As University of Tampa sports continue to grow and win, so does its sports information website. TampaSpartans.com is the new site for UT athletics, and it looks drastically different than UT’s old sports page.
“The website we had before has been around for years, and it was time for a change,” said Sports Information Director Tom Kolbe.
Kolbe was instrumental in getting the new website started, and along with his staff, he made most of the decisions on how the website looks.
“We told them what we wanted, and they designed it,” Kolbe said.
Kolbe and the Sports Information Department turned to AthleticSite.com. After only two years of existence, this company has designed sites for 17 different NCAA and NAIA institutions and conferences.
There are a few new improvements to the website. A Sword and Shield section is one new feature. This is where you can get information about donating toward UT’s athletic program.
This money goes straight to the athletic scholarship fund and lets coaches offer more scholarships.
Another new section is the Spartan Fan Club, which gives the UT community information about registering for this student organization. Members of this club can win prizes at every game they attend and also go to professional sports games and sports bars like the Press Box. The Spartan Fan Club regularly gives away t-shirts and other prizes during games.
Other new additions are a printable calendar with all of UT’s sporting events, ESPN-like scrolling headlines at the top of the page and a fan club for kids under the age of fourteen.
For those who were unable to make it to games, Cingular Wireless sponsors a scrolling box on the right side of the page that gives recent scores.
The new site also pleases UT coaches. The addition of a recruiting section has helped varsity men’s baseball head coach Joe Urso meet interested players.
“An athlete interested in becoming a Spartan can now fill out an online questionnaire and it is sent straight to us. We have received a lot of hits from interested kids and it makes it a lot easier for them to go online instead of going through the trouble of applications and then mailing them,” said Urso.
The new site has many other fun features, so take a break from the Facebook and add TampaSpartans.com to your favorites.