USF expected to hire Brian Hartline as next head football coach

Brian Hartline has spent his entire coaching career at Ohio State, but that’s about to change. Hartline is expected to be named the next head coach at USF, according to a report from On3’s Brett McMurphy, Pete Nakos, and Chris Low.

Hartline has spent the past three seasons as either the offensive coordinator or co-offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes, following a stint from 2017-2022 as both an analyst and an on-field assistant coach. Hartline has worked primarily with receivers.

He’s considered one of the top recruiters in the sport and one of the top up-and-coming coaching candidates, as well. The USF job came open when Alex Golesh took the open Auburn job.

And while Brian Hartline’s rise in the coaching ranks has been rapid — he first became a full-time assistant in 2019 — it has been deserved, according to those closest to him. Like Ohio State coach Ryan Day.

“Brian has been successful in every football capacity for which he has been engaged,” Day said in Hartline’s Ohio State biography. “He has progressed incredibly well from college to NFL receiver, and then from quality control coach to wide receivers coach and now to his roles as a coordinator. He has also developed his receivers at an unprecedented level and he has recruited as well or better than anyone in the country.”

Brian Hartline, who has not yet hit 40 years old, was named On3’s National Wide Receivers Coach of the Year in 2022. He has been named to similar lists as a recruiter, as well.

Hartline played at Ohio State from 2005-08, where he racked up 90 catches for 1,429 yards and 12 touchdowns across three seasons from 2006-08. He would go on to play in the NFL for Miami and Cleveland, seeing 104 appearances and hauling in 4,766 yards worth of passes, to go along with 14 touchdowns.

After hanging up the cleats, Brian Hartline turned to coaching, where he became a quality control analyst working with the receivers at Ohio State in 2017. He was promoted to interim receivers coach in 2018.

From there, Hartline was named the full-time receivers coach from 2019-21. He added the passing game coordinator title in 2022, before he was named the offensive coordinator in 2023. He was the co-offensive coordinator in 2024 before resuming the full-time coordinator role in 2025.