UT History Series: Men's Soccer and The Mayor's Cup
By Joey Johnston
At its apex, the men's soccer crosstown rivalry game between the University of Tampa Spartans and USF Bulls was a major highlight on Tampa's sports calendar.
Shortly before the 1983 contest and the formal dedication of UT's Pepin/Rood Stadium, Spartans midfielder Bob Butehorn remembers looking in the sky to follow the spectacular descent of two paratroopers who delivered the game ball to the field. The hard sellout crowd of 5,707 fans (several hundred more people lined the fences, meaning more than 6,000 were on hand) roared its approval.
"I was shaking,'' said Butehorn, now USF's head coach. "It was an unbelievable scene. It was nerve-wracking and filled with tension. It was as big-time as you could get.''
One of the fans that night was young Adrian Bush, who couldn't get a ticket. So he peered through a chain-link fence in the corner. Bush is now UT's head coach.
"If you were in Tampa back then and you liked soccer, you went to the Mayor's Cup,'' Bush said. "Most years, it was two monsters on different sides of the city coming together to decide the bragging rights. It was absolutely epic.''
And it's still going on — sort of.
The UT-USF showdown is now known as the Rowdies Cup. It's an annual exhibition, generally held in August before the regular-season matches begin. It includes an alumni game and all the money goes to charity (the beneficiary of this season's exhibition, set for Tuesday night at 7:30 at USF's Corbett Stadium, is the Children's Cancer Center of Tampa).
"It's a little different now because we're both looking at our players and gearing up for the season,'' Bush said. "But it's still serious. It still has meaning. It's still something you want to hang on to.''
"You don't want to sound like an old man when you're talking to your players about what it was like back in the day,'' Butehorn said. "I describe it like this: It's good competition. It has meaning in this city. The USF and UT alumni will play before us (at 5:30). It surely means a lot to them. Once you get on the field, you'll feel the intensity. We have to preserve it. I think we need to find a path to make it as big as it can be. Obviously, some of the circumstances have changed.''
These days, with the strength-of-schedule criteria needed for NCAA Tournament qualification, it's not in USF's best interests to schedule a Division II opponent such as UT. Bush understands that.
"It's kind of sad, but it's not their fault,'' Bush said. "It's just the way things are. They can't take that risk. I know people are always going to paint is as 'USF is scared to play UT,' but that's not really the case.
"There's respect between the programs. Both programs are high-quality. And we need to find a way to play somehow just for the overall good of the sport in Tampa. But it's not like it used to be. It's a different world.''
Jay Miller, UT's coach from 1977-86 before shifting to USF for the next seven seasons, was a key figure behind the Mayor's Cup. As Miller built the Spartans into respectability and beyond — UT won the 1981 NCAA Division II national championship — he stoked the fires by insisting on an annual crosstown rivalry game.
"It just made sense,'' Miller said. "The players wanted the competition. The fans loved it. Everybody knew it could become a great event in town.''
Initially, USF was cool to the idea. After all, the Bulls had beaten the Spartans 21-0 in 1972, although UT's program was closer to a club team at the time. Regardless, there was a big brother-little brother feel to any USF-UT game. But in 1978, USF was pushed by the Spartans, but held on to win 2-1. The gap was closing.
In 1979, the Spartans broke through.
The Spartans beat the Bulls for the first time, winning 3-2 while starting a lineup of seven freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors. UT's Peter Johansson scored the game-winner when his right-footed cannon shot caromed off the chest of USF goalkeeper Greg Schell, allowing Johansson to charge forward and put in the short rebound.
Finally, the time was right for a true rivalry.
In fact, the timing seemed perfect. Tampa was a soccer town. The Tampa Bay Rowdies were at the height of popularity in the North American Soccer League, attracting 56,389 fans for a 1980 Fourth of July game at the old Tampa Stadium, then 54,247 for a showdown against the hated New York Cosmos. Boys and girls high-school soccer had just arrived in the public schools after the Rowdies lobbied for approval by the Hillsborough County School Board.
The school presidents, UT's Richard Cheshire and USF's John Lott Brown, agreed that an annual high-stakes men's soccer match would be mutually beneficial. Tampa mayor Bob Martinez (the future Florida governor) stepped up and announced that the winner would receive a handsome trophy — the Mayor's Cup, donated by Pepin Distributors — to keep on campus for the year.
