Breaking: USF Finalizes Brian Hartline as New Head Coach

The Ohio State offensive coordinator is expected to be hired by the University of South Florida for the head coaching job, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Hartline started at Ohio State in 2017 as the quality control coach and worked his way up to co-offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach in his eight years at OSU.

Hartline has become one of the top wide receiver coaches in the nation as he has developed five first-round picks at wide receiver since 2022. Here are the notable prospects that Hartline has developed:

Marvin Harrison Jr. won the 2023 Biletnikoff Award as the outstanding receiver in collegiate football and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Harrison Jr. became the first two-time All-American receiver in Ohio State’s long and storied history, earning unanimous honors twice (2022 and 2023).
Harrison Jr. was a two-time wide receiver of the year in the Big Ten Conference and the Big Ten’s offensive player of the year, as well, in 2023.
Chris Olave (2021), Garrett Wilson (2021) and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (second-team in 2021) have all been named All-Americans under Hartline’s watch. Big Ten Conference in 2022.
Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka were each 1,000-yard receivers in 2022, one year after Smith-Njigba and Wilson were 1,000-yard receivers in 2021.
Smith-Njigba set Ohio State game and single-season records for receptions (15 vs. Nebraska and Utah; and 96 for the season) and receiving yards (an all-time bowl record 347 yards vs. Utah; and 1,606 for the season) in 2021.
Olave set the Ohio State career record with 35 touchdown receptions.
Harrison Jr. set the school record with 15 100-yard receiving games.
Remarkably in 2021, Smith-Njigba, Wilson and Olave all finished in the Ohio State single-season Top 10s for receptions and yards.

Hartline himself played at OSU as a wide receiver, totaling 1429 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns and 90 receptions. Hartline was also a fourth-round pick by the Miami Dolphins, where he played for six seasons before finishing his career with the Cleveland Browns. He finished his professional career with 15 touchdowns, 4,766 receiving yards and 344 receptions.

Contract terms have not been released at this time. Hartline will continue to coach OSU through the College Football Playoffs.