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Stu Williams ’70 wears a 2015 baseball national championship ring with “WTE” etched on the inside. His wife, Diane, wears a ring from the same winning year, fashioned into a pendant worn on a chain around her neck.

The Williamses, longtime baseball boosters who recently created UTampa’s first head coaching endowment, say the “WTE” represents their favorite Spartan baseball memory.

WTE? That stands for Worst Team Ever.

Make no mistake, the WTE won the national championship. Plus, they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in a spring training exhibition. They were hardly slackers. But between beating the pros and taking home the NCAA Div. II trophy, they learned a few things.

Like humility. And accountability.

The Williamses say the 2015 season and team helped form their opinion of head Coach Joe Urso ’92, someone they say makes a true difference in people’s lives.

“Joe really helps mold players into not just athletes, but really good, quality men,” Diane Williams said.

Urso cares about his players, looking out for them beyond the playing field, the Williamses said. Stu Williams also has observed how Urso doesn’t interfere with or second-guess other coaches on his staff — he respects their expertise.

Stu Williams rose in his career to executive leadership in banking, and he sees parallels between his and Urso’s management styles.

“First of all,” Stu Williams said, “they have to like you and trust you. And you make the successes their successes, not your successes. That’s what I saw in business, and it’s what he does with these guys, too.”

Stu Williams also admires how Urso motivates his players with both on-the-spot encouragement and, when needed, a patient build toward a long-range goal. Throw in some reverse psychology, and you’ve got the 2015 season.

The Spartans were hot early that year. They were 13-1 when they beat the Phillies, 6-2, in early March. Stu Williams remembers the seventh-inning grand slam by Giovanny Alfonzo, and after that win, he said, “These kids all thought they were great.”

But Spartan play then got spotty, and at a low point a month later, they dropped a three-game series to conference rival Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale. Urso was embarrassed, Stu Williams remembers, and he had some choice words for his players, including calling them the “worst team ever.”

That stung. But it worked — the Spartans became determined to prove their coach wrong. They finished the regular season with only two more losses and redeemed themselves against Nova Southeastern in the first round of the NCAA South Regional, winning 8-1. Then, they won the tournament in extra innings against Florida Tech.

After that, they swept the NCAA national tourney.

“When they won, they all got in the middle of the field and chanted, ‘Worst! Team! Ever! Worst! Team! Ever!’” Stu Williams said.

The way the WTE players humbled themselves that year, worked together and rallied when it mattered is just one example of why the Williamses think supporting Urso and what he’s built is so important. They already had created a baseball scholarship, but recently, “we got to talking about how a coach or a professor can impact so many people,” Diane Williams said.

The Stu and Diane Williams Head Baseball Coach endowment represents an exceptional level of stability and loyalty that the Williamses said should send a message to potential recruits and attract high-level players. It will help fund the Spartan baseball program in perpetuity.

“We decided to do something that impacts a lot of people,” Diane Williams said, “and it also creates a legacy, even beyond Joe.”

If you would like to learn more about creating an endowment at the University, contact Schezy Barbas at (813) 258-7480 or sbarbas@ut.edu.