Former USF baseball player returns to Tampa as football coach

James Rowe is a former University of South Florida baseball player. This season, he returns to USF with 12 years of coaching experience both on the collegiate and professional levels. “I think my first love was always football,” Rowe said. “Coming out of (Cocoa) High School, I was a better baseball player. I was such a bad baseball player in college. Now I am a football coach.” Rowe was a pitcher and outfielder on the Bulls baseball team from 2005-07. His roommate was defensive back Danny Verpeale, and sometimes, Verpeale would bring Rowe along to talk football with defensive coordinator Wally Burnham.