TAMPA, Fla. — The USF women's lacrosse team uses the word "launch" to describe the beginning of their inaugural season, which gets underway February 7 when the Bulls host Kennesaw St.
One of the players who will help them do that is graduate student Alison Harbaugh, daughter of Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. Alison is using her NIL (name, image, and likeness) pull to partner with Caddix, a shoe company based in her home state of Maryland. Caddix prides itself on making cleats that help prevent foot and leg injuries.
This week, Harbaugh gifted her teammates a pair of fresh kicks.
"I think it’s a great opportunity for athletes to get their name out there. Especially for women, because we don’t have professional sports, usually, after this," Harbaugh said after practice. "We work so hard to make money. It’s a full-time job. So it’s a cool opportunity, and I’m glad that women, especially, are getting involved in it now."
Harbaugh transferred to USF after playing three seasons at Notre Dame. She's part of a roster full of transfer players with previous college experience. Head coach Mindy McCord said Alison is exactly the type of player she wants to help lead a new program.
"She never goes a day without saying 'Thank you.' She is one of the most humble people, but she is fiercely competitive," McCord said when describing Harbaugh. "She hates losing more than she likes winning."
"Their culture is amazing," Alison added. "They’re people of faith. I knew right away that this was a great chance to kind of be a part of molding that culture for years to come."
The Harbaugh family has a unique connection to USF. Bulls assistant and Mindy's husband Paul played a brief stint with the Ravens before joining the staff that won Super Bowl XXXV in January 2001.
"It’s fun to have that shared Ravens past. Of course, I was there for a cup of coffee, and he’s the most successful coach of all time," Paul joked.
Although his time with the Ravens staff never overlapped with Harbaugh's, they still share a friendship based on their Baltimore-based bond.
"It’s just so exceptional to have that Ravens family because we share core values in many ways."
"We watched lacrosse games together. [Coach McCord] and my dad knew each other, and he recruited me in high school," Alison recalled. "It was kinda throughout my life we kept running into each other. We were laughing about it - how it kinda led up to this moment."
USF has a pretty loaded roster for a first-year program, and they don't expect to ease into anything as they get the season started.
"The goal of the program was to launch and to launch as a strong program and not a beginner program or an entry-level program," Paul added. "That’s what’s so exciting. We’re like mad scientists. We put this team together. We have good core values and good people, and now we get to see them play."
Before coming to Tampa, the McCords took the program at Jacksonville University from the ground to the Sweet 16. They embrace their reputation as people who like to build things from scratch.
"It’s one thing to buy in, and it’s another thing to take ownership. These young ladies that we recruited are players that want to take ownership," Mindy explained. "We love the foundation of building something and taking our vision and our strategy and implementing it. It’s not always perfect. But it’s been really neat to see how it’s been executed so far is exactly where we would want it to be."
The Bulls and Kennesaw St. start at 7 p.m. on February 7th. USF will play its home games at Corbett Stadium.
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