The USF football program is hiring highly regarded Ohio State offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline to become its next head coach, according to reports.
Hartline, 39, is expected to take the job vacated by Alex Golesh, who was named Auburn's new head coach on Nov. 30. An Ohio State alumnus, Hartline has never coached outside the state of Ohio, although he was drafted by and spent six seasons with the Miami Dolphins from 2009 to 2014.
Sources: Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline is expected to become the next coach at South Florida. He’s OSU’s play caller and built a reputation as the country’s top developer of wide receivers. pic.twitter.com/U0227G4LDo
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 3, 2025
USF is expected to hire Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as its new head coach, sources tell me and @chris_hummer for @CBSSports pic.twitter.com/3YKbvL3RgO
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 3, 2025
Since going into coaching before the 2017 season, Hartline has been a part of the Buckeye staff. After one year as a quality control assistant, he became Ohio State's wide receivers coach.
He soon became widely regarded as one of the best position coaches and recruiters in the country, having landed and developed numerous future NFL wide receivers over the years, including Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Emeka Egbuka, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, and, currently, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.
A credit to his talent, Hartline earned a promotion to offensive coordinator before the 2023 season. He held the title by himself in 2023, shared it with play caller Chip Kelly during Ohio State's national championship season last year, and became the team's sole OC again this season.
In Golesh's third year, the Bulls went 9-3, which is the best record for USF since 2017, when then-first-year head coach Charlie Strong led the Bulls to a 10-2 mark. Over the next five years, USF recorded just one winning season and went 15-43 between two head coaches.
Golesh managed to immediately turn the team around once taking over before the 2023 season; in his first year, Golesh led USF to a 7-6 record and a bowl win, and he did the same the following season. This season, he started off the year with back-to-back wins over top-25 opponents and ultimately led the Bulls to nine wins before accepting the job at Auburn.
Hartline, according to Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, will remain with the Buckeyes through the College Football Playoff (CFP). Ohio State, the top-ranked team in the country, plays No. 2 Indiana in this weekend's Big Ten Championship Game.
