TAMPA, Fla. — There always seemed a celestial element to his tenure at USF. Most figured Amir Abdur-Rahim was just too radiant, too starry, too cosmic and charismatic, to remain in our stratosphere for an extended period.

After launching the Bulls to a new dimension last winter, most presumed Abdur-Rahim wouldn’t be long for Tampa. He’d dash across our skyline like a rarefied comet, leaving contrails of hope, possibility and pride, then blast off to a realm of loftier recruiting budgets and cachet.

Today, that comet has in fact left us, though not in the way anyone could’ve envisioned in their most disturbing scenarios.

A married dad of three, Abdur-Rahim died Thursday at age 43 from complications arising from a surgical procedure. In the immediate wake of the news, a campus, community and collegiate landscape remain numb, struggling to process one of the greatest tragedies to befall the Bulls sports family.

“This is a devastating loss,” new Kentucky coach Mark Pope posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“(Thursday) our world and profession lost a great man that was a rising star in our sport,” longtime Kansas coach Bill Self posted. “Amir Abdur-Rahim was even a better person.”

Suddenly, the emotions indigenous to a season's outset — eagerness, anticipation, optimism — have been supplanted by devastation, deflation and boundless sorrow. At this point, contemplating the Bulls‘ immediate future seems callous. The anguish remains too overwhelming, the shock too jarring, to ponder such matters as interim leadership, long-term candidates and the Bulls’ on-court viability in 2024-2025.

Once composure is collected and grief stabilizes, those things will be sorted out. For now, amid the despair, there’s a life to remember, a career to celebrate, an endearing philosophy to honor.

That life, and all it encompassed, will endure far, far longer than Abdur-Rahim’s fleeting USF tenure. The comet that whizzed past our region created an enthralling gust that blew our hair back, breathed fresh air into a moribund program and salvaged a fan base’s psyche.

All while exuding a charm and compassion that manifested itself throughout the area.

For one surreal, stupendous winter, USF men’s basketball reached a previously uncharted stratosphere. With a patchwork lineup consisting primarily of transfers, Abdur-Rahim helped the Bulls quickly congeal into arguably the best team in school history. USF won a school-record 25 games, captured the first regular season conference crown in program lore and achieved its first Associated Press top 25 ranking.

Turning the knobs was the son of a Muslim father and Christian mother, one of 13 siblings who embraced culture, community and academics as heartily as tempo, backdoor cuts and ball movement.

Though a basketball lifer (and one of six brothers to play college basketball), Abdur-Rahim was — at his core — a people person, a relationship-builder. He often seemed better suited for a prior generation, one bereft of portals. While the circumstances of the USF job he inherited forced him to build a roster mainly through transfers, he preferred recruiting younger players, then developing and nurturing them.

In essence, it’s how he transformed Kennesaw State from a one-win team his first season (2019-2020) to an NCAA Tournament qualifier in his fourth. Six of his top seven scorers on that NCAA team had spent at least three years in the program.

“He’s really big on relationships,” said USF assistant Ben Fletcher, who worked alongside Abdur-Rahim for a half-decade. “Whether that be our players, our coaching staff, our administration, our community. He takes pride in relationships, real relationships.”

That attitude transcended his inner circle. Abdur-Rahim consistently ingratiated himself to USF’s student body, handing out free snacks at the Marshall Student Center, shaking hands in the rain with kids waiting in line for tickets and even buying coffee at a campus Starbucks for everyone in line the morning after a late game.

Following his team’s Thanksgiving meal at his home last November, Abdur-Rahim and his three kids boxed up the leftovers individually and took them to a local shelter.

“And they probably had no clue who I was, which is great,” he said following a late-season game. “But that’s what it’s about, it’s about bettering our community. My children are going to grow up with that same sense of community. Because no matter where you go, there’s a community, and you should want to be part of it, and you should want to better it.”

Accompanying that servant’s heart was a swagger.

Bent on elevating USF basketball from its prolonged funk, Abdur-Rahim turned a catchphrase (“This ain‘t the same ol’ USF”) into a community slogan that ultimately found its way to the front of T-shirts. When several players bolted the program for more prominent schools following last winter’s breakthrough, he issued a series of video snippets on X encouraging fans to “Relaxxxx.”

Players left him. Perspective never did. Rewatch those snippets, and you see Abdur-Rahim‘s modest grin, the gleam in his eyes, as if he knew something we didn’t — that the Bulls’ success would carry on, based on the culture he had fostered.

“He was authentic, driven, and his infectious personality captivated all of Bulls Nation,” athletic director Michael Kelly said Thursday.

In a sense, Tampa reveled in its Roy Hobbs, a natural who mesmerized us for one magical season before departing.

If only comets lingered.

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