TAMPA — You cannot say for certain that USF football is in better shape than it was a week ago.
But feel free to think that way.
You definitely cannot say that USF came out of this crazy two-week coaching carousel with the most intriguing candidate in the nation.
But don’t feel guilty if you’re pondering that possibility.
The hiring of Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as the Bulls’ new football coach is, simply put, a major coup. He is the type of up-and-coming look-at-what-he’s-done assistant that catches the eye of athletic directors at even the most high-profile programs.
Of course, that does not guarantee anything. Hartline has never been a head coach before. He’s only been a playcaller for a single season. And his own boss overlooked him twice when hiring a playcaller at Ohio State less than two years ago.
So, yeah, there is reason to be guarded. To view this hiring with a dose of prudence.
On the other hand, holy smoke!
If it felt as if USF lost some momentum when Alex Golesh took his umbrage to Auburn over the weekend, the Bulls just recaptured it with room to spare. There were two offensive coordinators — Hartline and Oregon’s Will Stein — who were considered the hot young candidates nationally when this hiring cycle began.
Stein ended up at Kentucky, a Power Four school. Hartline, 39, is coming here.
For athletics CEO Rob Higgins, this was an impressive achievement considering he’s only been on the job for a few months. Athletic directors often keep a list of potential hires in their drawers for various sports, so I asked Higgins when he had time to consider his own set of candidates.
Interestingly enough, he said it began three years ago when Golesh was hired and Higgins was working as the executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. At that point, Hartline wasn’t even an offensive coordinator but his reputation as a recruiter was well-known.
“The last time the job was open, I had a variety of local high school coaches reach out to me — knowing my connections to the university — and bringing up coach Hartline’s name, saying what a great hire he would be,” Higgins said. “So I passed that along at the time and then, naturally, went back to my work at the sports commission.”
The courtship began with phone calls and Zooms before Higgins jumped on a plane to Columbus along with USF Board of Trustees chair Will Weatherford, vice chair Mike Griffin and senior vice president Jay Stroman to meet with Hartline. On Tuesday night, a deal was struck.
The idea that USF was able to lure Hartline away from Ohio State is no small feat. Hartline interviewed for the West Virginia job last year and was a candidate at both Penn State and Kentucky in recent weeks. He also had been talked about as the potential heir apparent at Ohio State should Ryan Day get lured away by the NFL.
“For us to land him while up against some of the biggest brands in college football just speaks to where we are as a university,” Higgins said.
He has yet to win a game, so it’s prudent not to go overboard. But Hartline checks almost every box a football program could want:
• Recruiter: He was 247Sports.com’s national recruiter of the year in 2020.
• Playcaller: The Buckeyes averaged 35.7 points per game and went 14-2 with Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator in 2024. With Hartline taking over in 2025, Ohio State has averaged 37 points per game and is currently 12-0.
• Developer of talent: Five of his wide receivers have been drafted by the NFL in the first round since 2022 and two more are expected to be top picks in 2026 and 2027.
• Face of a program: This might be the biggest uncertainty. Schmoozing with boosters and dealing with the media are not typically jobs performed by assistant coaches. But Hartline spent seven years in the NFL as a receiver and he’s been at one of the biggest college programs in the nation for the past nine years.
It’s not ideal that he could potentially spend the next six weeks trying to bring another national championship to Ohio State, but it’s also not bad exposure to have USF’s name mentioned during every Buckeyes appearance on national television.
This is a critical time in USF’s development as a program. Thanks to Golesh, the Bulls are back in the conversation as a potential top-25 team. Construction of the new oncampus stadium is underway, and USF is an attractive candidate for conference realignment.
Aside from his resume, what will USF boosters see in Hartline when he comes to Tampa early next week after Ohio State plays in the Big 10 title game on Saturday?
“He’s authentic, he’s gritty, he’s a leader, he’s relentless, he’s obsessed, he’s brilliant,” Higgins said. “And he’s our guy.”