The match drew week-long front-page newspaper coverage from the morning Tampa Tribune and the afternoon Tampa Times, along with multiple live shots from local television stations.
"I think it opened eyes of the public, which was used to the Rowdies, and now they could see some high-level college soccer in their town, too,'' Miller said.
UT was 11-1 and ranked fourth in Division II.
USF was 7-1-1 and ranked fifth in the South Region, while coming off a victory against Clemson. The first official Mayor's Cup was played on Halloween eve at USF. During player introductions, Bulls players wore masks, then tossed candy treats to the fans.
USF prevailed 3-1 before 3,200 fans and the post-match aftermath upped the stakes even more. "The only good thing they (UT) have is their mouths,'' said USF's Nigel Clarke, who scored two goals. "They talk and talk about how they're going to beat us, but they couldn't back it up.''
Ah, nothing like some good old inflammatory comments to shift a crosstown rivalry into overdrive.
"Look, USF did not want to lose against UT,'' Miller said. "There was pressure on USF. The perception was USF had not much to gain and everything to lose. The truth is, UT was a very good match for USF. We were very, very good and getting better every year.''
The Mayor's Cup was a 2-2 draw in 1981, when UT captured its first men's soccer national title.
In 1982, before 4,118 fans, UT won 1-0 on a controversial play. UT's Keith Fulk was taken down by USF's Lenny Armuth inside the box — a call vehemently protested by USF coach Dan Holcomb — and Hans Olofsson converted the penalty kick at 77:13.
The Spartans won it 2-0 in 1983, before the record paid crowd of 5,707 and huge standing-room bonus attendance. By 1984, when UT won 2-1 on Rick Sylvester's goal in the second overtime, the Spartans had clearly gained the psychological advantage.
"Frankly, it's a burden for us to play it,'' USF athletic director John Wadas told the Tampa Tribune. "A Division I program is supposed to win these games. If it does, people say you were supposed to. If you don't, people want to know why you didn't. And because I am knowledgeable nationally, there is quite a difference in divisions at the national level.''
Miller called it an "archaic view,'' pointing out the Spartans had taken on Division I powers Alabama A&M, Clemson, N.C. State and San Francisco.
Then the tide turned again.
From 1985-89, the Bulls defeated the Spartans five straight times, outscoring them 19-6. UT regained the upper hand, winning twice and tying once, then the Mayor's Cup went into the deep freeze. After 1992, it was relegated to an exhibition because USF, after shifting from the Sun Belt to the Metro Conference, instituted a policy of not scheduling regular-season games against Division II opponents.
"Yes, I was the USF coach when it stopped,'' said Miller, who now lives in suburban Atlanta, while working for Major League Soccer and the United States Soccer Federation. "I hated it, but USF as an administration just decided that the Mayor's Cup no longer worked for the athletic department. So that was that.
"I'd like to see it come back in the highest possible capacity. It definitely has value for both schools and the Tampa soccer community.''
Butehorn said he believes the Mayor's Cup/Rowdies Cup belongs in the spring, when USF and UT generally train against Major League Soccer and international teams. NCAA Division I is considering a proposal that would split men's soccer season between the fall and spring, perhaps creating more validity for a springtime UT-USF match.
"I'm always going to back what's best for Tampa as a whole,'' Bush said. "The second that USF got a football team, I rooted for USF. That's my college football team. I want USF to do well.
"When we play them in soccer, I want to destroy them. There's great respect for Bob (Butehorn) and their program. But this is still a crosstown rivalry. I'd like to build it up higher, sure. It would be great for us, great for them, great for the fans. For the soccer people who have lived here a while, they know what the Mayor's Cup was all about. We've got to keep that going.''
Joey Johnston has worked in the Tampa Bay sports media for more than three decades, winning multiple national awards while covering events such as the Super Bowl, World Series, Final Four, Wimbledon, the U. S. Open, the Stanley Cup Finals and all the major bowl games. But his favorite stories have always been about Tampa Bay Area teams and athletes. A third-generation Tampa native, he was a regular in the Tampa Stadium stands at University of Tampa football games.