South Florida Bulls Logo PNG
Designed for the South Florida Bulls, the logo represents the first letter of the USF acronym. The green “U” is stylized as a bull’s head: curved horns with sharp ends are depicted on top, and thickenings in the lower part look like nostrils flared in anger. The emblem’s sharp lines and tilt to the right create a sense of dynamism.
South Florida Bulls: Brand overview
The athletic program of the University of South Florida began in 1965, nine years after USF was founded in Tampa in 1956. The university opened to students in 1960, and academics took precedence in its early years. Its first team started competing in 1965, with the debut game ending in a win over a local community college.
USF joined the NCAA in 1968, gaining access to organized national competition. However, its teams spent the next few years outside the top tier. In 1983, several Bulls teams entered the Sun Belt Conference. In 1995, most programs moved to Conference USA, which raised the level of opponents and gave the school broader media exposure.
The biggest shift came with football. In 1997, USF launched its football program at the Division I-AA level under head coach Jim Leavitt. By 2001, the program had moved to Division I-A. In 2003, USF joined the Big East, facing opponents such as Connecticut and Cincinnati. The peak came in 2007, when the Bulls climbed to No. 2 in the AP Poll before losing to Oregon in the Fort Worth Bowl.
Leavitt left in 2009, and the football program entered a less stable period under Skip Holtz, Willie Taggart, and Charlie Strong. In 2013, after the Big East was restructured, USF became a founding member of the American Athletic Conference. Throughout the 2010s, the Bulls continued to compete in 17 sports, fielding about 500 student-athletes. At the same time, football remained the main focus of long-term investment.
Meaning and History
The history of the South Florida Bulls’ logos began in the 1960s, when the University of South Florida (USF) established its first sports team. The athletes’ mascot was the mighty American Brahman bull, associated with strength, perseverance, and longevity. This animal has become famous for its ability to withstand high humidity and tropical heat. The artists depicted him in some detail on early emblems, albeit in a cartoon style.
At first, he was presented in full growth, and then only one head remained, a yellow one with black shadows around it. That changed in 2003 when marketing agency Silverman Group designed the South Florida Bulls’ iconic Bull U, a green “U” with horns.
What is South Florida Bulls?
The South Florida Bulls are a collection of over two dozen sports teams that compete for the University of South Florida at the NCAA Division I level. Most compete in the American Athletic Conference, except for the sailing team, which participates in the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association. The USF athletics department began in 1964 when President John S. Allen changed his mind about intercollegiate competition and decided that students’ daily lives should not be limited to education.
1962 – 1987
The circular emblem features an anthropomorphic bull of formidable appearance, and its surrounding inscription dates back to that time. The animal stands on its hind legs, dressed in a sports uniform with the abbreviation “USF” on its chest. The horns are spread wide, the ears are down, and a high hump can be seen on the back. The large trim ring bears the name of the athletic department, “Golden Brahman. It is separated from the lower text by ten stars, five on each side. All elements of the logo are in green on a white background. The letters are grotesque, bold, and elongated.
1997 – 2003
After a redesign ahead of the fall soccer season, the bull’s image was changed to highlight the athletes’ power, strength, and bravery. The designers used confident lines, jerky strokes, geometric proportions, and precise angles. The result was a golden head of a cloven-hoofed animal placed on a dark green rhombus background. It has a red eye, sharp side-splitting horns, and a trapezoidal ear.
The muzzle shows a zigzag pattern resembling a lightning bolt with a 4-line branching at the end. The same stripes are located on the massive neck, but in different colors. The combination of black and yellow emphasizes the atmosphere of increased danger. The bull has its head up and looks down at its opponent. Nearby is “South Florida Bulls,” typed in flat, streamlined letters with yellow trim. Prominent among them is a wavy “S,” an “H” with a protruding crossbar, and a capital “F,” made as if it were a lowercase letter.
2003 – 2011
This period is famous because that’s when the current version of the emblem was first proposed – simple but very symbolic. It is called the Iconic Bull. The Silverman Group studio created the modified logo. The new visual identity mark presents a harmonious two-in-one concept: the first letter of the university’s abbreviation, to which the sports department belongs, and the image of a steep bull. The associative connection between the symbol and the animal’s muzzle can be seen in the shape and thickness of the lines.
2011 – today
The result of the redesign was a revised color palette. It was shifted several tones towards lightness, so the colors in the logo are a little softer than before.
Font and Colors
In their identity, the South Florida Bulls use a typeface similar to Serpentine Italic or Bold Oblique. But neither the first nor the second has the iconic letter “U” with sharp horns. The sports team logo features a custom glyph, created in collaboration with the Silverman Group. This non-standard pattern imitates a bull’s head and repeats its shape, except for the central recess.
The emblem’s color palette consists of dark green (PMS 342, #006747) and gold (PMS 4535, #D6CCA3). Approximately the same shades were used in the original logo, which, as is known from the archives, was in use until 1981. The golden color appeared in the team’s identity because their first mascot was a bull of the Golden Brahman breed.