'This is a special place': Jose Fernandez enters 25th season as women's basketball coach at USF

USF women's basketball coach enters 25th season

FOX 13's Sean Barie reports on USF women's basketball coach Jose Fernandez entering his 25th season coaching the team.

Tampa. Fla. - For USF Women’s Head Basketball Coach Jose Fernandez, the last 24 years have passed in the blink of an eye.

"It's gone by quickly. But this is a special place," said Fernandez.

In 2000, Fernandez, then 28, was hired as the Bulls' head coach, just getting his first collegiate head coaching job.

"It was the opportunity of a lifetime," said Fernandez.

Fernandez says USF’s campus looked very different when he arrived, and he was eager to change the program 25 years ago.

"What I remember is when I got here, the offices were under the Sun Dome, and the Sun Dome had an inflatable roof," said Fernandez.

Those humble beginnings wouldn't stay humble for long for the Bulls' head coach.

"You remember that stuff of where we were at and where we're at now," said Fernandez. "It's truly amazing."

Amazing is also a word that could describe Fernandez's tenure as Bulls' head women's basketball coach.

In his first season in Tampa, Fernandez’s Bulls won just four games in the 2000-2001 season.

USF women's head basketball coach Jose Fernandez coaching the team.

Now, USF is considered a perennial NCAA Tournament contender, having made the Big Dance eight times in the last 12 seasons.

"I learned that the hard way those first five to ten years," said Fernandez. "You've got to be good at a lot more things than just the stuff you do on the court."

While Fernandez's view of the court from the sidelines has never changed, that doesn't mean the Bulls' head coach hasn't changed himself over the last quarter of a century.

"I've had a lot of help along the way," said Fernandez. "Yeah. I've definitely had to adapt my coaching style."

Adapting as a coach while the sport around him changed.

"With experience comes growth, right?" said Fernandez.