TAMPA, Fla. (Mar. 31, 2023) – The hiring of Amir Abdur-Rahim has created excitement around the South Florida men’s basketball program. As he assembles his staff, it’ll be crucial to get the right pieces into place to ensure success on the recruiting trail. BullsInsider.com caught up with several prominent basketball figures in Florida and Georgia to get their reactions to the hire

These quotes come from high school coaches, AAU personnel and others who hold weight in the grassroots ranks:

Darryl Hardin, Director and Coach of 1 Family: Love the hire, think he is a really good coach. And treats people the right way. Think he is connected enough to bring the right talent to USF to where he can win.

Ehren Wallhoff, Head Coach of Westminster Academy: Think it's a great hire. He recruited well at Kennesaw State. Had his team ready to compete every night. His players loved him and he won big games. I think he is what USF needs and I think he will be big in recruiting. Look for the Bulls to be much different in 2024.

Diana Gillion, Directory and Coach of Showtime Ballers: I don’t know him but hopefully he recruits in Florida better than the past coaches.

Justin Hardin, Head Coach of The Rock School: Amir is a great man and coach, obviously. He recruited BJ Greenlee when he first got to Kennesaw State. BJ went to Minnesota and then to FAU, but he visited KSU and was close to going there.

Amir has done a great job turning around KSU. He will do a great job at USF. He has to establish relationships with the HS and AAU coaches of Florida, and with his ATL ties, he could have USF rolling sooner than later. Especially with the portal and guys who will wanna go to Tampa, they could be contending ahead of schedule.

Karl McCray, Director/Head Coach of Atlanta Celtics: Great hire. He did a good job at Kennesaw State. I’m sure he will be successful at South Florida!

Steve Reece, HC/Dir. of Florida Rebels and HC of Oak Ridge HS: That’s a good hire. He’s a great person. I’m happy for him.

Aaron Holmes, President PHS Academy: I'm not too familiar with Coach and his staff but I wish him the best of luck here in Tampa, Florida. Hopefully he will continue to piggyback off of his ability to keep local talent home. There's nothing more that I would enjoy seeing more than USF become a national powerhouse. Let's get the Tampa community excited about our USF college ATHLETES.

Renaldo Garcia, Head Coach of Berkeley Prep: With support from the administration and community, this could be a home run for USF basketball. The previous staff worked extremely hard, the roster turnover situation seemed tough to navigate through. Coach reached out to me [Thursday], he seems super excited and ready to get started.