{"id":77495,"date":"2025-12-09T21:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77495\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T21:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:18:10","slug":"usf-introduces-dream-football-coach-brian-hartline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77495\/","title":{"rendered":"USF introduces \u2018dream football coach\u2019 Brian Hartline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It took Rob Higgins, the new CEO of athletics at the University of South Florida, just 60 hours to land a \u201cone of one\u201d football coach following Alex Golesh\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n<p>USF formally introduced Brian Hartline as the football program\u2019s seventh head coach Monday with all the pomp and circumstance one would expect with such a widely acclaimed hire. He will spend the week ingratiating himself with the Bulls \u2013 despite remaining Ohio State\u2019s offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach during the College Football Playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Hartline, a first-time head coach known for his recruiting prowess and football pedigree, expressed gratitude for a \u201cworld-class opportunity.\u201d The feeling was mutual.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo months ago, I stood in front of you accepting my dream job,\u201d Higgins said during the introduction. \u201cLittle did I know that two months later we\u2019d be accepting our dream football coach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hartline set lofty expectations in his first public comments since USF announced <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/gousfbulls.com\/news\/2025\/12\/3\/brian-hartline-named-seventh-head-coach-of-usf-football.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">his hire<\/a> Dec. 3.\u00a0 \u201cThe goal here is a championship mentality in everything we do, with relentless pursuit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am honored and humbled for this world-class opportunity,\u201d Hartline said. \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like this is a place that caught my eye from afar. When assessing opportunities, USF was always toward the top of the list, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Ohio State alum accumulated nearly 5,000 receiving yards during a seven-season NFL career. He spent six years with the Miami Dolphins and called Florida a \u201csecond home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hartline returned to Ohio State as a coach following his retirement in 2016. He quickly gained notoriety for fostering elite wide receivers and was the co-offensive coordinator when the Buckeyes won the 2024 national championship.<\/p>\n<p>In the past three years, five of Hartline\u2019s receivers have gone in the first round of the NFL Draft. He has played for or coached under some of the greatest minds and recruiters in college football, including Ryan Day, Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel.<\/p>\n<p>Hartline was reportedly a candidate for other, arguably higher-profile, college football openings this year. One <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/victorybellrings.com\/penn-state-s-logic-for-not-hiring-brian-hartline-couldn-t-be-more-short-sighted\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">publication<\/a> wrote that \u201cPenn State will regret not bringing him to Happy Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the Ohio native stressed his affinity for Florida and its pool of high school talent. \u201cIf we were ever going to go anywhere, it would be back to the people in Florida,\u201d Hartline said.<\/p>\n<p>He pledged to build on an \u201cimpressive foundation\u201d laid by Golesh, who left for Auburn after three seasons at USF. \u201cWe will win at the highest level,\u201d Hartline said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will chase championships.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-109956\" class=\"wp-image-109956 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Hartline-Stadium-USF-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"473\" height=\"473\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-109956\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brian Hartline toured the site of USF\u2019s new $340 million on-campus stadium after arriving in Tampa.<\/p>\n<p>Higgins said he was still \u201cpinching myself that this is happening.\u201d He noted that USF \u201chad a plan, we executed the plan and, in 60 hours\u2019 time, we got our guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Higgins, in what may or may not have been jabs <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/usf-welcomes-its-new-football-coach\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">at Golesh<\/a>, credited Hartline\u2019s loyalty to Ohio State. He called it a \u201cunicorn scenario\u201d to hire a coach who \u201chas not jumped around\u201d while learning from \u201csome of the all-time greats of college football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to do anything and everything we can to work together to build a situation here that there is absolutely no reason to leave,\u201d Higgins continued. \u201cWe know we\u2019ve arrived because a candidate like this wants to plant their flag and help lead us in our next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hartline is chasing one more championship at Ohio State before moving to Tampa. Questions regarding his split duties arose when the Buckeyes lost Saturday to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game.<\/p>\n<p>Ohio State has a first-round bye in the playoffs before a quarterfinal game Dec. 31. Higgins believes the national attention that comes with Hartline\u2019s pursuit of another title will benefit both parties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at it from an intangible side of things, with the number of times people will mention he\u2019s our next head football coach,\u201d Higgins said.<\/p>\n<p>Hartline will wait to fill out his staff before deciding if he will call plays for the Bulls. For now, he looks forward to spending time with his new team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love being in person,\u201d Hartline said. I think if you can look at someone\u2019s eyes, you can kind of tell if they\u2019re full of it or not, and ultimately, that\u2019s where the connection comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pledged to oversee a disciplined and accountable program. Hartline said that \u201cevery detail will matter,\u201d and \u201cthe time is now for USF football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He became emotional when thanking his wife, Kara, for being his family\u2019s \u201crock.\u201d Hartline said the two and their three children are \u201clooking forward to becoming a big part of the Tampa community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope you guys embrace us,\u201d Hartline added. \u201cI know you will. You already have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took Rob Higgins, the new CEO of athletics at the University of South Florida, just 60 hours&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-77495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}