills studied communications at USF for two semesters, from May until December 2005, and left without graduating, USF spokeswoman Lara Wade said.
Sills’ most recent arrest came in January, when he was charged with trafficking in cocaine. Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said a warrant had been issued for Sills’ arrest after he sold cocaine to an undercover officer in November.
On Thursday, when the shooting occurred, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was serving a TPD-originated warrant for failure to appear in court on those charges, McElroy said.
Tampa - The controversial former USF linebacker was cut from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad. Ben Moffitt was alleged to have cheated while attending the University of South Florida. Although the employer of his wife disciplined her for writing papers and taking tests for Ben Moffitt, USF never took action to investigate their former star linebacker.
TAMPA - During the past year, University of South Florida leaders have overhauled the academic support for student-athletes and made scholastic success among players a top priority.
NCAA data released this week shows that job may be harder for some sports than others.
Just 56 percent of football players who entered USF between 1998 and 2001 graduated in six years. That compares with the national average of 67 percent in Division 1-A football.
It’s also the worst graduation rate among Big East football teams.
In men’s basketball, it’s worse. At USF, the graduation rate among student-athletes in that sport was 42 percent, compared to the national Division I average of 62 percent.
USF’s graduation rates among student-athletes in those sports have fallen while national averages have improved. NCAA figures from last year showed that USF’s football players had a graduation rate of 61 percent. That rate dropped five percentage points this year.
Former Lakewood and USF offensive tackle Theodric “Thed” Watson, who had a tryout with the Giants in May but wasn’t signed, was arrested in St. Petersburg on Thursday night on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.
Center Gene Teague, who signed with USF this spring but failed to meet NCAA initial eligibility requirements, intends to spend this year at a prep school with the hopes of returning to USF in 2009, his father said Monday.
Teague, who attended summer classes at USF and worked out with his would-be teammates, thought he had the necessary combination of grade-point average and entrance-exam scores. His father, Eugene Teague Sr., said Monday that one course — a religion class he took at St. Augustine Prep in New Jersey — was unexpectedly flagged as not counting as one of 16 classes that count toward an athlete’s core GPA.
“That just hit us over the head,” Teague Sr. said. “It caught everybody off guard. It’s a setback, but we’ll have to rise above it.”
Teague said his son is in the process of choosing a prep school he can attend for the next year, allowing him to improve his SAT score to meet the NCAA’s requirements. USF remains in communication with Teague, who would have his full eligibility remaining if he rejoined the Bulls.
“Coach (Stan Heath) said he has a scholarship for him if he gets cleared,” Teague Sr.
Teague is the third signee from the incoming class lost to academic problems, joining point guard Dwan McMillan — who could also return next season — and forward Teeng Akol, who has since committed to Oklahoma State.
TAMPA - With Gus Gilchrist’s personal trainer, adviser and spokesman Terrelle Woody officially on the University of South Florida payroll, the school submitted Gilchrist’s hardship waiver to the NCAA so the 6-foot-10 center can play immediately and not be required to sit out a season after transferring from Maryland.
The appeal was submitted on Tuesday, the same day USF announced Woody’s hiring, USF men’s basketball coach Stan Heath said Tuesday night. The school expects to receive an answer from the NCAA in two to three weeks, USF assistant sports information director Jeff Wuerth said Wednesday.
TAMPA - When Gus Gilchrist, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound center, signed a basketball scholarship with the University of South Florida two months ago, the Bulls landed the most electrifying recruit in program history.
But in doing so, will USF also have to acquire someone else?
Throughout his dizzying basketball travels - at age 18, he already has attended two high schools and signed letters-of-intent with three universities - Gilchrist has been aligned with Terrelle Woody, 38, his personal trainer, adviser and spokesman.
Now, Woody is in line for a job in the USF athletic department, a non-coaching position that has not been advertised and for which school officials say “there is no record” of what the job might pay or what the qualifications are. Woody does not have a college degree.
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USF is experiencing a financial crisis. The university is eliminating 450 jobs - many of which are vacant positions - and plans to lay off 70 people, while reducing the budget by $50.4 million. The school also is reducing the available seats in some classes to counter a shortage of faculty positions.
“I hope the athletic department is not tone deaf for the funding problem across the university,” said Sherman Dorn, head of USF’s faculty union. “The question I have: Is this particular position appropriate?”
Incoming freshman Gene Teague failed to meet the necessary NCAA academic standards and will not be attending the University of South Florida. School officials announced Friday.
“We are disappointed that Gene will not be a part of our program,” said USF head coach Stan Heath. “He was admitted conditionally this summer and would have been fully admitted had he been able to reach the NCAA’s standards. We will assist him in finding a situation that is best for him and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - An Egyptian college student pleaded guilty Wednesday to making a video demonstrating how to build a remote bomb detonator to help terrorists kill enemies including American soldiers.
Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, 26, one of two University of South Florida students arrested after a South Carolina traffic stop in August, pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in September.
The arrests perpetuated the Tampa university’s reputation as “Jihad U,” a nickname coined after an Egyptian professor, Sami Al-Arian, was charged with raising money for terrorist attacks by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He pleaded guilty to one count of providing support to terrorists and is in jail awaiting deportation.
USF’s athletic department is self-reporting a secondary rules violation to the NCAA after men’s basketball coach Stan Heath and his assistants spent nine more days on the road recruiting than allowed during the 2007-08 school year.
The coaches “mistakenly calculated” multiday tournaments as a single day, the report shows, and USF has offered to reduce the number of recruiting days, normally 130, by 14 in 2008-09, a penalty of 1.5 days for each extra day taken. Heath and his staff did not travel for player evaluations last weekend as a result of being over the limit. Once spring classes have ended, coaches have unlimited days to recruit during the summer.
